When employees can work from anywhere with just a laptop, businesses face a critical question: what makes the office worth the commute? The answer might be simpler than expected – and hotter than you’d think.
Traditional offices offered little beyond desks and fluorescent lighting. Today’s workers, particularly in competitive industries like technology, demand more. They’re asking: why should I spend two hours commuting when I could be productive at home?
At TransferWise’s Shoreditch headquarters, something unexpected sits alongside the usual tech company trappings of scooters and hammocks: a genuine Finnish sauna. It’s not a gimmick. It’s a statement about what modern work should be.
Founder and CEO Taavet Hinrikus explains that the goal is simple: “create an environment for people to do their best work.” When staff were asked what that environment should include, wellness facilities like the sauna emerged as genuine priorities, not management impositions.
Here’s what critics miss when they dismiss saunas as frivolous: the research is compelling. Regular sauna use correlates with reduced stress hormones, improved cardiovascular function, enhanced sleep quality, and sharper cognitive performance. These aren’t lifestyle bonuses – they’re productivity multipliers.
Consider the economics. Employee burnout drains billions from businesses annually through turnover costs, medical leave, and diminished output. A sauna isn’t an expense; it’s preventive medicine with a clear return on investment.
Inez Miedema, TransferWise’s head of affiliates and partnerships, notes that each team maintains strict performance indicators. The wellness amenities haven’t softened standards – they’ve enabled people to meet them more consistently.
A PwC report found that 52% of younger workers prioritize career progression above all else, with competitive salaries following at 44%. But here’s the nuance: workers who feel supported holistically stay longer and climb faster. Wellness isn’t instead of ambition; it’s the foundation for it.
The notion that young workers will accept bean bags instead of fair wages is insulting. What they actually want – what all workers want – is both: competitive compensation and an environment that treats them as complete human beings.
A sauna delivers something a ping-pong table cannot: genuine therapeutic value that employees can feel in their bodies and minds. It’s not distraction from work; it’s support for doing work well.
Philip Ross of UnWork.com champions offices designed around “activities” rather than hierarchy. His research identifies what actually draws people to physical workplaces: air quality, natural light, good acoustics, excellent food and coffee – and increasingly, genuine wellness infrastructure.
The modern office can’t just be a “chicken-coop” of identical workstations. It needs zones for focused individual work, spaces for collaboration, areas for informal connection, and crucially, facilities for physical and mental recovery.
A 15-minute sauna session isn’t lost productivity. It’s the reset that makes the next three hours of work dramatically more effective. Ross warns against the “rush to collaboration” in tech spaces that leaves no room for this kind of restorative practice.
Not every company can install a traditional sauna, but the principle scales: invest meaningfully in employee health infrastructure, not just superficial perks. For larger or more traditional companies, this might mean wellness rooms, meditation spaces, or partnerships with nearby facilities.
The key is authenticity. Workers instantly recognize the difference between genuine investment in their wellbeing and cheap attempts to manufacture “culture” without substance. A sauna works because it requires commitment – in space, in installation costs, in ongoing maintenance. That commitment signals something real.
In a market where talent can work remotely for companies anywhere in the world, physical offices must offer something irreplaceable. Community matters. Serendipitous collaboration matters. But so does the simple promise: “Come here, and we’ll help you be healthy.”
TransferWise’s approach – letting staff design their own environment, including soundproof phone booths, varied seating options, background music in communal areas, and yes, a sauna – recognizes that adults know what they need to do their best work.
Miedema’s parents questioned whether anyone actually worked in such a playful environment. The answer is yes – and they work better because of it, not despite it.
The office sauna represents something different: a recognition that the relationship between employer and employee should be mutually supportive, not extractive.
Workers aren’t machines that occasionally need oiling. They’re human beings whose physical health, mental clarity, and sense of being valued directly impact their ability to contribute. Companies that understand this – that invest in genuine wellness infrastructure rather than superficial perks – don’t just attract better talent. They build better businesses.
The sauna in the corner isn’t a luxury. It’s a blueprint for what work should be: challenging, rewarding, and structured around the reality that healthy, supported people do extraordinary things.
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