Experts keep telling us that we must change our office design and optimize it to suit the employees. The stress of designing the perfect office is immense today. But do you ever wonder if a perfect office even exists?
The perfect office is the one that ensures employee health, well-being, and safety, boosts productivity and mood, fosters healthy communication and relationships between coworkers, and makes employees feel good about their job, workplace, and most importantly, about themselves.
While the idea of designing the perfect office sounds unreal and unachievable, it's actually very much possible to optimize the design of the office to make it perfect in every sense. It won't be easy, but it's definitely not impossible.
If your vision for the new year is to design the perfect office for your employees, but you don't know where to start and what changes to make, you've landed in the right place. This blog post will help you understand the various elements that make an office space perfect and how you can incorporate them into your workplace.
Elements of a Perfect Office
There's no rule of thumb when it comes to designing the perfect workspace. The idea of perfect is different for everybody. Therefore, the journey of designing a truly great workspace is highly subjective. However, one thing that an office must have to be considered great is it should be focused on an employee-first ideology. A business that lives by the motto customers first, employees forever will go very far.
Now that you're onto designing the perfect office let's walk you through the essential elements that make an office truly perfect.
Space
An office should be spacious and open. No matter how modern and aesthetic it is, a cramped office will never fall under the idea of a perfect one. Long gone are the days when employees enjoyed working in small cubicles. Office design has evolved massively, and today, most modern offices feature an open-space design. Therefore, when designing the perfect office, make sure it's open and spacious because you certainly don't want your employees to feel like they're caged. You want your employees to feel good, and that's only possible when the office is spaciously designed.
Lighting
Dim lighting definitely looks great, but only in fine-dine restaurants. Offices aren't supposed to be dimly lit. A perfect office will have the perfect lighting that's not too dim or bright. Dimly lit offices look dull and gloomy, and they make employees feel the same. Offices that are too bright can cause eye strain and headaches in employees. The idea is to install just the right type and number of lights that make the office look bright and welcoming. Your best bet is to install large windows in your office so that your office is lit with natural light during the day. Natural light is found to positively affect the mood, morale, and productivity of employees. Not to mention, the more natural light, the less electricity consumption will be during the day! It's a win-win for both employees and employers.
Color
Color is a very important element in office design. Most offices had white, cream, or gray walls. But these colors look absolutely gloomy, to say the least. The perfect office shouldn't make your employees feel dull. Instead, you need a pop of color that boosts your employees so that they feel happy, chirpy, and highly productive at work. Think out of the box and let your creative juices flow. Nobody would mind working in an office that has got all the fun and refreshing vibes!
Temperature
As we said in the beginning, a perfect office is one that makes your employees feel comfortable at work. Having said that, having an office that's too cold or warm is just not it. You've got to ensure that your office doesn't feel too cold or hot at any time during the day during any season because it'll make employees uncomfortable, and they'll get distracted from work.
Kitchen and Dining Area
Many people survive on caffeine. If they don't get enough caffeine during the day, they just can't function. Now, if an employee is craving tea or coffee but your office doesn't have a kitchen where employees can make themselves a cup of their favorite hot beverage, can you consider your office the perfect workplace? Absolutely not. You should give your employees access to the kitchen or dining area equipped with basic utensils and ingredients for tea and coffee so that your employees can give themselves an energy shot whenever they feel like it!
Electrical Outlets
One of the most neglected elements of an office design is the availability of electrical outlets. We're living in an age where everybody owns a smartphone. Everyone is on their phone almost all the time. Even your employees use their phones between work. Now, if there aren't any electrical outlets within their reach, they won't be able to charge their phones, which might affect their focus. Having phones around is a comfort for most people, and you should ensure you don't take that comfort away from them. Another plus point of having plenty of electrical outlets across your office is that there won't be wires and cables lying around everywhere (which is both unaesthetic and unsafe).
Furniture
The most important element of the perfect office is the furniture, specifically the work desk, and chair. It's where your employees will be using it all day, every day. If the furniture isn't comfortable, not only will your employees stay distracted throughout the day, but they'll also be at risk of developing serious health conditions. An office where the employees aren't safe is anything but perfect.
If the work desk isn't the right height for your employees, they'll have to sit in an incorrect posture. They'll sit with their back curved if the height is too low and with their back and neck awkwardly stretched if the desk is too high. Sitting in an incorrect posture will result in pain, neck and shoulder pain and put the employees at risk of posture-related musculoskeletal disorders. The perfect office will be equipped with ergonomic work desks for all employees. Ergonomic work desks come with an adjustable height feature that allows every employee to adjust the height of their work desk according to their comfort.
Next comes the office chair. If the chair isn't comfortable, your employees will experience discomfort and pain, especially in the lower back region. Sitting in an uncomfortable chair can strain the back and put employees at risk of musculoskeletal disorders. An ergonomic chair is needed to make your office the perfect place to work. Ergonomic chairs aren't like regular office chairs. These chairs enable the employees to adjust the height of the chair so that their feet are flat on the floor. The users can also adjust the seat depth so that their lumbar region is touching the backrest. Ergonomic chairs also have armrests and headrests as well.
When your office is equipped with ergonomic furniture, you're almost there in your journey of designing the perfect office!
View
What view does your office offer? Is it the main road or the parking lot? If yes, you've got major work to do. You should redesign your office and reorganize the employees' sitting to ensure that the employees get a garden view. Having a good view in front reduces stress, encourages critical thinking, and reduces stress. All of this will not only make your employees feel great, but it'll also reflect in their productivity.
Plants
Adding fresh plants to your office is another way of making your office a place for employees where they feel good and fresh instead of feeling stressed and exhausted all the time. Just because it's an office doesn't mean it has to have a stressful vibe. Fresh plants can really uplift the environment and make your employees feel active and fresh.
Relaxing Spots
Does your office have any relaxing spots? The idea of having relaxing rooms in offices is still new and uncommon, but the benefits are tremendous. Your employees are humans and not robots. They get tired and stressed at work, and that's totally understandable. Designing relaxing rooms in the office where the employees can play games or simply lie down for a couple of minutes will help them replenish their energy stores and return to their workstations feeling refreshed.
Final Word
If you ask us what a perfect office is for us, we'll say it's where the employees feel happy. If your employees don't come to work feeling their best every morning and they don't look forward to coming to work, you've got a lot of work to do. You need to design an office where your employees come happily every day! So yes. Perfect offices can exist!
