Something for the weekend: The number one in-demand office perk for 2023 is office food, according to research by office search agency Sketch Labs. Perhaps unsurprising, who doesn’t love an office snack!
Its study, which has been published to coincide with International Week of Happiness at Work (25 – 29 September), explored desired office perks this year using Google Trends.
The findings revealed that searches for office perks have been consistently higher in 2023 compared to the last three years, as there was an 87.5% rise from September 2022 to September 2023, and a 200% increase in searches from August to this month. Organisations such as Zoom asked employees to return to work in the office over the summer, potentially driving the increase.
Searches for an office cinema jumped in July by 87.5% at the same time as the Barbie and Oppenheimer films were released, suggesting that employees would enjoy watching a film on their lunch break. The findings also highlighted that there is less demand for dog-friendly offices than office swimming pools and doctors, which rank higher on the list.
The most in-demand office perks for 2023 are:
- Office food
- An office bar
- An office cinema
- An office gym
- Office plants
- An office doctor
- An office nursery
- Office yoga
- An office swimming pool
- A dog-friendly office
Mark Knops, chief executive officer of Sketch Labs, said: “Businesses are seeking to introduce more office perks to encourage employees to feel happier while they’re spending more time in the office. By providing unique office features, our clients find that more of their staff want to spend more of their time in the office.
“Organisations are coming up with unusual requests to try and entice workers to want to spend longer in the office. Some of the most unusual office requests include Jacuzzis, game rooms, treadmill desks, swimming pools, cinema rooms and even bullet-proof glass. We’ve also seen a rise in more people looking for more inviting environments with items like living plant walls.”
These all sound like great staff benefits to us and wonderful ways to improve employee wellbeing!