Unilever wanted to attract the workforce of the future – current and recent college graduates – to its North American headquarters in Englewood Cliffs.
To do that, it decided it had to build the workplace of the future.
The multinational food and consumer goods company Tuesday showed off the results of an ambitious renovation project designed to make what was a sprawling suburban corporate campus more environmentally friendly, more efficient and less expensive to operate, and more fun, in order to attract millennial workers.
The end result was a 325,000-square-foot building at 700 Sylvan Ave., with lots of open and shared spaces, and no assigned desks.
There are sensors in each room to adjust the heat and air flow, and shut off lights or air conditioning when a room is empty.
There are “huddle rooms” for team meetings; “phone booth” rooms so you don’t disturb co-workers while talking on your cell or Skyping on your laptop; kitchen areas stocked with coffee, tea, and treats, and an ice cream shop where you can help yourself to a Good Humor bar, some Ben & Jerry’s, or other brands in the Unilever family.
There is a cafeteria overseen by a restaurant-trained chef who tries hard to tempt you away from fries and toward grain bowls and roasted veggies.
Yoga mats
If you over indulge, there is a fitness center on site and wellness rooms stocked with weights, exercise bands and yoga mats scattered around the workplace.
There are concrete floors and industrial-style open ceilings that reveal the building’s ductwork and infrastructure.
“What we wanted to do was recreate this 1960s slab construction building and turn it into this funky New York loft,” said Ian Dunning, workplace director for Unilever North America.
Dunning said that in order to attract youthful talent from New York City Unilever had to bring a city feel to the Englewood Cliffs campus. The no-assigned desks and shared spaces also reflect the realities of the new, digital era of work.
“We really need people to connect and collaborate in a more agile, streamlined way,” Dunning said. “If you walk around the building you will see the energy of people connecting and collaborating differently than they did when they were in solo offices and cubes,” he said.
Ready for Instagram
Katie Ambrose, Unilever’s manager of employer brand, said the new building has helped recruit prospective employees, especially college students. “It Instagrams very well,” she said.
“As soon as they see this place it feels like they’re in the city,” said Zakiya Nashid, associate employer brand manager.
“We’re seeing attrition rates going down and attraction rates going up,” Ambrose said.
The renovated building houses 1,450 Unilever employees and about 350 independent contractors, for a total of 1,800 workers on a typical day.
The project enabled Unilever to consolidate five buildings into one, to reduce its square footage by 41 percent and cut its operating costs by 20 percent. The company expects to receive the highest LEED sustainability rating, and also be certified as a healthy workplace based on air and water quality and other amenities by the International Well Building Institute.
From: NorthJersey.com
