How the right office space can boost employee productivity
- Wednesday, 15 February 2017
When it comes to productivity, having the right office space matters a great deal. When employees feel inspired, are comfortable, and they have the right equipment to do their jobs with, positive results are tangible. Learn more about what you can do to make this happen for your company.
It's not just about hiring the right talent to join your company to help you reach your business goals. The setting you provide your employees with will be a major factor in the results they deliver. Here are a few ways you can create the right workspace for your employees:
Comfort is key
Long hours at the office are hard enough, so having a stiff chair or reduced workspace doesn't help. Invest in comfortable, functional furniture. Don't just stop at cushy back supports, but also try to think of how storage spaces and desk designs may help productivity in any way possible. Companies have gone as far as hiring interior designers -or assigning in-house interior designers when it comes to construction companies- to design what works best for the team in terms of furniture and space distribution.
Encourage collaboration and communication
If a workspace is too cluttered or too closed off, then collaboration and communication among team members become too difficult. This, in turn, will hurt your projects, and your team's stamina. Open spaces encourage peer interaction, while closed-off spaces encourage privacy and silence for when people need to focus and get things done. Find a balance between these two very important concepts.
Privacy vs Openness
As mentioned above, open spaces encourage communication, while private spaces allow employees to work without distractions. More and more companies are opting for an open space concept for their offices. Although this may be work for some, your office plan should be aligned with your company's working culture and the goals you want to reach.
Give them the right tools
Think of an engineer or architect trying to create a CAD file on a regular PC. You can only imagine their frustration when the computer slows down or breaks down on them while trying to do their jobs. Project managers should be able to get feedback from construction workers and suppliers on the go: get a cloud-based construction information management system for your whole team to coordinate in real-time. Find the right software and equipment for each employee's job description.
In other words, construction companies have a great chance to "eat their own dog food" when it comes to designing and building their own office space. Your workspace should be one more tool in your tool box.