When you scale your business, you’re able to handle a rise in revenue, work, or output cost-effectively and sensibly. Your business can withstand expansion without sacrificing other aspects like employee turnover due to severe workloads or a product that can’t be manufactured quickly enough to fulfill demand.
If your employees have increased in the past years, or maybe you plan on recruiting more then your workplace design must change if you want to make more money and even retain those employees?
Everyone cares about where they work. It’s a reason why workplace design is so important. Take a moment to think. When you’re given a job opportunity, do you always think about how the offices look like or at least what your office looks like? Chances are you think about where you’ll be working.
Your workplace design will also determine your top talent remains satisfied and engaged.
It’s difficult enough to find the best and brightest. Even if you secure a wonderful candidate, all of your hard work and money could be for naught if the seemingly perfect-fit employee doesn’t last long.
You can’t cater to each employee’s individual needs and desires. However, there are a few basic, actionable design concepts that can assist reduce turnover and foster a stronger personal bond with your business.
As the numbers grow you must be able to provide your employees three workplace essentials flexibility, comfort, and control.
Here’s how you can use workplace design to change as your employee numbers grow.
- Make sure there is flexibility
Employees should be able to choose where and how they work. Embracing flexibility at the workplace requires broadening your view of what constitutes a workspace. It’s important to start thinking outside the box, whether that box is a cubicle, a private office, or your physical location’s four walls.
Based on the Upwork 2018 report flexible work is only going to increase. So we can only expect an increase in the amount of work done remotely in the 10 years to come. You can work with a facilities management company to help you here.
How can you use flexibility through design?
It’s easy, look around and determine how much space you have and choose what areas need to redesigning, expanded, or used for a completely different purpose. For example, ask yourself this;
Can that empty room be turned into a meeting room?
Can an office or meeting space be converted into a videoconference room?
Are there any benches available for visiting freelancers and contractors?
Do you have an area where the team can meet, relax and catch up?
- Your employees should be comfortable
Stress and fatigue are what get employees running away, comfort is what retains them. For whichever reason employees shouldn’t have to go through pain at the workplace because then they won’t perform well.
People that work for you must feel at ease. To accomplish their best work, they require the appropriate furnishings, tools, and surroundings. A comfortable work chair, in my opinion, is the single best purchase you can make for any employee.
It’s critical to have the correct chair. You’d be surprised how quickly a cheap chair may cause pain and even major harm. It’s also important to provide high-quality chairs.
It’s even more effective if you involve employees in the choosing.
What design elements can you use to enhance better comfort?
Empty walls can be filled with color or artwork. Different colors have an impact on one’s attitude and energy levels. Art lends personality to otherwise uninspiring rooms.
Incorporate some plants. Greenery is a natural stress reliever that also has demonstrable health advantages, such as reduced noise and cleaner air.
Include some texture. Introduce natural stone and fabric wall coverings to break up the monotony of typical work surfaces.
Take into consideration environmental comfort variables such as light, temperature, air quality, and noise while thinking about comfort.
- Do they have control?
When employees have control over their work environment, they will be more involved in their work.
Nobody wants to be in a place where they don’t have control. Employees will seek work that is sensitive to their requirements if they have less influence. That’s all there is to it.
Control includes the ability to change the brightness, temperature, and volume of the room. This could imply granting access to an office or meeting room’s thermostat.
It could mean that people have the option to move from one room to maybe seek some quiet in another room where they can focus on their tasks better or maybe the team prefers to discuss in another area.
How can you use design to give you greater control?
Rearrange your office space and set aside areas for collaboration and attention that are both noisy and quiet.
Make temperature regulating simple by providing quick access to controls and clear recommendations.
Make adjustments to your environment to allow for maximum natural light.
Employees should be involved in office furnishing decisions including. Allow everyone to personalize their workstations and make suggestions for group areas.
Commit to improving your current place regularly. Even if the changes are just aesthetic, those who care will see a difference.
Conclusion
To manage and retain your employees, you must make them feel connected to your company and culture which can be achieved through changing design.
You may achieve this by incorporating the ideals of flexibility, comfort, and control into your office design. Success will be determined by a company’s capacity to adapt and change as more workplaces renounce rigid traditions and embrace the live-work-play ideal.
The only issue however is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to staff turnover. Different people switch jobs for a wide range of reasons. Human resource retention will continue to be a problem that may not have a solution for now.
However still for your growing number of employees, they don’t have to be lost. For now, the office design will work as your retention strategy. Simply add small modifications to your physical environment and they might have a big influence on your bottom line.
