Most people spend around 40 hours a week in an office. Some of these people dread going to work while others are excited–a major difference between these groups is the offices they go to. If your office is dark, divided, and boring, it will reflect in your employees. Here are five ways to make your office space more inviting for your employees, and even your clients.
1. Decor
36 Office Decor Ideas to Inspire Your Team’s Best Work
Jazzing up the office space can make it feel homier and more personalized. When people work in cubicles, they often add a poster or a plant to add their ownership and feel more comfortable. In an office, you have more room to personalize the area with furniture sets, plants, rugs, and wall art. Decorations can make your office look and feel more put together by increasing your brand presence as you incorporate your logo and brand colors as accent pieces throughout the office.
2. Cleanliness
Entering the office and finding a clean space can lower stress levels and help employees relax. Mountains of papers to file, mysterious odors, and general clutter can be enough for a person to lose motivation and want to go home. Implementing an organizing system can help decrease the amount of clutter in the office, and while custodial crews can help with the questionable smells, sometimes you need more firepower than that. See our other posts about cleaning to see if their odor removal technology or mold remediation is something your office needs.
3. Light
5 Surprising Ways Lighting Can Improve Your Mood, Productivity, and Health
Working in a bright space can help stimulate your senses and make you feel more awake. Though you might not be able to control how much sunshine your office gets, you can create more lighting by using more light fixtures or lamps in your office and painting the walls a lighter color. Light walls, like white or pastels, reflect whatever light is available to make the room seem brighter and bigger.
4. Snacks
Some people are motivated by rewards–like a snack. Keeping your office mini-fridge stocked with sodas or having a cupboard dedicated to cookies and chips will make your employees extra happy. Google keeps their office and cafeteria well-stocked for their employees, and in turn, the employees appreciate the time and money they save buying snacks, and it “helps them build relationships with … colleagues.” Providing snacks and drinks (especially coffee) for your workers not only helps motivate them, but it also helps them feel happier in the office.
5. Community Areas
7 Factors of Great Office Design
Most people enjoy having their own office, but including interactive areas in your office can be beneficial to promote relationship building amongst employees. Even if your community area is just a couch or table in the break room, it can help boost morale. One place of importance is the conference room. Having white-boards and comfy chairs in the conference room will encourage employees to spend time in there brainstorming and working together when the room is not in use.
Feeling comfortable at the place you work motivates you to stay. Decorating your office, making sure that it’s clean, and providing snacks are easy ways to boost company morale and lower the turnover rate of your employees.
