As the world is slowly returning to traditional work routines and office spaces become populated again, many companies have started to revise their approach to designing their office environments. Part of that is the result of feedback from employees, and another part is that companies simply have a stronger motivation to retain their top talent in a market where working from home has started to become a basic expectation. If you’re looking for ideas on how to make your offices cosier and more attractive for your employees, here are some starting ideas.
Break Up the Monotony
Try to use colours and shapes as much as possible to break up the typical monotony of the office space. A simple approach is to create a colour coding scheme for different types of rooms. You can break this down even further. For example, different meeting rooms could have their own colour schemes. This will make them easier to find for newcomers and will also help make meetings a bit less boring and repetitive if each one is done in a different setting. Of course, don’t overdo this because it can easily backfire and make things confusing to people who’re not familiar with the office yet.
Make Relaxation Areas More Interesting
Don’t just focus on the working areas – pay attention to the spaces people use to relax as well. Modern bean bag furniture from Sumo Lounge can blend very well into the typical office break room and can provide your employees with a break from sitting in their office chairs. It can also make the place more inspiring for conversations and productive exchanges, stimulating your employees to spend more time in the break rooms. This will help them recharge their batteries more effectively and can raise the overall productivity levels of the office.
Provide Options to Those Who Want to Isolate and Focus
Don’t make the mistake of only focusing on the common areas of your office. Make sure that there are enough opportunities available to those who want to just take a step back from the chaos of day-to-day work and focus on a task in a more isolated manner.
Quiet rooms are becoming a popular concept in large organizations that traditionally use an open floor plan. You can easily repurpose existing rooms if you can’t create any new ones. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy – just make sure that employees using those rooms are provided with enough facilities to help them concentrate on what’s in front of them without unnecessary interruptions.
Those ideas should be a good starting point. If you really want to make your employees happy, make sure to explore as many additional opportunities for improving your office as you can. Working from home might be a popular trend, but many people have been expressing a desire to return to traditional office work in recent months, at least in some partial capacity. Improving the available facilities can help make that transition easy for both sides, you, and your employees alike.
