Make It Comfortable
How comfortable is your office? As it happens, this might turn to out to actually be one of the most important elements of all. If you have provided a comfortable place for your employees to work in, it usually means that you will get a lot more high quality work out of them. It will also drastically improve the atmosphere of the office, which again improves work quality – but also just makes life a little easier and more enjoyable for everyone. The first place to look to improve the comfort in your office is the office furniture – is it ergonomic and suitable for the individuals working there? You should also think about how much personal space each person has, and whether this too could be improved upon to make the office a little more comfortable.
Light It Up
The lighting in offices is one of the most chronically overlooked aspects of all, and yet as it turns out it just might be one of the most important. The lighting can affect the general mood of the workplace, the ease with which your employees get down to work in the morning, the likelihood of headaches and flu, and much more besides. You can also use lighting to ensure that the office is a calming place to work, and that it is actually enjoyable to be there for hours every day. Once again, we are getting into the comfort territory – but it’s also about improving concentration and ensuring that your employees are happy in their working environment.
Control The Heating
The heating again affects comfortability and all other aspects of how enjoyable the workplace is, so you should endeavour to make sure that you can have a good control over the heating in your office. If you don’t, it could mean that you are not really providing the kind of workspace your employees will truly be happy working within. There is nothing worse than an office which is cold in winter and boiling in the summer – so make sure you are not subjecting your employees to these kinds of horrors at work. Not only might you be affecting their health, happiness and work ethic – but it is a duty of yours to ensure that you keep them at a constantly relative temperature.
Perfect The Break Areas
You need to make sure that you have specifically designated break areas, otherwise your employees are unlikely to really feel that you have their best interests at heart. The enlightened employer of the modern world is the one who knows that providing breaks is not only vital for the individuals in question, but also a sure way of actually improving the quality of work itself as well. For if you don’t allow your people to take breaks frequently – and in nice conditions – it will mean that they resent the work, and are too over-tired to approach the work properly anyway. Moreover, you need to make sure that the break areas you provide are separate from the work area, and that they provide comfort and a place to eat and rest which is not bogged down by work concerns.
Get The Size Right
Trying to master the amount of space you have in the office is something which can take an extremely long time, and which is also one of the most important things you can possibly do. If there is too much space, it can give the office a feeling of being empty, and this can surprisingly affect the way that your employees feel about their work quite dramatically. If, on the other hand, there is not enough space, then your employees will feel crammed in together, and this will lead to the kind of workplace that people can’t stand to be in for any extended amount of time. It goes without saying that this is not what you are going for – so make sure that you are spending some time getting the size just right if you want to get the office right as a whole.
Use The Walls To Motivate & Inspire
Staff rooms and break rooms are often full of information about health and safety, unions and other things of that nature. While much of this information is important (and some of it is mandatory) it’s not a bad idea to use some of that wall space to try and motivate and inspire your employees to work harder, enjoy their time at work more, and be more inspired to try and get ahead in the company and in their careers. Having some motivational posters really can make a surprising difference in this way, and it’s something which is worth thinking about if you want your employees to know that you genuinely care about them as individuals. It will also help to stop the walls from being so bare – something which can crop up time and time again in any workplace.
As long as you pay attention to the above ideas, you will be on your way to a workplace which is enjoyable, comfortable and much more conducive to better working and happier working. Beyond that, it is up to you what you want to do to make your office as fantastic as you know it could be.