How to Change the Work Environment to Improve Productivity
Posted June 6th, 2019
When it comes to productivity, the work environment itself can have a significant impact. The look, feel, and function of a workplace all affect your employees. By instituting specific improvements, you can create a more harmonious space that is best-equipped to meet the needs of a diverse staff. If you want to enhance productivity, here are some work environment changes worth considering.
Add Quiet Spaces
Detail-oriented, heads-down work can be cumbersome. Often, these tasks require a substantial amount of concentration, particularly if accuracy is of critical importance.
Open office or cubicle environments are often wrought with distractions. Conversations, ringing phones, and coworkers stopping by make it hard for your employees to focus, harming their productivity and the quality of their outputs.
If your workers don’t have their own offices with doors, consider dedicating a few rooms to serve as quiet spaces. Make the rules similar to a library, where talking, phone calls, and noise are largely banned. Then, allow your employees to take advantage of these spaces when they genuinely need quiet and to limit interruptions, ensuring they can complete their detail-oriented work with greater ease.
Alternatively, if you don’t have space available, consider allowing employees to wear noise-canceling headphones when they need to focus. Not only can these block out ambient noise but visible headphones can also signal to other employees that the person does not want to be disturbed.
Think Comfort
A comfortable workspace is much more enticing than an uncomfortable one. Similarly, physical discomfort can harm concentration, leading to lower productivity.
When possible, make sure each workspace is ergonomically designed to meet the needs of that individual employee. Let them select chairs, desk heights, and equipment positioning to optimize the flow or work and support their body properly.
Additionally, be mindful of ambient environmental factors, like lighting and temperature. Insufficient lighting can lead to eye strain, and artificial light isn’t always ideal. Let natural light in whenever possible. If that isn’t an option, create more options for internal lights, such as desk lamps.
For temperature, make sure the ambient (not the reading on the thermostat) temperature is around 72 to 76 degrees. Also, look for opportunities to give individual employees more control over the temperature in their individual workspaces, like the ability to use desk fans or the option to sit under a blanket. Otherwise, some of your employees may be comfortable while others are not, and arguments about the thermostat setting are rarely great for productivity.
Allow Some Personalization
Giving employees the ability to personalize their workspaces a bit can boost productivity. When they add familiar items or objects that bring them joy to their workspace, it can help them feel more connected to the company and happier in their role, resulting in higher productivity.
While it is perfectly fine to set limits regarding personalization, being open to a few photo frames or small trinkets can go a long way.
Add Talented Employees to Your Team!
If you would like to know more, the professionals at Bayside Solutions can help. Contact us to speak with a member of our knowledgeable team today and see how our productivity expertise can benefit you.
