Google employees have no need for elevators.

If you trudge into a utilitarian, grey-looking office every day, you are not alone. Most places of work don’t prioritise office interior design, resulting in stuffy little cubicles or, if you’re lucky, corporate open plan spaces with dull but coordinating furniture. Companies don’t want to shell out too much of the budget on a space to park the computer and bang out the days’ work.

That might be a mistake though. There’s evidence to suggest that improving the office environment can have a big impact on productivity.

Google have taken that challenge to a whole new level. Their offices spaces are anything but dull. No need to take a lift here; there’s a long helter-skelter that runs between floors and drops employees straight into the canteen.

Or, you can take a fireman’s pole down one storey. Meeting rooms are little, egg-like pods, decorated in unlikely velvet wallpaper, or glass chambers with a beached boat for a seat opposite a white board.

If the strain of the day is getting to you, tip back in a reclining chair opposite a fish tank to recover or meld into the foliage in the jungle room. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are free and it’s so nice to be here, some employees actually move in.

That’s all very lovely, but does it actually work? Teresa Amabile, author of The Progress Principle; Using small wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement and Creativity at Work, thinks that it does. She points out that Google is one of the top five most admired companies in the US and is also considered one of the best to work for. She suggests that lavish perks have led to outstanding performance.

The addition of just a few houseplants could improve productivity by up to 15 per cent

You can’t just copy the Google playhouse approach and hope that it’s going to work, however. “The concept of the office is modelled around the type of work firms do and the culture they want to create”, says HR Magazine.

Everyone’s favourite spot in the Google offices.

Consequently, British Airways’ Waterside head office near Heathrow is devoid of slides and has no games room. That doesn’t mean that its boring however; Waterside resembles a familiar, English market town square; the main entrance leads onto a cobbled street dotted with food stalls under a giant, glass atrium that makes you feel like you’re outdoors.

The street has a hairdresser, supermarket, bank and a health centre, as well as an enormous auditorium.

People work on a hot desk concept (although teams are still broadly grouped together) and hold meetings in the street cafes. Sections are designed as different continents, with cherry trees in the Asia section and Eucalyptus in the Australian area.

The building reflects the global travel business, with its roots in English hospitality.

BA employees might have felt a bit silly sliding into the cafeteria Google style, but working in a lovely building still helps to make their work feel important and special.

The Innocent Drinks Company’s marketing style is reflected in their office too. They are about freshness, nature, open skies and burgeoning fruit trees.

So, they have done away with corporate carpet tiles. They have a faux grass floor, they say, instead of a glass ceiling.

‘Fruit Towers’ has picnic benches instead of desks, to encourage people to work together.

The foodies make up new recipes in an open plan centre-piece kitchen, so that everyone stays focused on what their business is all about.

Meanwhile breakfast is free, a good incentive to get to work on time. Quite what the Dr Who Tardis meeting room is all about remains opaque, however.

Meanwhile, Spanish architects Selgas Cano have attempted to get back to nature.

Set in a forest, their building is a long, clear tube set into the ground so that employees have a view of the fallen leaves on the forest floor (it’s also good for insulation) as well as the trees arching above.

The resultant feeling of light and space is inspirational and requires no artificial light during the day.

The building also looks sleek from the outside, supported by suspension cables on leaf-hued posts.

Designer Jonathan Olivares wants us to go even further.

He points out that while our technology is mobile, we’re still walled-in, despite evidence to suggest that we think best when we’re outside.

A few institutions have dabbled in the idea, with outdoor meeting areas in the Google campus, but few have gone the whole hog unless out of necessity, such as in disaster settings.

Olivares is experimenting with outdoor furniture, UV shading and rubber flooring. It’s hard to imagine quite how this would work in the baking heat of a Maltese summer or the damp chill of December, but an outdoor office in spring and autumn? Sign me up.