The success of your business depends on more than your ideas or what you offer the world. There are many more variables that come into play, such as how the company is structured, the quality of the employees, and how well they’re able to do their job. One thing that’s becoming increasingly important when it comes to productivity is the environment in which your staff work. If it’s a positive, pleasant place to be, then they’ll be set up to work well. If it’s not, then you’ll be facing an uphill battle when it comes to working productively. Fortunately, this is an aspect of your company that’s fully within your control.
Below, we take a look at a few tips for ensuring that your office is an enjoyable space to be.
Choose the Right Location
We tend to only think of the interior of our offices, but actually, the exterior also plays a significant role. If you’re in an area that’s heavily populated or overly chaotic, then that’ll influence how your staff feel. Also, you’ll want to keep in mind that areas that are too central will be more expensive, which may affect how much you’re able to spend on other areas of your office (such as providing free coffee, and so on). Finally, think about accessibility. An office that is hard for everyone to reach will be problematic in that you’ll find your employees are more tired than they should be. Keep the atmosphere light by ensuring people can reach you without incident.
Bring the Natural Light
You wouldn’t want to live in an area that was dark and dingy, would you? The same goes for your office space. It becomes harder to focus when we’re forever surrounded by artificial lighting. Also, it can dampen moods and make people more tired. While it’s not like the sun will always be shining, you should endeavour to make the most of the rays when they’re out by ensuring they can pass through into your office.
Comfortable Spaces
Your office is fundamentally a place to get work done, but it’s not as if everything should be all work, work, work. For one thing, your employees are not robots — though you might want them to work for eight hours straight, studies have shown that that is more or less impossible. You’ll get more from your staff if you give them the opportunity to loosely recharge their batteries from time to time. To do this, look at setting up comfortable zones. This can be as fancy or as basic as space and budget allows. So long as they have a place where they can sit down and let their mind rest for a little while, the job will be done.
The Right Temperature
When we think about what makes a place enjoyable to be in, we almost instinctively focus on how comfortable the seats are, how nice the place looks, and so on. But in fact, these are secondary matters. To be comfortable, we need to be at the right temperature. If a place is too cold or too warm, then work becomes difficult — we’re too preoccupied with how our body feels. As such, it’s important that you’re taking the time to incorporate the technology that’ll allow you to set the right temperature. A condensing unit will keep things cool during the warm summer months, while a heater will keep the chill at bay during fall and winter. The aim is to try and make it so that your employees don’t even notice the temperature. It’s when they’re noticing that they’re too hot or cold that you’ll have problems.
Indoor Plants
There are a few easy additions that you can put in your office that’ll improve the mood and make the space a more enjoyable place to be. For example, let’s think about indoor plants. These don’t just brighten up the office; they also purify the air and have mood-boosting qualities, too. They can also help to make your staff feel more engaged with the office if they’re in charge of looking after the plants (just be sure to give the job to someone who wants it).
Adding Decoration
As well as natural decorations, you’ll also want to look at brightening up the space via other means, too. Too many offices stick to the traditional grey decor formula. While this is the easiest option, it’s not the best choice — it’s simply uninspiring. Instead, why not look at adding splashes of color to the walls? Or posters and works of art? They take next to no time to install, yet can have a positive impact on how your employees view their working area.
Outdoor Spaces
We mentioned earlier how plants could make your office a more enjoyable place to be. Being outside is another thing that boosts our mood, too. Indeed, one common complaint from general workers is that they have to be sitting inside at a computer when the sun is shining. So why not do away with this problem a little by adding an outdoor area at your office? Providing somewhere to sit in the sunshine will do wonders for employee morale. Rather than simply longing to be outside during the working day, they can step outside for a few minutes and get their fix of vitamin D.
Keep Things Clear
You’d be well advised to take a leave out of the minimalist guidebook when it comes to your office. Work spaces do, of course, become cluttered from time to time. But if the problem is allowed to get out of hand, then you’ll run into problems — even if no-one on your team complains, you’ll soon notice that productivity is down. As well as keeping the space free of unnecessary items, you’ll also need to keep it generally clean and tidy. It’s much nicer to work in an area that isn’t filled with dirt and dust. Hire a cleaner to take care of the job for you, and it’s not something you’ll need to think about.
