When choosing a business office space, a lot of people make the mistake of thinking about little more than capacity and the most basic needs for space. However, a truly great workplace needs more thought that that. When it comes to office space, you need to think about how you actually use the space, and how it will impact your employees and the business as a whole.
Community
First of all, good communication is essential in business. People need to be able to share ideas to get outside their own head when tackling problems. They need effective communication to make sure that errors aren’t made and misunderstandings don’t set the whole team back a few spaces. To that end, digital communication can improve our organizational efforts. But they can also muddy the waters a bit. We’ve all undoubtedly had the experience of getting caught in IM conversations and sifting through bottomless emails for the information we need. Some space to discuss with teams is vital. Make sure your office has some sort of conference or creativity area in it.
Privacy
Then there are the times we need the exact opposite. A lot of businesses have made the mistake of relying entirely on open plan designs before. In an effort to escape the demoralizing cubicle crush. They went to the exact opposite extreme. Dividers can help at the desk, but when you really need that privacy to handle an important call, you should be completely free of distraction. That’s why a lot of workplaces institute some kind of office phone booth system. When there’s no room for privacy in an office, your head is constantly full of background noise. Which can make it a lot harder to really concentrate when you need to.
Prestige
How your office space looks and feels can have just as much importance, too. For instance, there are few things more mentally distracting and unappealing than mess and clutter in the office. If you want people engaged in their work, then do your part to keep the cleaning standards in the workplace high. A bit of branding, whether it’s in the stationary or on the walls, can give that extra bit of corporate identity to the place, too. Imagery can have a strong effect, making people realize and adjust to the professional expectations of their surroundings.
Relaxation
In addition, you want work to be done in work hours. But what about outside of them? It’s been found that breaks are essential to maintaining a work-life balance. But too many people are having breaks at their own desks, which means they never really escape the pressures of their workload. This means they’re a lot more likely to suffer burn out and be unable to give work their all. It’s definitely worth sacrificing a little space so people can have their break room.
The business that makes productivity and the employee’s experience the deciding factor in workspace design is well on the way to creating a more engaged, happier team. Your workplace can be almost as much as an asset as your staff. Don’t forget that.
