If work environment is important to you, Apple is clearly more progressive in terms of physical layout, artwork and open areas. And we see this college-like atmosphere as a major recruiting tool. The Apple campus has a cafeteria, a coffee house, a fitness center and a bookstore.
Some buildings have pool tables, ping pong tables, game boxes, and basketball and volleyball courts.
According to Rocky Ferrari, editor of IT Recruiter magazine, there is such a shortage of IT employees in the United States that high tech companies are partially making real estate decisions based on the effects such decisions have on the recruitment and retention of highly skilled employees. And other high tech companies are taking notice of this. Sprint is currently building an eighteen building campus in Overland Park, Kan., to serve as its world headquarters. In addition to 3.9 million square feet of office space, the campus will have a child care center, health and fitness center, full-service food courts, catering services, an athletic complex and picnic areas as well as retail space for postal services, dry cleaners, newsstands and card shops. According to Laura Meyer, a corporate spokesperson for Sprint, the decision was partially based on recruitment and retention considerations.