The office is a place for the employees of your business to come together during working hours and be as productive as possible. But it is also the place where employees spend eight hours of their day and over forty hours a week. This is essentially their second home.
So, what do you need to do to ensure that your office is laid out in such a way that employees are not only comfortable and happy, but that ensures their creativity and productivity. As per research, the design and layout of an office can boost productivity by up to 20%.
So, if you think it’s time to change up your office space and layout to start getting more out of your employees, it probably is. Here are some of our key ideas that you can start implementing today to boost your team.
Create Different Spaces
The first thing that you should be taking a look at is how your space is designed. You need to keep in mind that firstly, every single person works differently from another. Secondly, people work differently at different times of the day.
Watch the behaviour of the staff throughout the day. They don’t simply sit at their desk for the full eight hours. They get up, move around, make coffee, sit away from their desk, go outside etc. This movement should be highly encouraged as it allows the brain to reset and think differently.
So, start creating different spaces in the office, shared spaces, open spaces, a relaxation area, silent spaces, meeting area and social areas. Make sure that your employees have an option of where they can work throughout the day. You will see that their creativity as well as productivity is boosted immensely as the different spaces will allow them to think and work differently in each one of them.
Get In Natural Light
Proper lighting in an office is vital. The darker the space the employee is working in, the less productive they will be. A darker workspace creates a sense of fatigue and sleep and studies have shown that over lighting a workspace can increase stress and anxiety.
The best lighting to get the most out of employees if you are artificially lighting the space is a cool light. Natural light is however, highly beneficial to employees and morning as well as afternoon light has been shown to drastically reduce depression among employees.
Look at the spaces that you have created in the office and change the lighting accordingly. For example, the relaxing space, if you have included bean bags or couches should receive natural lighting. Work spaces should receive a cool, bluish light which increases mental alertness and productivity.
Meeting rooms and social spaces should receive a natural, warmer more yellow light to increase the comfort levels and feelings of ease and welcomeness.
If possible, try and change the overall light in the office over the day, like the natural progression of the sun. A bright cool feeling can kick off the morning for ultimate productivity and the day can end in a comfortable yellow hue.
Buy Ergonomic Furniture
One of the most important elements in your office is the furniture. This is what your employees spend several hours sitting at and on. Investing in ergonomic furniture translates into you investing in your employees.
Reassess your furniture as it currently stands. If you need to start overhauling your furniture, start with the charis. Ergonomic chairs are one of the highest productivity boosters that you can add into your office. This furniture has multiple benefits for your employees:
- Reduces Pain;
- Improves Overall Wellness;
- Boosts Productivity.
Intensive studies have been done on how a person’s posture can have a significant impact on their work. Factors to consider is how high and low the desk and chairs are and their relativity from each other. Misplaced furniture increases the strain being exerted on wrists, necks, shoulders, and even eyes. If an employee is in pain, their productivity plummets and you will see a severe drop in work. Ergonomic furniture removes that unnecessary pressure and draws attention away from the lower back, creating a general comfort and ease of work.
Add Office Amenities
This was a fad started by start-ups in the 2000’s and has been picked up by corporate offices globally. Productivity was seen to be increased by adding various amenities to the office to remove the ultimate corporate feel.
Things like coffee areas, bars, cafetiras, pool tables, table tennis, dartboards etc. were added to increase the overall employee satisfaction in the offices. Things like pool or table tennis tables allow for a timed break in between work to not only ease any built up stress but to improve the social interactions in the office.
This increase in social activity translates into the meeting room or for brainstorming as a bond has been formed among the employees.
Add Plants
Research as shown that plants in an office increase employees satisfaction, productivity and concentration. The addition of greenery will improve air quality as well as ensure that the employee feels a lot closer to nature in the confines of the office.
Plants have been shown to increase productivity by up to 15% among employees for several reasons.
- It lowers psychological stress;
- Improves overall well-being;
- Increases attention spans;
- Boosts general health.
The general inclusion of nature in the office is one of the most vital elements to consider when designing your office.
Wrapping Up
The office is an unnatural environment created for people to spend hours of their lives in. To get the most out of employees, you need to shift this away from its clinicalness to a more natural, flowing environment where the employee is stimulated and pushed to be creative. In this way, you will increase their happiness, satisfaction and overall productivity.
Author bio:
Lakshmi lazanas is an inspired content creator who switched passions from a career in interior design in order to work whilst travelling the world. A co-founder of CopyThat, a bespoke content creation studio, she focuses on putting into words the often complex and colourful thoughts of her interior and design focused clients. As one of Munich’s newest residents, Lakshmi enjoys hunting down culinary revelations whilst trying not to confuse her der/die/das’ in the local tongue.
