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South: Office design can significantly improve workplace culture

The Business Magazine article image for: South: Office design can significantly improve workplace culture
14 October 2019

For a huge number of companies in Britain today, workplace culture, and the way it supports and encourages employees, is an important ingredient in their recipe to success – whether or not they realise it. Similarly, many businesses are inhibited by a workplace culture which is a poor fit for a significant portion of the workforce.

One important way that you can encourage a positive workplace culture and help your employees find the optimal balance between efficiency and wellbeing is by considering your office design and changing it where necessary.

Office design for happier employees

Mental health is in the global spotlight, now, in a way it has not been before and, with one in four British adults facing some level of struggle with mental health, it is not hard to see why. Mental health is therefore something that you cannot afford to ignore when considering how best to design or redesign your office. The spread of open planning in many offices, replacing the older cubicle-based model, can go some way to improving this.

There are many other ways to ensure that a positive and supportive culture are reflected in your new design. Consider repainting formerly glaring white walls in warmer, gentler colour schemes, and pursue efforts to create a greater sense of space.  It can also be a good chance to look at the layout of rooms and workspaces within the office and see whether there are any places which are being underutilised.

Happier employees are more productive

If you are worried that a focus on employee contentment in a redesign will see your workforce grow complacent, you do not need to worry. Research by Gallup suggests that while employee productivity and employee engagement should not be taken to be the same thing, teams with high rates of employee engagement are 21% more productive.

To ensure that you allow your employees to engage more, and thus be more productive, it is important you create spaces, both physical and virtual, in which they can collaborate. Online working platforms such as Slack have taken great strides in activity-based teamwork and offer workers flexibility and the chance to work part time from home, while not losing the advantages the office offers.

Offer a way for employees to build interpersonal relationships offline, through creating social areas. You want to be sure you are getting the best possible use of your space, balancing efficiency with spaces for bonding, so consider a professional office designer who will consider these factors, such as Maris. You can find out more at Maris about how design firms would make interiors where all your employees will do their best work.

Create an open culture through checking in with your employees

To create a culture which engages employees, it is also necessary to check in with them; having a sense of trust and understanding between workers and senior management is a large factor in how happy many people feel with their work. Taking this step to regularly have two-way talks with your employees will improve happiness and productivity, as if workers know the company’s rationale and strategy, they will understand what to expect in the coming months. This can also give a chance for you to gather valuable feedback.


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