Picture this: You finally find the perfect office space. You walk in and you think to yourself: “Yes – this is where I want to start my business.” This is the place where your enterprise building dreams will become reality. You don’t want to just fill that space with just anything.
A recent survey by an American furniture retailer has revealed that 90 per cent of workers across the world are unsatisfied with their work environment. At best, if you have a new office space, you have a blank canvas on which to get it right the first time. At worst, you already have a space that is not working for you. So how can you use your space and furniture to influence employee engagement and productivity?
On Brand
When employees feel a part of community and appreciated by a company, they work harder and more efficiently. A recent Deloitte Survey on millennials (the largest demographic in the workplace), found that when millennial employees share corporate values, it promotes loyalty and likelihood to stay in the job. So how can you include your brand values in your fit-out? Work out what your company values are – are they fun? Integrity? Honesty? Creativity? Inclusiveness? Make sure that your office fit-out promotes and showcases that you live out these values on a day to day basis.
For example, Google is famous for its contemporary design and fun work perks, to show that they are serious about their employees having fun and being comfortable at work. ANZ is known for its chill out social spaces that show off their commitment to work life balance.
You can incorporate your brand into your business space by working out what you want your furniture to say about you, and selecting furniture that fits in with that theme. Do you want teamwork to be a big part of corporate culture? Make great collaborative working spaces. Do you want employees to be creative? Include quirky furniture items, bright colours, and items such as chalkboard painted walls that employees can draw and write on.
Colours
Neuroscientific research has confirmed that certain colours have an influence on people’s moods. Use different coloured furniture and spaces to influence the moods of your employees in different spaces. Use soft blues and greens in areas where you’d like your employees to relax and be calm – places like meeting rooms where negotiations are likely to happen. Studies also show that younger people associate blue with maturity!
Consider purples, yellows and oranges in areas where creativity and high energy are needed. These colours are shown to boost mood, as well as enhance creativity. Black will speak of authority, while white (as long as you keep it clean!) can also enhance creativity and is associated with cleanliness. Strangely, pink is known for reducing aggression.
Well organised
A recent paper from the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute revealed that if there are multiple stimuli in the visual field, your ability to process them effectively is lower. What this basically means is that while your area is cluttered, it is harder for you to concentrate and focus.
Clutter is one of the worst things that you can do for your office space if you are trying to influence mood and productivity. Clutter increases frustration and aggression, as people feel hampered in what they’re trying to do. People will also put off completing tasks if they know that they will have to contend with clutter or go long distances to complete their task. Make sure that you have good storage and de-cluttering solutions in place to decrease irritability and increase ability to focus.
Natural light
Researchers at the Interdepartmental Neuroscience program at Northwestern University Chicago reported that there is a strong link between the amount of natural light in the office and sleep, mood and efficiency. Those who have windows in their office receive 173% more natural white light daily, and sleep 46 minutes more during the night. Those without natural light sources scored lower on quality of life, sleep quality, sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances and daytime dysfunction.
One of the best things you can do for employee’s health, wellbeing and productivity is make sure that they have access to plenty of natural light during the day.
Standing Desks
Nearly everybody who has a desk job has heard the phrase “sitting is the new smoking.” Emerging reports indicate that long periods of sitting can indicate up to a 50 per cent increased risk of death of any cause! Even if you exercise, sitting all day at work can be undoing the good work you and your employees are doing at the gym. A way to combat that is increasing the time employees are walking and standing. Standing office desks are an excellent way to combat employees sitting for long periods of time. Studies also show that employees can concentrate better and are more creative when using standing desks rather than the traditional sitting desks. Facebook is one well known user of standing desks, reporting that they felt it helped employees avoid energy slumps and increase creativity.
If you must have sitting desks, make sure that your office layout provides opportunities for your staff to get in some incidental walking – to the kitchen, to the printer etc.
Flexible spaces – private and collaborative
The biggest complaint that employees have about their work spaces is the lack of privacy. In the age of the open plan office is that it is difficult to find space to be productive without interruption or to take phone calls privately. Most office designers these days are getting around this by creating office “zones.” This allows employees to naturally gravitate to where they would like to work. Big companies are allowing employees to use laptops or tablets, and move between social , creative hubs and private work zones. This has shown to increase productivity by up to 30% when compared with assigning staff to where they should sit. For the best results from all your employees, you need to provide zones where different types of employees feel comfortable.
