Building Your Office For Your Team

Would you rather work on an uncomfortable chair or a comfortable one? The answer is seemingly obvious, but many businesses deck out their office in the same bland style and expect the world from their staff. If you’re a business leader – or owner – you owe it to your team to kit out their working environment to ensure that they are working at their best. Every business owner should take some sort of pride in their work – but if they don’t care about the office, the heart of the business – then things can go wrong fast. A good workplace can motivate your staff!

The best thing to do to get your office ship-shape is to invest in a deep clean. Your office should have cleaners anyway, but if it doesn’t, then now is the time to rectify that. No office wants surface dust and dirt lying around as not only is it terrible for the health of office computers, it’s generally bad for health and morale. Who would want to work surrounded by dirt? Cleaners should be visiting the workplace on a nightly basis at the very least, but there is no harm in asking your staff to be proactive about cleaning. Leaving wipes in the desk of each worker can help them give their desk a quick thirty-second clean, and providing small trashcans for each desk can help with general office mess.

It’s not just about the environment, though; the office needs to be comfortable. Having the right office furniture goes a long way here so spend well and wisely on adjustable chairs that offer good support, desks that give leg room, and computer monitors that can be angled correctly. Offering staff mousepads, gel wrist supports and other comfort accessories can also help. Furniture must be safe, comfortable and suitable for the workplace.

A good idea with office furniture is to consult your team and their needs. A good open meeting could set the agenda for an office makeover and ensure the needs of staff are met. This is an area where you need to think about accessibility and how those with mobility issues might navigate the office. Be proactive here and ensure that the workspace is wheelchair accessible – which should cover all, if not most, needs in the workplace.

It’s also a grand idea to consider layout if you haven’t before. If your business relies on collaboration, why not bring desks together so the team can actually speak? Allow staff to sit where they want and allow for flexible working – staff should be able to access their work on any computer available. Communication is key in the office, and good layout will boost it. Also – allow your staff to add a little bit of themselves to the workplace – it’s not fair to restrict their personalities, so let them make their desks actually theirs!

A little goes a long way in the office and if you can get the function and comfort of your office right, it might be the basis for some big success!

Photo Credit: WOCinTech Chat