Designing an office with your employees’ happiness in mind
As an employer, it’s always really important to make sure that you are taking care of your employees’ wellbeing.
This, however, is easier said than done, and there are so many areas where you might need to focus on this as best as you can in order to really make a huge difference.
When you are designing an office, for example, you are going to find that there are plenty of things you can do to ensure that your employees’ happiness is taken care of. Here are some ideas for how you might be able to do that for your people.
Plenty of light and space
The two most important elements of all here are light and space. As long as you provide plenty of light and plenty of space, you will find that your employees are so much happier and more satisfied with your office, and that is going to lead to many knock-on benefits in turn.
You may want to check the window sizes, keep desks apart from each other, and carry out any other tasks you can think of to help with this. It will lead to fewer headaches and a more relaxed atmosphere, which is good for everyone. One thing that many people forget is the office bathroom and the importance of adequate bathroom partition dimensions.
Comfortable temperatures
You also need to be able to control the temperature well all year-round, otherwise you might struggle to really keep your people as happy as you would hope. To achieve this, you mostly have to think about warmth in the winter, and keeping cool in the summer.
For the former, you’ll obviously need a good heating system – and for the latter, openable windows and air conditioning, especially in warmer climates. You might need air conditioner servicing carried out regularly too, just to make sure that the units are being looked after properly.
Relaxed break room facilities
Many businesses overlook the staff room facilities. However, a relaxed lunch break will help prevent the afternoon slump. Better still, it provides a mental break for your workers, which translates to increased happiness.
To make it fun, you can consider a range of items from comfortable bean bags to pool tables. The facilities also give employees a chance to take a few minutes out to freshen up their mindset after a tough meeting. It also facilitates improved interactions between colleagues to promote a better team atmosphere.
Research has also proven that movement breaks and regular hydration will promote productivity. Showing employees that you value them will also give them an extra source of happiness. Betters still, a quality brew courtesy of an office coffee machine delivers a daily source of luxury.
Various kinds of workspaces
Different people work best in different kinds of workspaces, so you should make sure to provide a variety of workspaces in your office, so that everyone who works for you can feel much more at home.
For instance, while some prefer to have their own cubicle, others prefer an open-style layout, so it’s a good idea if you have both of these kinds of workspaces to choose from. Hotdesking is worth pursuing for this same reason too. You can easily allow for this by considering it from the start of the design process.
Personality
People are generally much happier with a workplace if there is some kind of personality to it too. It is unfortunately very common for offices to have no personality whatsoever, so this is an error that you should be keen to avoid as much as possible.
Introduce some color into your office design, make it look a little modern and different, and you’ll find that there is much more personality to the office on the whole. This is going to make a huge difference to how people feel about working there.
With these elements in place, your employees will be a lot happier, and their work will improve too.
