Nobody wants to spend their lives grinding away in a cubicle.
That being said, the realities of modern office life can be incredibly taxing and take a huge mental toll on those stuck in the rat race lifestyle.
According to modern psychology, cubicles are not necessarily conductive to productivity. In other words, the traditional office space as we know it may be far removed from what employees actually need to be as successful as possible.
But what’s the motivation for businesses? Consider, for starters, how creating a culture of office workers tied to the cubicle environment could impact your bottom line as an entrepreneur:
- High turnover rates as talent refuses to stick around in a stuffy, uncomfortable office culture
- Low performance: if your employees can’t focus or are simply too dreary to get down to business, that’s bad news for your bottom live
- Damaged reputation: if you company acquires the reputation of being soulless slave-drivers, that’s certainly a hard reputation to shake
From exposure to nature to the ability to roam and socialize, businesses today should strive to meet the needs of their talent on a mental level rather thing simply providing a job and nothing more. The following steps represent cost effective ways to rethink the traditional office space and drive employees to be motivated and dedicated.
Bring the Outdoors In
Don’t stick your talent in a windowless room and expect them to perform: they are human, after all. Exposure to natural light is a human need which might not always be conducive to your office space.
If you need to find a balance between natural light and glaring sunlight, shading solutions such as roman shades can most certainly come in handy. Give your workers the opportunity to work near windows but also shut out light if they choose.
Take Work Outside
Although you can’t always be expected to work beyond the confines of the office, strive to give your workers the opportunity to work in fresh locations from time to time. This could mean a group outing or individual opportunities for talent to work for home or at a remote location. This flexibility alone could be a huge moral booster for social butterflies looking to break away from a regular routine.
Ditch Traditional Desks
Likewise, you can eliminate cubicle culture altogether by implementing an open office environment. While such an office requires a certain degree of watchfulness to be effective, you may be shocked at how much better your talent performs when they’re allowed to collaborate.
Even if you do decide to embrace an open office, you should still give your workers some degree of privacy and opportunities to work alone if need be. A combination of collaborative areas and private desks may very well do the trick. Feel free to solicit feedback from your talent to see what they want and implement an office arrangement that can be agreed upon for everyone.
Every business has the opportunity to get work done the way that they see fit. That being said, consider the benefits of ditching the traditional cubicle approach for your working and becoming more flexible as means of keeping your talent happy in the long-run.
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