NZ businesses urged to make workplace fun

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New Zealand businesses are being urged to follow in Google's footsteps and provide a chilled-out, fun workplace to improve productivity for happier and more creative workers.

The internet giant's Australian headquarters is a showcase of fun, where employees can take naps, play games, use social media and work from home.

Google Australia's industry director Claire Hatton said people "want to work the way they live".

Ms Hatton, who was speaking about new research that showed the benefits of flexible IT policies in the workplace, highlighted Google's stellar track record with staff and said the war for talent was about more than "perks and pay".

"Making it easy for people to connect, share and work together not only makes employees happier, it makes good business sense too," she said.

Research from Google and Deloittes has found flexible IT policies, such as allowing staff to bring their own devices to work, to work from home, and to use social media, were also key to employee satisfaction.

People who were happy with their workplace IT were one-third less likely to leave their company than those who were unhappy, the study found.

Ms Hatton said the Google offices were designed for collaboration, which led to innovation.

"The same philosophy that we extend to our design space also extends to our technology policies."

Google's Sydney headquarters is free of business suits and its furnishings are lush and soft.

Sleepy employees can snuggle themselves into the nearest sleep pod and if they need a bit of peace, they can tuck themselves away in one of the cocoon-like work pods.

Alternatively they could stroll along to the games room to play pool, table tennis or the guitar.