4 Cost-Effective Ways to Make Your Workspace Work for You
Your workspace can make or break office productivity on a whole. Everything from floor layout to the equipment and amenities included within can influence how employee behavior plays out, and what habits they form over the course of their tenure.
It doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg to select or design an effective work environment. Consider these four cost-effective ways to give your office the home it deserves:
Four cost-effective ways to give your office the home it deserves.Click To Tweet
Give Coworking a Try
Coworking spaces are a new format of office rental. Spearheaded by developers like The Common Desk and geared towards a communal, amenity-laden experience for tenants. Members sign up for free access to shared areas, often stocked with varied styles of furniture (standard desks, standing desks, and even beanbag chairs to name a few) to accommodate for every type of worker.
What’s more, it’s a common trend among coworking spaces to provide extra features to boost morale and keep your workers’ passions engaged. Amenities such as in-house gyms, unlimited coffee, and our favorite (care of http://thecommondesk.com): social mixers at the end of each work week are readily available for the cost of rent. This gives your whole office space the kind of added value that many businesses aspire to have.
Stock up on Snacks
Employees respond positively to signs from management that they’re valuable and well-cared for. It’s why small gestures like birthday greetings and sincere ‘thank you’s come highly recommended. And why healthy snacking options are good to have around the office. Beyond the morale boost, the right snacks can keep employees awake and alert and help create a friendlier and more positive environment.
All of this leads to higher levels of productivity (provided you don’t let your employees abuse snack privileges). As well as a team that’s more likely to view the organization as something worth taking care of.
Go Green (Sort Of)
Potted plants around the office do more for your employees than you might think. Beyond the appeal of convention (I mean, what office doesn’t keep a plant or two around?), there are positive psychological effects that help with stress-management. The splash of color is a relaxing touch in and of itself, and the presence of greenery appeals to an innate human need to connect with the natural every now and then.
Space Your Tables to Fit Your Needs
The cheapest solution on our list has to do with how far apart you seat your employees. The proximity between two workers has an effect on how well and how frequently they communicate: people seated close together are more likely to chat or interact throughout the day, and people seated far apart would be less inclined to get up and find someone to talk to.
Where to go from here is entirely up to your organization, and the demands of the job of any given department. If your field of work relies on a lot of coordination among team members, it makes more sense to try and seat them closer together. Conversely, seat your employees farther apart from each other to distract them from highly individualistic tasks or encourage them to meet deadlines at a quicker pace.
Be attuned to the various ways your office design helps and hinders your team from achieving the values and habits they ought to have, and you’ll find yourself improving office life at minimal cost.
