It’s the offices of the world’s tech giants that tend to dictate the latest office design. Be it rock climbing walls, health food bars, or sweeping central staircases, the internet is in thrall to their big-budget design iterations, helping the world understand what draws top talent to their doors.

For businesses with smaller office footprints and more modest budgets, emulating cutting-edge workspaces has traditionally been too expensive an aspiration.

But a trio of factors – digital transformation, affordability and the war on talent – is encouraging businesses that occupy smaller offices to reject nondescript working environments for more sophisticated designs.

“More and more, smaller businesses are opting to create workplaces that accomplish what bigger firms have long known to work,” says Alana Hannaford, design strategist, JLL Australia. “The latest design strategies can put culture, activities and desired behaviours to work for the business.”

Commercial flooring company Interface is among the cohort of companies with offices between 800-1,000 square metres putting people at the heart of their office design. The company refurbished and relocated into an old theatre adjacent Sydney’s Central Station that encourages workers to communicate and allows them to choose their own work setting – something its previous office lacked.

Interface’s new dig includes a variety of breakout spaces, soundproof booths, ample greenery and floods of natural light. The ability to accommodate growth was also pivotal to its design, says John Richardson, vice president, Product & Design, Interface.

“Our people spend five days a week in this space. It’s all about them and we thought if we could mimic the outdoors through biophilic design we’ll get better productivity and people will feel more relaxed.”

The accessibility of great design is enabling smaller business to support high quality staff with flexibility, seamless processes and innovation, says JLL’s Hannaford.

“To attract and retain your top talent, you need a workplace that provides the desired human experience – an environment that empowers, engages and fulfils your staff to be the best version of themselves every day.

“If your space is not enabling your people, it is not enabling your business.”