Carol Peterson, World Executives Digest | A study called Impact of Working Environment on Job Satisfaction found an important relationship between these two notions. This is significant because happy employees are believed to be 12% more productive than those who are not satisfied with their work. If you want your employees to be at their top form and do their best with the common goal of making your company progress, you should ensure they are working in a happy, positive and encouraging environment. Here are some ways that will help you maximize their performance by improving the conditions in your office.
Create different office zones
Your employees spend an average of eight hours in their office, but it is not possible for a person to be working for so long and be productive during all that time. You need to be aware of that and you shouldn’t expect them to be sitting in their cubicles with their eyes directed toward the computer all the time. They will get more work done if you provide them with recreational office areas. Recreational areas can include everything from a coffee bar and company restaurant to a chill out zone with a pool table, comfy chairs, video games… You can also include a brainstorming section where the employees will gather when they need to discuss some ideas.
Upgrade the lighting
While office lighting, especially natural light, is essential for the employees’ productivity, attitude, mood, performance and ability to focus, nearly half of office workers surveyed by Pots Planters and More stated that there is little to no natural light in their working space. Provide this essential benefit for your workers by introducing as much natural light as you can (get rid of the window treatments, install larger windows, etc.) and by using blue-enriched bulbs that are believed to reduce fatigue, improve mood, and increase work performance.
Keep it clean and tidy
If your employees are working in a cluttered and messy space, that can make them feel stressed out and overwhelmed. All of this affects their productivity and workplace performance. Keeping the office organized and clean has several steps. First, you need to find a trustworthy company that provides office cleaning service. Second, you need to have an in-house system where all the employees are responsible for their workstations. Also, papers that don’t have to be stored in physical form should be saved on your computer and shredded.
Arrange greenery around the office
According to an article in Medical Daily, houseplants are proven to boost productivity and wellbeing by 50 percent. The presence of greenery has a calming influence and creates a friendly environment which encourages employees to work harder and better. Besides, plants absorb the harmful carbon-dioxide from the air and release oxygen, thus helping with headaches, drowsiness, short attention spans, and reducing stress and air pollution.
Allow personalization
It seems unfair to deprive your workers of the possibility to personalize their workstations. By allowing them to decorate their desks with family photos, decorative items, souvenirs or motivational quotes, you are making them feel welcome in their office. You can take it a step further by including them in the process of choosing the furniture for their workstation. This can help them work more efficiently and feel more valued.
Encourage cooperation
The key difference between a successful and failed company is having a great team. This is not something that is determined merely by individuals’ talents and their desire to be successful, but by the way how all of them work together as a team toward the same goal of making your business profitable. Building a strong team isn’t something that happens overnight. It is something that the managers should work on, starting with organizing team building exercises, creating cooperative zones and grouping the employees in more effective ways.
Although your employees’ happiness may not seem as a priority from your point of view, if you see it as the foundation for their productivity which is, again, the foundation for your business’s profitability, you will see how all these steps make sense.
