A poker room at the office? Free lattes? Charlotte employers add perks.
One Charlotte employer has a poker room and in-house baristas for its workers.
Another Fortune 500 firm brought in live entertainers during the lunch break.
And a major local bank is leaving behind the belief that all employees should be in the office five days a week.
It’s been more than two years since many of the city’s office workers started clocking in from home — and getting used to a newfound flexibility and other no-commute comforts.
Businesses are not only competing with each other for staff in a hot job market, but also with their employees’ couches, patios and alternative work spaces.
Many employees have been summoned back to the office for several months now, but some local offices are still adding perks.
For example:
- Credit Karma’s new office in Ballantyne boasts an in-house cafe, game and music rooms
- Red Ventures is throwing in events like happy hours and trivia at its 120-acre campus in Fort Mill
Truist in-person schedules
Charlotte-based Truist, the combination of BB&T and SunTrust, has embraced a hybrid work schedule for most workers, the bank told The Charlotte Observer.
That sticks out from other large banks that are reinstating a pre-pandemic schedule. Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are taking a staunchly traditional approach, asking workers to be back in the office five days a week.
And at Charlotte’s other bank headquarters, Bank of America is returning to a mostly in-office model where workers are “strongly encouraged to collaborate with colleagues in person,” the bank told the Observer.
But Truist CEO Bill Rogers has repeatedly told investors on earnings calls that hybrid work is “here to stay.”
“Most importantly we’re focused on bringing intentional flexibility” to employees’ workdays, Truist told the Observer in a statement. “We’re very intentional about having on-site work be purposeful and focused on the things that matter to us when we are together.”
Employees who have come into work were able to swipe some bank-branded swag from the break rooms: select Truist gifts were available for employees upon their return to the office, the bank added.
Lunchtime entertainment at Honeywell
At Charlotte-based Honeywell, about 800 local workers started returning to the office last November.
Employees also went back to work at an entirely new space: the Fortune 500 electronics manufacturing firm, which moved its headquarters here from New Jersey in 2018, finished its new 23-story building next to the Panthers stadium late last year.
The company has also adopted a “flexible work arrangements” policy that allows employees to start their eight-hour day earlier or later and spend two days a week working from home, among other adjustments, spokesperson Nina Krauss said.
In their first few weeks of their office return, employees got a midday pick-me-up: Honeywell partnered with local group Charlotte is Creative to bring entertainers to its cafe space during lunchtime.
That’s not the only in-office perk: there’s a fitness and wellness center, no-cost parking and a full-scale coffee bar — plus free snacks every afternoon.
If that weren’t enough of a draw, the space also boasts top-floor views.
Credit Karma adds baristas, music room
Last month, the Silicon Valley-based personal finance company Credit Karma officially moved into its new 95,000 square feet headquarters on the top three floors of the 10-story building at 13146 Ballantyne Corporate Place.
Among the many new amenities are fully-stocked kitchens and bars. On the 10th floor, Cafe 704 is staffed with baristas serving free coffee with beans roasted locally.
Along with rooms for wellness, prayer and meditation, there’s a poker room, a library, a lodge for meetings and after-hours gatherings, a game room with video arcade games, a ping pong table and foosball, and a music room.
Chief people officer Colleen McCreary said the fintech company is an in-office culture. The amenities aren’t why people work there, but it does help make it a place they want to come to.
Credit Karma has more than 450 full-time employees in Charlotte, with space for 800.
Lowe’s redesigns its corporate office space
Lowe’s home improvement company’s 275-acre campus in Mooresville has been undergoing changes in the aftermath of the pandemic.
The company has added spaces in its office so employees have more options, such as rooms with more privacy to create “a work-from-home environment” and collaboration areas, Lowe’s spokesman Steve Salazar said.
Lowe’s corporate employees have been returning to the office in a phased approach with a hybrid workplace model since the end of January. The home improvement company has more than 6,000 employees at its Mooresville headquarters.
Campus changes also accommodate for social distancing for “health and wellness” of employees, Salazar said.
Lowe’s also has improved its WiFi availability so employees can work from outdoor seating areas. The 275-acre campus has outdoor dining areas, walking trails and a 7-acre lake.
“Now more than ever, (people) are taking walking meetings and working from alternative locations on campus,” Salazar said.
”Spa-like” fitness center at Parker Poe
Parker Poe, a Charlotte-based business law firm with seven offices across the Southeast, moved during the pandemic from its long-time office in the Wells Fargo Three building. Its new 86,000-square-foot offices is on three floors at the newly developed Bank of America Tower at Legacy Union in uptown.
The building at 620 S. Tryon St. includes amenities like a fitness center with Peloton bikes and “spa-like” showers, said Kristen Bateman Leis, chief marketing and business development officer for Parker Poe.
The firm also offers its about 200 lawyers and staff members Carolina Food Services vending snacks and drinks, plus complimentary fresh fruit in all kitchens on each floor, she said.
Red Ventures gets reacquainted in person
Employees of the 22-year-old Internet marketing company Red Ventures, headquartered in Fort Mill, are mostly looking to get reacquainted after the past two years teleworking during the pandemic.
“What we’ve found is that employees who choose to come back to the office are as interested in connecting with each other as they are in our amenities,” said Maghan Cook, senior vice president of corporate communications of Red Ventures, “so we’ve created several events.”
That includes happy hours, food trucks, karaoke, meetups, volunteering and trivia, Cook said.
The 120-acre campus with three buildings at 310,000 square feet of office space has reopened its amenities that includes two gyms, a subsidized gourmet cafe, smoothie and coffee bar, indoor track, shuffleboard, basketball courts and tennis courts, and on-site health clinic.
Red Ventures’ employees also can mix in office and remote work. The company launched a hybrid model in March with the majority of Charlotte employees coming into the office two to three days a week, Cook said.
It lets employees come into the office for collaborative work and gives them the ability to work from home when needed, she said.
Red Ventures is working to find a balance by focusing on flexibility and accountability, Cook said.
“This is new territory for most companies, and finding what works will take time,” she said.
Red Ventures has about 1,400 employees in the Charlotte area and 3,500 workers worldwide.
This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
