A lot has been written about the importance of company culture and how building a great company culture does miracles for productivity and employee retention. However, apart from a nice culture to work in, there are some more practical factors that should not be forgotten when talking about employee satisfaction and efficiency.
How can you ensure the office environment is enjoyable for your employees?
Office set-up
How is your office set-up? The way an office is organized determines to a great extent how enjoyable it is to work there for your employees. With an open-floor plan, for example, you stimulate a much more collaborative working environment. The perfect office set-up should stimulate face-to-face communication, transparency and productivity. The office layout might seem an easy decision to make, but don´t be fooled: a completely open office space might stimulate collaboration or face-to-face communication, however, too many desks together might also increase distraction and reducing focus. It´s not always easy to find the balance between both.
Lightning
Many studies suggest that natural lighting has a positive impact on employee efficiency. Therefore, making sure that your office has enough natural light is not only more comfortable to work in but also influences the productivity of your team. Of course, only natural light is not going to cut it (especially not in the winter months) so you must look at pleasant task lighting options as well in your office space. Apart from lighting, ever wondered why a lot of office spaces have peaceful and calm colored decorations (in green and blue for example)? Color also impacts efficiency and therefore should be considered for ensuring your employees enjoy their office environment.
The right technology
If you expect your employees to do a good job, you also need to provide them with the right technology to do that job. If you have a flexible working arrangement, such as working remotely, do the employees that often work from home have the right equipment to do so? Also in the office, simple things like multiple computer screens have shown to significantly increase the productivity of employees. When speaking about the right technology, we are not only referring to equipment but also to the right tools to do a job. For example, collaboration tools, work chat applications or video conference instruments. So, make sure to think about what the right technology is to make your office an enjoyable place to work.
Healthy office space
Make your office a healthy place to work as well. Healthy employees tend to be more productive and result in lower employee turnover. And a healthy office environment is often appreciated very much by the employees. Fresh air is very important, a well-ventilated workplace is more comfortable and much healthier for your team impacting productivity and employee satisfaction. Also, providing or selling healthy snacks instead of fast food can have a very positive impact on your employees´ physical well-being. Other options to consider are for example standing desks to prevent your teams sitting the entire day and thereby being more productive.
Atmosphere in the office
Here is where company culture comes in again, because no matter how open your office space or how great your lighting is, in the end, it´s the atmosphere between co-workers that determines how enjoyable the office is. It is very important to work on a great atmosphere and small initiatives like an all-hands every Monday morning at the coffee area, a pizza-Friday afternoon or a breakfast together every week can have a very positive impact on this!
How do you ensure your employees enjoy their office environment? Share your tips in the comments!