Office Decor Changes that Can Improve Your Productivity

Introduction

Everyone knows that a good design improves mood. You’re completely in control of how you will arrange the place in your home. Now, some people spend more hours at their office than in their homes. With that in mind, it’s easy to see why a good office décor might affect their mood and long-term mental health in a positive way. It might also positively impact their productivity.

You can alter the layout at your behest, bring something new to hang on the wall, and even decide to paint the room at a moment’s notice. Things are not so simple in the workplace. First of all, there are many different people and personalities there, making it impossible to please everyone. However, some décor ideas are generally seen as good ideas. Let’s check out some of your options.

Ergonomics

The first issue worth considering is the concept of ergonomics. This is a study of the efficiency of the working environment, which is exactly what you’re trying to achieve. Providing suitable lighting, proper furniture, and even adequate monitors might make a massive impact on things like:

• Productivity
• Physical health
• Mental health

This is why it’s something that you want to take seriously. Now, these ergonomic ideas range from extreme to moderate, which is why they aren’t for everyone.

One example of this is standing desks. While they do deliver better results and are healthier in the long run, the truth is that some employees would find working under such conditions to be pure torture. This is why, even if you decide to introduce this into your office, make sure to have a section of the floor dedicated to it (not make it a standard). Also, you want the work behind these desks to be organized in an interval manner. The Pomodoro Technique, where an employee works for 25 minutes and rests (sits) for 5 is a great example.

Then, when talking about moderate ideas, you can always replace your standard office furniture with ergonomic alternatives. Both chairs and desks need to be adjustable. Every workstation will be adjusted to the employee using it. You see, there’s an angle under which the employee’s posture is proper, and their sight is directed at the screen in a way that causes the least strain.

Whenever choosing an ergonomic method, make sure that you honor three key concepts of ergonomics. These are:

• Physical ergonomics
• Psychological ergonomics
• Organizational ergonomics

A piece of furniture, a layout, or a principle that follows all three is ergonomic and will benefit your team in more than one way.

Make the Workplace Quieter

Now, there are several different ways to reduce noise distractions in the office. The first and the most obvious the principle has nothing to do with design – you just introduce a new set of rules. Still, this is never popular, seeing as how a lot of people:

• Don’t create noise on purpose.
• Aren’t even aware that they’re the source of the noise

So, what can you do instead of this? Well, you can start by buying some rugs for the office floor. Wall-to-wall rugs will be hell to clean. However, they will drastically reduce noise and even increase the temperature in the office by 1 to 2 degrees. While there will be some dents in the rugs over time, dragging chairs across the office will no longer cause screeching, which is already huge.

Where there are people, there is noise, and one of your main objectives is to try to make the place more acoustic. More specifically, you need to find a method to stop the echo in the room. There are several ways you can do so from installing ceiling and wall panels all the way to hanging acoustic curtains.

Of course, you can also be more attentive when buying hardware peripherals. Noise-canceling headphones will solve this problem on their own. Then again, for those who don’t want to ruin their hair, equipping the room with silent keyboards is a great move in the right direction. If you have people who are conferencing from the office floor all the time, one of the things you can do is provide them with directional microphones.

You would be surprised just how anxious some people get in a hectic and noisy environment. This way, you can make a difference.

More Than Just Work Area

Previously, we’ve talked about a way to prevent noise in the work area. The simplest answer may be the most effective of them all – just give people an alternative. You can’t expect people to spend 8 hours in the office and not utter a word. Simply give them a breakroom and separate it from the main area so that people on their break don’t disturb their coworkers who are still working.

Keep in mind that while a break area can be anything from a cafeteria to a games room, some enterprises have gone quite far in this. For instance, some offices have a nap room. You see, various studies have proven that a 20-minute power nap can make a world of difference in one’s performance, as well as their mood. Other companies have a daycare within the complex. This is amazing for working moms and may completely revolutionize your hiring process. It will both make your business appear more appealing and give you a greater talent pool to choose from.

Now, having an alternative work area is also a sound idea. Some enterprises have asked for permission to rework the roof of the building in which they rent office space. There, they’ve built a deck and mountable sun covers. So, when the weather permits, a part of the workforce can migrate to the roof. Working in the open air and being closer to the sun can have an astounding effect on one’s productivity.

Overall, when choosing an office space, you need to look past how many workstations you can squeeze on the office floor. A modern office is a hybrid between a workplace and an alternative residential area.

Decluttering the Space

People work best when not surrounded by mess. This is not just proven via numerous studies, it’s also common sense. We’ve already discussed the importance of removing the noise distraction, however, visual distraction can be just as bad.

This is one more reason why you don’t want to cram too many desks in the office space. Leave some room for air circulation, foot traffic, etc.

Not all clutter is trash. You see, documents that your coworker needs for the project that they’re currently working on belong on a desk and not in a trash can. However, for someone who just observes the image from the side, this may not be clear. The solution to this is not simple, and it requires a bit of discipline. First, your co-workers should take care of their desks as soon as they’re done with work. Second, when there’s some space between the desks, the visual impression that these individual piles make is not nearly as great.

Then again, you need to keep the place neat. This is why, when redesigning, make sure that you choose elements that are easy to clean. Also, pick the cleaning agency carefully, seeing as how this is the task that commonly gets outsourced.

Wrap Up

While performance often depends on individual factors, the office décor can affect both mental health and productivity. This means that the investments that you’re making right now are going to pay back dividends in productivity. However, this is a passive payback that will require some patience. After a while, the ROI might start being quite easy to notice.