No matter what kind of business you’re running, helping your employees get more work done can do wonders for your company’s bank account. While there many ways to do this, creating a work-friendly environment in your premises is an absolute must. However, with so many office trends emerging recently, deciding how you’re going to do this can be pretty tough. That’s why we came up with Five tips for creating a perfect work-friendly environment that might be exactly what you’re looking for.
Go to the open plan office
Not so long ago, every office used the cubicle system which was considered to be extremely effective. However, recent studies have shown that an open plan office can help you create a better working environment for your employees. This system allows a natural light influx, which is an important aspect of every modern-day office. Moreover, it can help you boost your employees’ morale since they’ll be surrounded by people doing the same or similar job to them. Therefore, going with the open plan office makes a lot of sense and it’s recommended that you give it some thought.
Apart from this, going to an open plan office improves your space management options. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you can immediately cram more desks into your office space but, you can always add an additional printer to the office floor. In this way, you reduce the tension by reducing the chance of forming a line in front of the printer day in and day out.
Add more plants
Take a closer look at any modern-day office and you’ll see plenty of greenery in it. This is mostly because office plants tend to look great and add more color to the entire place. However, this isn’t the only reason why you might want to think about getting more plants for your office. According to some reports, office plants can help reduce workplace stress, which can sometimes be a real issue for some of your employees. If you decide to do this, make sure you choose the right plants for your office. Some of the most popular options out there include Dracaena and Philodendron.
Go for personalized desks
Another great way to make your office more work-friendly is to allow your employees to personalize their desks. In other words, they need to have full control over their desks. All you need to do is make sure their workstations have comfy chairs and quality desks. You can even go one step further and get an electric height adjustable desk for everyone in your office. These will allow your employees to adjust the height and choose the angle at which they look at their screens. Getting a few desk photo frames for each workstation is also a good idea.
Eliminate the noise
If you want your employees to be able to get more work done, eliminating any noise distractions is an absolute must. In order to make sure there’s no noise getting into the office, you need to sound-insulated all the walls in it. Moreover, it’s a good idea to move your break room far from the working area. This will ensure that employees who are on the break don’t distract those who are still working. Last but not least, investing in things such as silent keyboards and noise-canceling headphones is another great way to make sure noise isn’t the issue in your office.
Have a break room
Taking plenty of short breaks may seem like counterintuitive but it can actually help your employees improve their productivity quite a lot. Still, taking a 5-minute break and spending it in front of the screen won’t do your employees any good. This is why you might want to think about designing a break room where they’ll be able to chat with their co-workers during their short breaks. In order to make your break room more fun, you can get a ping pong table or gaming console for your break room.
Another vital aspect of your office design should be the location of the breakroom. In the previous section, we discussed the issue of noise and a potential productivity problem it can cause. By placing your break room just outside your main work area, you’re creating a potential situation in which people on break distract those who are still working. All you have to do in order to avoid this is place your breakroom somewhere else on the office floor.
Follow the 5 tips we talked about earlier and you should end up having a perfect work-friendly environment in your office. Just don’t forget to change things up a bit from time to time in order to make your office feel fresh. In fact, as your company grows and expands, this will be more of a necessity than it is a suggestion.
Dan Radak
Dan Radak is a marketing professional with eleven years of experience. He is a coauthor on several websites and a regular contributor to BizzMark Blog. Currently, he is working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies.