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More than 40,000 of Amazon’s employees live in Seattle itself and they love living in the heart of the city where many of them can walk to work. Over 50% of the employees walk, bike or ride public transport to get to work rather than using cars. Amazon buys transit passes for employees and some buildings include lockers, showers, places to store bikes and other facilities.

Currently, Amazon buildings each have their own design, creating environmentally friendly workspaces. There are open areas that encourage spontaneous meetings, whiteboards in the elevators and workspaces that inspire innovation or collaboration. It’s highly likely that their future headquarters will feature much more of the same.

Amazon’s version of Microsoft’s treehouses!

Walk down Seventh Avenue in Seattle and you won’t be able to miss three huge spheres. These tall orbs are called ‘biospheres’ by Amazon and they will host species of plants from around the world. Employees will be able to walk along suspension bridges filled with greenery and have meetings in spaces that look like birds’ nests perched in the trees. Many of the plants in the biospheres are endangered species.

The difference between Microsoft’s treehouses and these orbs is that the orbs are situated between high rises on a busy city street. Jeff Bezos, founder, and CEO of Amazon, has always declared his disdain for all the perks offered by other large companies to their employees.

He employs millennials who often prefer to live in cities and he offers them the environment in which they can work and play within the city. He wants to preserve an urban campus, no matter how large his company becomes.

Common ideas for new workplaces

One factor all the giant companies appear to have in common when it comes to their new workplaces is the importance of exposure to nature. They all seem to recognize that their employees function best when they are in touch with nature.

Another commonality is that the new workplaces are designed with more collaboration and connection in mind. It will be interesting to see Amazon’s new headquarters and how it embodies the workplace of the future.