Things I like about an office building and office space:
I like that I don't have to drive to work - I can take public transportation. I do have a 6 block walk from the train station (I have coworkers who would cab it from the train station to the office - and then they uber-ed... )
I like that the building has some "plaza area" with seating and shade. I can go for a walk OR I can sit out side and people watch or have "not work" time with coworkers.
I like that the building has security - as in you need a card key/id to get to the elevators - and to get thru all the doors once you are on a floor.
The building has a "lounge" and a gym with showers/lockers and towel service. you can sign up for "classes" and there's a fitness coach available by appt. The lounge is just a big room with tables and chairs (that were spaced out more than 6 feet pre-covid) that's NOT on a floor with office workers. It's a nice place to go to hide or eat your lunch or to make personal calls from your cell phone.
My employer has a cafeteria - with a chef and various food stations that change every month. You can get "boxed lunches" or snacks (like cheese sticks and hardboiled eggs too). The cafeteria is not a good place to hide - because you almost always know someone there or the big wigs are there. It IS a good place to have lunch though.
I don't mind working in a Cube Farm. I like the 5 foot plus tall cube walls. the tall guys can see over them if they stand on their tiptoes. I don't want to see my co-workers. The people in my "Farm" rarely talk on the phone or have "social time" in their cubes. Texting has eliminated 99% of all personal phone calls. It's awesome! I've had several coworkers get married in the last 5 years - and I didn't have to listen to ONE phone call about flowers or food or a horrible mother in law or how trashy the groom was being about picking out colors or a playlist... sheer and total BLISS.
Having free secured wifi that we can use in the office is very important - that's what we are all connecting our phones (and streaming music and whatnot) to while we are in the office. A wonderful perk.
Having plenty of conference rooms (and working equipment - and basic instructions for how to use the equipment and a basket or a clear box that holds all the LABELED remote controls and various LABELED cables for connecting all the different kinds of laptops/phones/whatever to the technology in the room) in the conference rooms (since we don't do conference calls at our desks - we NEED conference rooms. Since we don't gather at our cubes - we NEED conference rooms.) We were told not to remove the remotes/cables/etc from the rooms... and for a while people kept taking stuff but new stuff appeared... and once everyone was convinced that what they needed would always be in a conference room - stuff stopped walking away.
Having a bathroom that has a full length mirror that's angled so you can check your outfit for "wardrobe malfunctions" before you leave the bathroom. Hooks on the wall so you can hang up your coat and bag while you use the restroom. A sink that drains water off the counter top into the sink (we have a god awful marble "counter top" with inset bowls. Any water that gets on the counter top runs to the edge - the one you need to lean into to get your hands under the water tap - you wind up with a 'wet line' across your belly or midriff if you are not careful. We complain about it constantly but it's never gonna get fixed.) Free feminine hygiene products. No one carries quarters anymore.
Having actual day light AND window coverings to control the light/heat in the Cube farm area. Having task lighting in each cube. Having an ergonomic chair and a chair "pad" thing on the floor so it's easy to roll the chair. Having a hook to hang your coat on at your cube. Starting out with employer supplied coat hangers (that are sturdy enough or big enough to handle a winter coat) (we had a coat room - but it was like kindergarten and it didn't last long. No one wants their coat to touch other people's coat cause of cooties... and people leave their keys and wallets in their coats and the real reason is because of the fear of stuff being stolen from your coat that's not anywhere near where you are sitting/working. ) It's nice to have conference rooms in the office "corners" instead of "corner offices for important people". The area outside the corner conference rooms usually was "open space" with file cabinets, a copier/printer or an office supply area. or the cubes near by were used by temps or for the people who are only in the office a day or two per week. the open space/file cabinet space around these offices meant the constant parade of conference room users didn't bother people trying to work in their cubes.
Having a "kitchen" or a "pantry" on each floor - you know - where the coffee maker/hot water machine lives. Were the Ice machine lives. Where the fridge and microwave and a kitchen sink live.
We wanted a place to sit and eat lunch - but management apparently thinks allowing workers to congregate like that is a bad plan. What they gave us was an "island" with a counter top that is 45 inches high and bar chairs so close together they touch and so tall (to go with the high counter) that you have to climb up to sit on them. I'm 5 foot 3 and the counter is an uncomfortable height - it hits just at boob height. To have more than one person sit at the counter a chair has to be removed and pushed to a corner. I think I've only seen the really tall guys use the counter and chairs. This is why we often go to the Office Building lounge to "hide" - it's the only comfortable spot to sit comfortably and have some quiet time or chat with a group of friends in a normal tone of voice.
As it is the new year - I miss not being able to 'trash pick' office supplies and banker boxes from the service elevator areas... this is the time of year when Accounting cleans out their files/spaces. You could find clean but written on banker boxes, gently used expandable file folders, binders, desk organizers, pads of paper, parts that go with our cubes (like shelves or organizers) or coat hooks or hangers all put into the trash as people cleaned out their space. A bunch of us 'weird' people would "trash pick" supplies for home use and pull all the cube parts for re-use. I'm actually out of used office supplies at home - so I could happily 'trash pick' to restock.
The thing I absolutely hate about our office space - was the renovation that removed 2 conference rooms - put in a nice 'kitchen' but with the stupid high "island" and then added a "living room" with a couch, a chair and a TV that is always on. No one sits on the couch or watches the TV. We were encouraged to do that - but then the "noise" from the "livingroom" bothered all the people in offices near it. So, we are NOT allowed to use the "living room" space. It's the stupidest thing ever. It's part of the "open, inviting office space" movement. We'd rather have a conference room.
There. those are my observations.
