More and more companies are devoting real estate to in-house cafés and other informal gathering places where a cup of coffee is so much more than just a beverage.
The reason is as simple as it is powerful. We can go online and catch up on news, participate in discussion boards and conduct a fair amount of business without leaving our desk. But in doing so we miss out on important intangibles: the qualities that make an organization successful—personal relationships, trust, teamwork, as well as organizational culture—that are developed in person, rubbing shoulders, talking over a cup of coffee.
People know what they don’t want at work—a sea of bland, uniform spaces where ideas go to die.
