New York City startup Spacious lets restaurants become office space during idle hours to generate revenue and to give freelancers a workplace with Wi-Fi and fresh coffee. The company has signed seven New York City restaurants and aims to expand to San Francisco and Boston.

California-based startup Blendoor released a report ranking Silicon Valley tech companies based on their level of diversity in leadership, retention, recruitment and social impact. While companies such as HP and PayPal scored toward the top of the scale, the report found that several companies lacked a concrete strategy to increase diversity in the workplace.

Employers that understand workers' strengths fare better at training and development and consequently see improved business outcomes, writes Kes Thygesen of RolePoint. Thygesen offers ways to gauge employees' talents and skills, beginning with frequent performance evaluations.

Clif Bar & Company offers employees the option of including 30 minutes of paid exercise time during each work day or getting every other Friday off. The California-based company has a 2,500-square-foot, onsite gym and gives employees access to personal trainers and group classes.

Think about policy as a way to drive culture and expected behaviors rather than focusing on misbehavior, Sue Bingham writes. "If you aren't trying to create a workplace where people think the leaders are waiting for them to slip up, don't establish policies that give that impression," she writes.