Busy at wor
k, chased by mountains of documents and meetings, a long day spent in the office. Does it make you feel tired when you wake up every day?
It is generally believed that work performance is more related to personal ambition and concentration, but in fact, creating a good environment for employees directly and indirectly affects the length of time employees are willing to work for the company, the relief of pressure and emotional transformation, Workflow smoothness and more.
In addition, in the current knowledge-based economy society, to win in business competition, the key factor is to have innovative ideas, and to be creative, it is necessary to have a good working environment and allow employees to choose the working environment freedom. If entrepreneurs clearly recognize that the working environment is a part of their business strategy, they can virtually increase their chances of winning against their opponents.
“To have a good work environment, it’s not as simple as setting up a coffee machine and a table football in the office and saying it’s the corporate culture.”
Four key points to create a comfortable office environment, let’s have a look how many we tick!
First key point of office design ideas: Linking to your company philosophy
If you want to build a creative company and improve the quality of work. you must let employees have clear goals, clearly understand what they are doing and feel themselves are valued. The design of the company environment can help provide this connection and make employees feel resonating and understand how important they are to the company. When they understand their “mission”, they want to achieve it autonomously.
For example, companies that sell handcrafted products should decorate with locally made furniture. A company with a long history should use the company environment to connect the past and the present, so that employees would take the pride of the company’s long history.
Second key point of office design ideas: Lighting
Office lighting is so important! but always been ignored.
According to the US “Forbes” report, 80% of office workers believe that office lighting is very important to them, and 30% of office workers believe that good lighting design will make them happier and more productive at work. If you are the owner of a business, pay attention to lighting design and choose suitable lighting according to office use and area, you will get unexpected value.
Do you find lighting design difficult? In fact, you only need to master a few simple lighting principles. First of all, try not to block natural light sources. Natural light sources are soft, bright but not oppressive, which artificial lights cannot replace. There are various benefits of staying in places with natural light and light colors, such as maintaining vitamin D in the body, emotional balance, helping calcium absorption, bone stability and growth, etc. On the contrary, long-term lack of natural light, cortisol and Melatonin appears in the body at inappropriate times, causing depression, headaches, and sleep disturbances.
Natural light increases the lighting in the office, which is absolutely beneficial to the body, mind and work efficiency. However, in summer or in the room facing west, the heat of natural light may make the interior space too hot. Excessive sun exposure may also make the floor and furniture lose its color. It will actually reduce the overall comfort level. Adjusting excessive light you can choose sunshade products that conform to the company’s image and style, such as roller blinds, roman blinds or honeycomb blinds, etc.
If the natural light is insufficient, the artificial natural color light of 4500-5000k can be used to supplement the brightness. People who prefer neutral light were more inclined to solve interpersonal conflicts through cooperation and had higher preference to avoid conflict resolution. The overall lighting effect was better if decorated with high-transparency glass cubicles. The last, avoiding placing large plants next to windows or glass cubicles to block light.
Third key point of office design ideas: Planting decoration, allows the body and mind to breathe deeply
The office is often the place where you spend the longest time in the day. Decorating a beautiful desk is important to have a happy natural mood. Many people will place green plants on the desktop to protect their eyes. A green environment can also reduce the psychological pressure of work. A study by the School of Psychology at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom found that a variety of plants in the office can increase employee productivity by 15% and increase happiness which is related to reducing psychological stress, improving concentration and good mood. Decorating the space with the green is full of vitality, and the right ones can also bring good luck!
Recommended office planting collections:
Snake Plant
Also called “air purifier” can absorb 80% of the harmful gas in the indoor air, a particularly strong ability to remove formaldehyde. Don’t need to water too frequently, water when the soil is dry. Good to be in a dry and shaded place.
Features: clean air, dry and drought resistant
Epipremnum aureum
A popular plant for good luck. It grows rapidly and has strong resistance to pests, suitable for novice planting. It can easily grow in the office or bathroom.
Features: strong fertility, shade and humidity resistance
Chlorophytum comosum
Chlorophytum is a representative of novice plants. It is easy to grow full, gives you the sense of accomplishment when planting plants for the first time. The evergreen Chlorophytum has a good decorative effect on the office, and it also has a strong air purification effect. An office plant with both ornamental and functional properties.
Features: Absorb formaldehyde, grow vigorously
Peperomia obtusifolia
Commonly known as “Fortune Grass”, the round leaves are like the shape of coins, lovely and cute. And smooth and glossy leaf surfaces have the meaning of wealth and beauty, the first choice for the office to attract wealth. It is easy to take care of and a good sign to place on the table.
Features: Absorbs radiation
Forth key point of office design ideas: Give employees more control
Open-plan offices were popular. It became popular due to the rise of technology companies such as Google and Microsoft, architectural design companies designed open and adjacent office spaces based on the openness and innovation of the Internet.
However, such an office environment also has certain problems. Harvard Business School conducted a detailed study on the open office in 2018 and found that, although the open office allows employees to face-to-face, the actual communication is reduced by about 70%. Communication through email or social communication software has increased by about 50% and noise has become another inevitable problem in open offices. Frequent noise is not conducive to people’s work efficiency, and thus promotes the use of headphones in office scenes. Music isolates part of the noise and indirectly creates a “very busy” attitude.
This situation has led to changes in large companies that value employee efficiency and innovation. Especially under the impact of the epidemic, with the rise of remote offices, office space has been redefined and many companies have begun to seek changes. There is no such thing as a once-and-for-all office. The complex types of employees and the epidemic have promoted the trend of remote offices. The integration of remote and office will also be a future trend. The innovation of office design has already begun and it is inevitable for office spaces to have Diversity and flexibility to meet these office needs, such as LinkedIn‘s complete renovation of its Chicago office after the epidemic, showing a completely different style.
Walking into its office area is like walking into a coffee shop in a trance. Its appearance and even the display of office equipment are similar to the coffee shop. It has restaurants, gyms, lounges and other facilities, and the office becomes a place to relax and unwind. LinkedIn‘s design company GENSLER said: I hope that through these designs, employees can gain a sense of control over the working environment and give them more autonomy to choose a more comfortable working environment, just like working from home. This also fits the influence of remote offices to people nowadays.
A survey conducted on more than 2,300 employees of different ages and occupations. It was found that after employees had higher control over the working environment, their creativity and work quality were significantly improved. The driving force behind the move from the open-plan office to the flexible office is the new corporate culture that focuses on efficiency, privacy, and a comfortable work environment.
