As business owners, you should be caring about profit margins, monthly improvements and quarterly financial reports. But behind the well-ironed shirts and polished shoes, the groomed hair and the hard work ethic, there’s a human being. Your employees are not robots and the environment around them and the situations they deal with every day, have an impact on their mindset. A cramped, and hot work area is always going to have people’s moods on edge, and so will an overly large and cold workspace. The key to improving productivity isn’t just to focus on how the business could operate smoother in terms of logistics and codes of conduct. Company culture is a massive area that gets overlooked by professionals all the times, and yet it’s where the secret lies to allowing your staff to get the most out of themselves.
Supplies and storage
There’s nothing more infuriating when you’re working late to meet a deadline which concerns a majorly important report, than going to the printer only to realise the paper has run out. Office supplies are indeed becoming less and less important in the workplace as the digital age is well and truly upon us. However, having paper stacks, pens, pencils, markers, paper clips and other office equipment in abundance means practically, the office will never slow down. The storage of these items also needs to be simplified and near to the workstations of your employees. Choose one pantry or side room of your office, where all the supplies are stored and ready to be accessed by your staff, so no one has to go hunting for sheets of paper at midnight on a different floor. Mental frustration should be treated on the same level as physical irritations.
Being comfortable Physically
Physically being comfortable in the office is vital for some people as fidgeting can become a habit. If you can at all avoid it, don’t pick the skeletal office chairs with hardly any support for the body. Yes, you do want your staff to have proper posture when they sit, so slouching doesn’t occur. Therefore get office chairs with a robust back support, but which also have enough padding for hips, the pelvic region, and shoulder support. Small businesses may not be able to afford cooling and temperature access to the offices they work in, but a portable air conditioner is great for all the different departments of your business. One side of the office can, therefore, be cooler as opposed to warmer on the other side. Not weighing a lot and certainly not tall enough to obscure anyone’s vision, these air conditioners are great for staff who work in cramped areas or sit close to one another most of the time.
The office shouldn’t be seen as a home away from home; it’s purely a place of work. But it doesn’t have to be so barren of comfort, that it starts to hit negatively on the employees. A happy worker is a proficient worker who is more focused on the task at hand. Something as small as a nice chair, or ease in stress levels can bring out the best in people, more often than you might think.
