These Office Design Tips Will Help Boost Employee Productivity

If your office isn’t designed well then it could impact the productivity of your staff. Since your staff are the lifeblood of your company, high productivity is key to overall success and profitability. Your staff won’t be able to perform well if your office’s design stresses them out and doesn’t make them feel comfortable.

Unfortunately, a lot of office managers and business owners have absolutely no idea what a well-designed office looks like or how they can get one. This post will offer a few office design tips that will help you to improve your office’s appearance (and in turn, your staff’s performance).

Minimalism

Minimalism is a design trend that has become very popular over the course of the last decade, mainly because it is very relaxing. Interiors that are minimalistic in style have a lot less going on, making them therapeutic. The colors used in minimalist designs are usually earth tones, white, or greys. All of these colors can help people to calm down. Additionally, it’s a lot easier to keep your office organized when you adopt a minimalist design. Because things will be more organized, your staff’s lives will be a lot less stressful.

Privacy

Your employee’s privacy is something that’s definitely worth considering. For some time now, open-plan offices have been very popular. The thing is, it’s a lot easier for people to work more productively when they have their own privacy. However, unless you have a very large office (that’s filled with lots of high-level employees) then you won’t be able to give each employee their own private office. What you can do, however, is to set up cubicles in your office’s interior, and give each employee their own private cubicle.

Movement

If you do set up cubicles, you need to make sure that each employee has enough room to move around. A lot of offices are very cramped, which isn’t good for employee productivity. When people are forced to work in a cramped space, they tend to get claustrophobic. Claustrophobia can lead to anxiety, which can negatively impact your staff’s productivity. In addition to giving them enough space to move around in their cubicle or at their desk, make sure that the rooms your staff is working in are large and airy. You should also ensure that corridors aren’t doubled as storage lockers, because this can add to the feeling of claustrophobia some employees experience in small office buildings.

Colour

As mentioned previously, color is very important. Certain colors are very relaxing. You need to aim to paint your office’s walls a relaxing color, rather than a color that’s too bright or intense. You should also avoid wallpaper because wallpaper can be very distracting and isn’t good for your staff’s productivity. Many offices are painted white because white is a nice simple color that’s not too distracting. Some research has shown that blue is a great color for increasing workplace productivity.

Light

If your office space isn’t bright and doesn’t have natural light, then it could negatively impact your staff’s performance. While natural light is important, you should make sure that you put up blinds or curtains in your office, so that your staff can block out light on especially hot days. On very hot days, sunlight can warm up your office’s windows and contribute to high internal temperatures. Blocking out light isn’t something you should do on days that aren’t warm, however, because various studies have shown that natural light can increase your staff's productivity and improve their mental health.

Air

A stuffy office isn’t going to improve your team’s productivity. Studies have found that stale air can disturb an office’s productivity. In addition to disturbing productivity, it can also make people feel more tired. You should always have air flowing through your office, ideally through open windows. If your office doesn’t have windows then you need to install an air-conditioning system, as well as an air cleaning device. An air-conditioning unit can also be used to cool down your office on hot summer days, as well as warm it up when the temperature drops. It’s a lot more efficient to heat an office with an AC unit than it is to use gas-powered radiators.

Plants

Plants can improve your employee’s mental health. In addition to improving their mental health, plants oxygenate your office’s air, improving air quality. Plants can also be used to combat stale air, which is a big problem in many offices. It’s especially important to have plants inside your office if the city or town that your office is based in has very cold weather during the winter because you won’t be able to open the windows for hours at a time. Plants can be a great way to overcome stale air when windows aren’t able to be opened, for whatever reason.

Personal Items

If you are going to give your staff their own cubicles, then you should also give them permission to customize their cubicles. A lot of offices have unnecessarily rigid rules regarding the customization and design of cubicles and offices, which don’t make a lot of sense. By giving your staff the ability to customize their workspace, they will be able to make it more relaxing. After all, each individual staff member knows what they find most relaxing. The only thing that you need to ensure is that your staff take their belongings with them when they leave your company so that you don’t have to clean up after them.

Amenities

The more amenities your office has, the more productive staff will be. Some companies in Japan and America have started building gymnasiums and relaxation spaces in their offices, which can be a great idea. Employees will want to come to the office so that they can use the facilities that you are providing them. Installing a gym in your office can also be a great way to improve your staff’s physical and mental health.

You should always be working on improving your employee’s productivity. One way that you can do this is to improve your office’s interior design. This post’s guidance will help you to do that, so be sure to give each point consideration.