How To Use Workplace Design To Boost Employee Engagement

Traditionally, workplaces were designed to cater for work duties only. However, with recent studies of workplace design, workplaces should include more than the right furniture and color scheme. Although these are essential things in a workplace, the space should be designed with features, layout, functionality, and technology that inspire and empower your team to deliver their best.

An excellent workplace design has the potential of boosting your team’s morale and improving their engagement at work, which consequently increase employee productivity and revenues. It’s generally believed that fully engaged workers have lower absenteeism, higher customer satisfaction metrics, and better productivity than disengaged workers. 

Therefore, if you’re a business owner or manager at work, it should be your goal to do anything that helps keep your employees engaged and productive. If this is a new concept to you, the daunting question lingering in your mind right now might be, “How does one accomplish the right workplace design?”  Well, that is the purpose of this article. Here are some tips for you: 

• Designate Socialization And Collaboration Spaces

Functional office spaces are essential details of a workplace design. However, using modern workplace design would be best to create areas that support collaboration regardless of where your team is working from. It’s believed that modern employees want offices that can facilitate collaboration with colleagues working remotely. Therefore, for an office that boosts productivity, design it to accommodate in-office and remote workers’ collaboration. You can reimagine this by having your conference rooms fitted with screens for teleconferencing and recording equipment for asynchronous working with remote employees.  

Apart from your workers wanting these facilities for collaboration, they’ll also use them for socialization and connecting with their remote counterparts. You can bring in couches at one side of the office, which your workers can use during breaks. While seated on the couches, they may enjoy snacks or some fantastic music. Remember that your remote team can join the fun with the available technology.  

• Tailor The Workspace For Your Team

Different types of professionals use different types of offices. For instance, if your office has a lot of content marketing skills required, you can provide Grammarly proofreading or CV writing online tools to ensure that your workers produce high-quality content.  

Moreover, if your employees are working remotely some days, and other days in the office, you can use a hybrid model of a workspace. This may mean that you avoid designated workstations and fit a flexible ‘hot desk’ design that enables your employees to choose between communal or private workspaces when they’re in the office. Tailoring a workspace has got no specific arrangement; you can brainstorm with your team to create a comfortable space for them.

  

• Consider Your Workers’ Health And Sustainability

The productivity and engagement of your employees might be a reflection of how the building is safe and enhances their health. This goes a long way in ensuring that there are minimal instances of illnesses from your workers. Factors that account for a healthy workspace may include air quality, lighting, biophilic design, and acoustics.  

Air quality in the office may be improved by having some indoor plants. Additionally, some office flora can level up the beauty of the office, making it impressive for the occupants. It’s said that plants help purify the air, act as sound barriers, lower stress levels, and boost immunity.  

Therefore, place plants in individual workstations, communal workspaces, and meeting spaces. Moreover, you can send some indoor plants to your remote team and boost their engagement as they work from home.  

In addition, to improve the health of your employees, you may have a ‘quiet room’ where your workers can go to relax when they feel stressed. This room may have a way of regulating lights, for instance, to a dimmer brightness that’s more calming.  

 

• Provide Cutting Edge Technology And Tools

One of the trends that are getting wide acceptance in many organizations is remote working. It’s said that a substantial percentage of employees work half of their time from home. Another category of employees telecommutes, probably, once a week. Therefore, to support these trends, superior technology is the lifeline. If your technology is being phased out, you may consider upgrading it.  

To improve the engagement of your employees with technology, have reliable and fast wi-fi, modern laptops/desktops/tablets, smart furniture that can be integrated with technology, and smart office tools for controlling light, temperature and sound. These might be expensive investments for your business; however, the current generation of employees are natives of technology, and it might be essential in boosting their engagement and productivity.  

 

Wrapping Up

Workplace design plays a major role in improving the engagement of your workers. As a result, you need to be aware of the modern trends that transform traditional workspaces into more comfy and adaptable areas to support both in-office staff and remote employees. An engaging workspace may need collaboration and socialization spots, considers workers’ health, incorporates the latest technology, and is tailored for the nature of work being done.