How Your Workspace Affects Your Business
Your business is so much more than what you sell and how you sell it. Every little detail makes an impact. The physical workspace is often an overlooked detail, but it shouldn’t be! Your workspace affects every facet of your business: from your employees to your customers.
The Employee Effect
Perhaps the most obvious reason to upgrade your workspace is that it affects employee productivity. Employees are affected by the space you provide for them. Your workspace affects whether or not your employees want to show up for work. You don’t want your employees to show up simply out of a need to come to work. You want them to want to come to work. Why? If they’re happy, they’re more productive. Employee happiness boosts productivity by 12%.
No one wants to work in a dull environment. Talk about depressing. If your employees are unhappy, they work slower. Additionally, a chaotic workspace causes stress. Stress also slows productivity because employees have to spend their efforts trying to remain calm. Motivate them by providing them with an exciting yet peaceful workspace. You want to get your employees energized!
The Customer Effect
When we think about bettering the workspace, we don’t typically have customers in mind. The fact is that the workspace affects how potential customers view and trust your brand. Happier employees happily serve customers. Engaged employees perform 10% better in customer metrics and 20% better in sales.
Customers can tell if employees are unhappy. This gives them a negative perception of your company. Before you solely blame your employees, look at the environment they’ve been placed in. If employees look well taken care of, customers trust that your company will take care of them as well.
Even more so, if you are a company that brings clients into your workspace, you have to draw them in. Customers won’t be drawn in by your product if they can’t keep their eyes off of your disorganized space. You want your workspace to appear professional yet welcoming.
Your product will seem less amazing if your workspace doesn’t amaze them. Think of your workspace as your launching pad. Get your customers engaged as soon as they walk in the door, and they’ll be anticipating what you have for them. We’ve established that your employees don’t want to be in a dull, boring environment. Well, neither do your customers.
It’s obvious that the workspace is important. Maybe your workspace could use an upgrade for the sake of your employees and your customers. We’ll look now at what makes a workspace great and how to implement those characteristics.
How to Create a Better Workspace
1. Add and Adjust Light
Adding light reduces eyestrain, headaches, and blurred vision for employees. Make the most of natural lighting by adding windows and/or skylights. Move furniture that blocks windows. Natural sunlight boosts energy and mood.
Of course, fluorescent lights are inevitable, but use them wisely. Use warm light (more red/yellow) in break rooms for relaxation. Use colder lights (more white/blue) in conference rooms and brainstorming rooms to increase alertness and productivity.
2. De-stress With Nature
Add plants into your workspace to create a calm aesthetic. They freshen the air and eliminate toxins. Succulents are the current trending plants. Feel free to step outside that box. Consider low maintenance plants like ivy and spider plants. Be careful about plants with colored flowers. Make sure they match your workspace’s color scheme, and don’t overwhelm the workspace with too many flowers.
An added bonus: Plants have been proven to increase concentration and productivity by 15%! For even more plant productivity, create an outdoor relaxation area if you have the space. We know sunlight is important, but being in nature is helpful, too. It’s important to give employees a break area to de-stress, but having a small outdoor one as well is sure to boost mood and productivity.
3. Decorate
Decorate your workspace with artwork and motivating quotes. Bland walls do nothing for motivation. Artwork is calming, and graphically-designed quotes are inspiring. These also boost creativity. Think about colors, and use them effectively. Colors influence emotions. Emotions influence your employees’ actions and decisions.
Regarding your customers, decorating is the best way to make your workspace appear hospitable. Make your decorations warm and welcoming. You want your customers to feel like family so that they stay loyal to your company.
4. Get Organized
Perhaps the best way to decrease stress is to decrease chaos. Use planners and calendars to organize meetings and time. Think about storage. Filing cabinets with labelled folders are great. Better yet, consider providing employees with desk filing shelves to decrease individual clutter and boost efficiency. Clutter causes distractions, slowing productivity. If you work in a fast-paced environment, organization is necessary for operations to run smoothly. Every minute that you spend looking for something is a productive minute wasted.
5. Incorporate Innovative Technology
Technology brings out excitement in both employees and customers. We know how important it is to be in the social media loop and to operate online. Stay in the now, and bring that digital world into your workspace! While this upgrade is likely the most costly out of all the above options, it will also be the most fruitful. The benefits outweigh the costs. Technological upgrades boost efficiency and eliminate error.
You might think that your employees will be intimidated by learning to use new technologies. This might be true at first, but it’s more likely to rejuvenate them. Files will be more organized, meetings will go smoother, collaboration will be simpler, and so much more. Employees will be less stressed by trusting new technologies to assist in difficult tasks. You also want to bring in new talent, right? Innovative technology attracts future hires. Show future employees your digital workspace, and they’ll want to work for you!
Innovative technology is also the #1 way to engage customers. You’ll amaze them with what you have to offer. You want customers to view your company as modern and digital so that you seem relevant. Customers will also view your brand as adaptable to changing times, leading them to believe that you will adapt to their needs.
6. Prioritize Collaboration
Break out of the cubicle culture, and opt for more open spaces. This fosters intelligent work rather than repetitive work. Most importantly, it encourages collaboration between employees, which in turn encourages creativity and better ideas. Better yet, consider setting up a brainstorming space for purposeful collaboration. After all, two minds are better than one!
Whatever you choose to do, be deliberate about your physical workspace. Pay attention to detail. Every piece should have a purpose so that your company runs like a well-oiled machine. Consider both employees and customers to create an amazing workspace.
Connect with the industry’s most experienced team to learn more about the workspace!
BOS Inspiration Centers
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Roselle Headquarters
501 South Gary Avenue
Roselle, IL 60172
877.267.0267 -
BOS Chicago
325 N Wells St STE 110,
Chicago, IL 60654
312.670.8530 -
BOS Orlando
200 Technology Park
Lake Mary, FL 32746
407.805.9911 -
BOS Tampa
1600 East Eighth Ave, Ste C-201
Tampa, FL 33605
813.549.7310
Connect with Us
Email: info@bos.com
Phone: 877.267.0267