You might already be considering a refit if your office looks like it should instead be the set of a film from the 1970s, but a redesign also offers another unique opportunity – the potential to positively guide the behaviour of your employees. How, you might ask? There’s a great deal of evidence to suggest that how an office is designed can have a positive effect on the mental state of employees, which in turn positively steers and guides their work. Read on to learn how some simple design ideas can make your office a much more productive place.
Why office design is so important
The physical space that workers inhabit while at work has a huge effect on the way they think. In fact, an unpleasant working space may have a detrimental effect on important things like creativity, mental health, morale, inclusion, collaboration, productivity, and overall purpose. A good way to think about this on a broad level is regarding how at home you, or other employees feel in your place of work – is it a homey, comfortable environment, filled with personal touches, or are desks typically devoid of any personality?
The first step in positively changing a workplace is to show employees that they are highly valued. Listen to their needs and introduce management solutions accordingly – even knowing they’re being listened to can help greatly to lift spirits. Then, when they believe they are valued as employees, they will also realise the work they do is highly valued. Your employees have personality, so make sure your space has personality as well. This can be easily achieved the strategic splashes of colour, open spaces and indoor plants.
Promoting collaboration in the workplace
One of the key ways to promote productivity is to design your space to be a highly collaborative and social environment. How you choose to design the office will result in people gathering in certain areas at certain times, or even prevent them from doing so. In creating this highly collaborative environment, don’t forget that employees don’t all thrive in the exact same type of environment. Some need quiet places to work as well, so having small rooms and nooks available for quiet working time can help these employees also perform productively. The next step is to then consider the kinds of materials that further enable these social spaces, such as inviting organic materials like wood and fabrics versus the colder industrial feel of metal. Whether you’re thinking about office fitouts in Parramatta or Prague, the location of your office will not affect the positive effect the redesign will have on your employees.
Creating an inviting space is well worth the time
Although there is evidently a great deal to consider when refitting a space to enhance productivity, it’s well worth the money and time investment. So too does it help you encourage talent in the long-run, as new employees will very quickly get a good idea of how your office works after just one visit. If you’re unsure where to go from here, a good start is to survey your employees. Although they won’t all feel the same way, you’ll be able to very quickly get a good idea of what is needed.
