The Best Workplace Designs to Improve Productivity by Employees

Workplace productivity is key to business success.

Thankfully, a wide array of methods are now known to facilitate it. For instance, check out these facts:

• 90-minute uninterrupted working intervals have been found to maximize performances and productivity.
• Productivity increases by 15% when people exercise before work.
• 65 to 70 Fahrenheit is the peak office temperature to improve productivity.

Clearly, the environment and approach to work make a significant difference. It’s exactly this reason that demonstrates why workplace design is another vital means of enhancing productivity.

Simply, the space in which people work can either help or hinder their productivity. Interested in learning the best workplace designs for increasing employee efficiency, throughput, and well-being too?

Keep reading!

1. Incorporate Greenery & Light

Employee wellbeing is a buzzword of recent times.

It’s essential that businesses take steps to enhance the physical and mental well-being of their staff.

As it happens, everyone’s a winner! Happy employees work harder. Employers see increased productivity as a result. Investing in a happy workforce provides great returns!

Two ways of enhancing wellbeing in the office is by incorporating light and life. Having lots of natural light in the office creates a relaxed sense of openness and calm. Likewise, plants and flowers in the office create a more pleasant working environment.

Both life and light increase workplace satisfaction. Productivity is boosted as a result.

2. Enable People to Move Around

This productivity-boosting method is also related to workplace well-being.

It’s well known that the ability to move around and take regular breaks at work is important. Be sure to encourage both in the design of the office space.

There are numerous ways of doing this. For instance, many businesses provide desks that can convert from sitting to standing. Excessive sitting is bad for physical and mental health. Standing desks effectively counter the problem.

Likewise, incentivizing movement through the positioning of features can help too. Place the water cooler on the opposite side of the room. Situate desks away from the restrooms. Have printers and photocopiers in set apart from the computers.

These steps ensure employees take regular breaks from their desk, which involve physical movement.

These lead to enhanced levels of concentration, focus, and, ultimately, productivity.

3. Incorporate Ergonomics

Ergonomics are key to workplace comfort.

Remember, people spend hours of their day at work, seated at a computer. We’ve already noted how this is awful for their physical and mental health.

Ergonomic chairs, desks, computer supports, foot-rests, computer mice and so on can all help.

There’s nothing more distracting than being uncomfortable. Focusing on a task is far harder when there’s pain in your head, neck, shoulders, back, legs and/or wrist.

Likewise, over time, serious workplace injuries can occur. The antithesis of workplace productivity is taking sick leave.

4. Keep Phones Away

Technology and business go hand in hand these days.

It’s often a vital component of business operations.

Smartphones, tablets, and computers all have a role to play.

However, you’d be shocked at how much time is taken up with non-work-related tasks. Checking messages, browsing social media, searching online, and so on, are all common.

Having a phone there is often too tempting to resist! But it all constitutes time away from work. Of course, that amounts to a total lack of productivity in those moments.

Design a space that encourages employees to keep their phones at bay. A central hub, lockable draws, and so on are potential options.

5. Stay Clean, Tidy & Organized

Many people think a tidy desk is overrated.

They’ll claim they do their best work when their space is messy. They’re at their most creative and productive with clutter in their vicinity.

That may well be the case for some individuals. However, for the vast majority, the opposite is true. Messy, unclean workspaces that are covered in random detritus prove a distraction.

Conversely, a clean space facilitates productivity.

Take computer wires as an example. Computers are key to almost every office space. However, the wiring can cause problems. They get in the way, take time to hook up, can become dislodged and cause technical issues…and so on. Many top offices make it a priority to limit wires and have specialized desks that hide them away.

6. Cubicles Are Old News

Cubicles were once a go-to of office-spaces.

It was believed they fostered greater productivity. It makes sense. After all, someone’s in their cubicle. They can’t see their fellow employees. There are no distractions; it’s just them and their work.

But at what cost?

There’s no peer engagement. There’s no life to the space. There’s no emphasis on employee satisfaction. Of course, this does nothing to incentivize hard work. In fact, the opposite is true. Unhappy employees never work as hard as happy ones.

These days, an opposite approach is recommended. Large, dynamic and open-plan spaces that encourage interaction and collaboration are in fashion.

This stimulates satisfaction, cultivates creativity, and promotes cross-department collaboration.

Now, there’s still room (literally) for private spaces too. A degree of privacy isn’t a bad thing at regular desks. However, they shouldn’t be totally enclosed and cut-off-to-the-world style.

Want some ideas on the best approach? This site can help.

7. Key Employee-Oriented Features

A final means of improving productivity speaks, again, to cultivating employee satisfaction.

This isn’t necessarily about giving employees exactly what they want. It’s about striking a balance between their wellbeing and needs, as well as the need to work.

Top businesses do what they can to promote it all. Healthy free snacks and breakfast spreads are common. Chilled relaxation areas help provide time-out spaces. In-house gyms promote exercise, and so on.

Think about the features that you have the means of providing. Doing what you can to encourage employee satisfaction can work wonders for productivity. It will also help with your market appeal. Top talent will always be drawn to companies where employees are front and center.

Time to Improve Workplace Productivity

There you have it: the best workplace designs to improve productivity in your employees.

Productivity is essential for companies to remain competitive. Subpar employee productivity hinders overall performance. Thankfully, there are all manner of ways to promote it.

As we’ve seen, workplace design is one of them. Hopefully, this piece has inspired some ideas as to how to create a space that works in your favour.

Like this article? Read more design and construction posts on the blog!