Office Design for Improved Productivity

The fact that office design affects the overall employee productivity probably isn’t too strange for anyone at this point. However, that doesn’t mean that the issue should be avoided. Doing things half-heartedly is not good for businesses and it’s definitely bad for employee satisfaction, fulfillment and performance. That said, it’s essential that you do your best to create an office space that actually boosts the employee productivity instead of lowering it. So, what can you do?

Think what you can do for your employees

In order to boost employee productivity and have them consider the office their perfect place of creativity and best performance, you need to know who your employees are. Basically, you need to learn whom you’re redesigning the office for in order to pin point the most pressing changes that your work space needs to get. Keep that in mind as the whole point of the office design is to cater to and accommodate the workers. In that respect, if the majority of your team enjoys gaming, adding a gaming room for breaks and relaxation time may be the best way to boost employee productivity. If you know that a lot of your employees are trying to eat healthy, you may want to add fruit vending machines to the premises. If a large part of your office includes young parents, on-site childcare may be an ideal incentive for their productivity boost.

Noise reduction may be necessary

Even though they’ve been largely popular in recent years, open plan offices record a significant productivity drop. After all, the biggest issues with the open office plan involve difficulty concentrating and noise. The sad truth has been revealed – even though the cubicle felt impersonal, open plan felt too overwhelming. In that respect, your office design should definitely try to find the middle ground. For instance, even glass separators can contribute to solving this problem. Of course, sound-absorbing tiles as well as greenery can effectively minimize the noise issue. There are even special machines that you can strategically place around the office for this particular purpose. But, keep in mind that employees don’t really need to be in a crowd that always leads to hubbub and chaotic mess in order to feel like they belong.

Smart design and practical furniture

In case you’re planning complete and productive office renovations it’s paramount that you thoroughly assess the layout in regards to the staff number. That way, the professionals you hire to help you with the office refurbishment will be able to create the best plan for your particular case. This is very important for making the most out of space you have for the smart office design and then incorporating the practical and ergonomic furniture, which will let the employees focus on their work much better.

More fresh air and natural light means a lot

A big part of office design that directly affects productivity, mood and well-being in general has everything to do with the amount of fresh air and natural light. As mentioned, plenty of greenery can help with noise reduction but cleaning the air as well. Even if vertical green walls are not yet possible, you can still make the most out of potted plants. Furthermore, HVAC systems for air ventilation are essential, especially if there are more than 10 people sharing one space. If possible, install skylight windows to increase natural light. In case this cannot be done, you may want to work with what you have as well as artificial lighting that mimics the natural one efficiently.

Update the tech and hide the cables

Automation, modern technology and Wi-Fi are there for a reason. As we live in a digital age, it’s only natural that you keep all your office tech up-to-date and functional, even if you’re not an IT business. You don’t want your employees to lose their focus and experience productivity drop due to the issues they have with the important devices and gadgets necessary for their constructive work. Also, there are plenty of tricks and tips to hide the cords and cables that you end up using even with the complete utilization of wireless network. Don’t let your employees trip over them or suffer the mental pressure because of all the clutter!

Make sure to let your staff in on this productive change so that you can actually learn more about what they want and find unproductive first hand. Remember, every change starts with movement but every successful change starts with collecting data!