Giving your clients the best customer service and experience is vital to your company’s success. Your employees provide this positive interaction through their excitement, dedication and positive attitude toward your organization’s goods and services, but how can you help them maintain this?
Supporting your employees’ efforts is one of the most important ways to keep the company culture positive and allow it to trickle down into client experiences. However, a more straightforward yet effective way to provide employees with a well-rounded and positive attitude is to create a comforting and inviting space.
It is common for your employees to spend eight or more hours in the office, making it the second most occupied space after home. Designing an inviting workplace that caters to most needs makes people want to spend time there, sparking productivity and excitement. Consider modifying your design to enhance work culture.
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Why Is Office Design Important?
You want your office to be a space that ignites positive energy, collaboration and efficiency. Modifying your design ensures your employees take pride in where they work and want to pass that feeling along through the services they provide. A 2020 study revealed that organizational pride positively impacts creativity and productivity, showing that a supportive atmosphere can affect work culture.
Designing an inclusive and welcoming office environment is vital to keeping employee mood and emotional energy high. It is essential to remember that incorporating soothing colors, natural lighting and ergonomic furniture can promote feelings of calmness, reduce stress and enhance relaxation. This promotes a healthy mindset for employees that can feed into their quality of work.
Many interior design blogs and references discuss the importance of interior design in the home. However, it is just as important in the workplace. Many employees spend most of their time there, where they may face stressful and high-energy situations. This can be eased through a relaxing environment that welcomes all to achieve their best.
Designing Your Office
Your office design should incorporate tangible benefits that enhance employees’ well-being and concentration by limiting distractions and overstimulation. Dark colors, soft curves, modularity and fluid textures can improve stress levels and comfort.
Several factors play an integral part in a successful office design. However, you must gauge your employees’ needs and interests to ensure that implementation will lead to workplace success.
Flexibility
Providing spaces throughout the office for different employees to utilize is a great way to promote productivity. These areas can enhance teamwork and collaboration.
Companies that promote flexible working spaces report a 43% increase in revenue, as these places allow employees to prioritize deep work and concentration. Incorporate them into your office design in these areas:
- Coworking spaces
- Conference rooms
- Private meeting rooms
- Hot desks
- Open offices
These flexible working spaces prioritize higher levels of work that require considerable concentration. They also provide employees privacy to handle priority situations with clients or team members.
Room to Move
Sitting at a desk eight hours a day can cause exhaustion and low energy levels. It helps to provide employees with the ability to move physically.
Movement promotes a healthy lifestyle and results in less employee sick time. Developing a physical activity program can enhance the company culture of health and wellness while keeping energy levels high. Kickstarting employee exercise can start with the addition of:
- Treadmill desks
- An employee gym
- Standing desks
- Space to walk around the office
Breakout Space
Like flexible workspaces, breakout spaces provide a different scenery for employees feeling idle in their permanent location. These rooms offer a new environment for them to regroup and refocus.
Successful breakout rooms incorporate a fun, inviting area with eye-catching color schemes and engaging carpet, furniture and wall design options. These spaces look different depending on a company’s goals and interests. However, some fun design options to allow employees to branch out include:
- Booth work areas
- Study and deep work pods
- Lounges
- Game rooms
- Recharge rooms
Storage Options
Creating a space where employees can add their personal items and touch is essential to developing a sense of belonging and pride. Job satisfaction increases by 10%-15% through workspace personalization. However, when employees start to decorate their work area, there might be storage issues.
You can add storage options in the office by utilizing filing cabinets, drawers, bookshelves and lockers. This way, employees can add personal items to enhance their comfort.
Workplace storage can also enhance productivity and limit distractions. People with distracting items, such as a phone, can stow them away safely during the workday.
Controlling Noise
Noise is a common problem in many workplaces, especially in large companies with many employees. You can implement different design techniques to limit sounds throughout the building.
Noise can be overwhelming and overstimulating, preventing employees from focusing on work and taking them out of their routines. Providing equipment like white noise machines and noise-canceling headphones is effective to an extent. Soundproofing the office is a design idea that benefits all.
Ways to soundproof your office or specific rooms can include the following:
- Area rugs: The natural fibers of rugs can help muffle noise at medium and high frequencies.
- Temporary weatherstripping: This product can fill gaps in windows and doors, blocking soundwaves outside the room or office.
- Acoustic wall paneling: Mounting foam or fabric panels to the walls of any room can trap and absorb noise.
- Rearranging furniture: Adding tall, thick furniture items, such as bookshelves, can help create a noise barrier between walls.
Design Impacts Employees
The best approach when redesigning your office to promote productivity and success involves understanding your team’s needs and values. Implementing those designs will help employee innovation skyrocket by creating an environment that supports mental well-being and encourages creativity.
Changing an office design does not always require significant renovations but is achievable through small changes. Even simple additions, such as adding plants or a new coat of paint, can improve employee health, reduce stress and enhance creativity. Plan on making a few modifications and note the difference it makes. Once you reap the benefits, you may want to try even more.