How To Improve Productivity In The Workplace

Workplace productivity is vital to ensure your teams are making the most use of the available time resources. Being productive doesn’t necessarily mean working more hours. It’s also about working smarter and creating an environment that encourages your staff to do their best work. The main factor that can help to improve productivity is the work environment so it’s vital you get that right. This blog post looks at exactly what workplace productivity is, what influences it, and how it can be improved.

What Is Workplace / Employee Productivity?

Productivity means the amount of input that is required to achieve a particular outcome. In the workplace, this equates to the amount of time and employees or pieces of machinery it takes to complete a particular task. The more productive your employees are, the better for your business.

If your employees are happy, their productivity is likely to increase, helping your business grow. Businesses aim to get their workforce – whether that’s employees or technology – working as efficiently and productively as possible so that they get the most output for as little input as possible.

What Factors Affect Your Team’s Workplace Productivity?

The Power of A Well-Designed Office

Getting your office design right is key to creating an environment that encourages productivity and teamwork. A dark office with no room to move around desks, inadequate storage and uncomfortable chairs won’t encourage your teams to do their best.

An office that flows well with zones for different types of work, good lighting and easy access to facilities encourages workplace efficiency and higher productivity levels as staff feel valued.

Tips For Improving Productivity In The Office And Around Your Workplace

There are lots of things you can do to create a working environment that encourages your teams to be more productive. Here are some tips to help you plan your ideal workspace:

Aesthetics & Aromas

A well-designed office that looks good and flows well is conducive to getting employees to do their best work. Good aesthetics doesn’t just mean where everything goes and the quality and style of the furniture. It also means using colours to create the right atmosphere and mood.

Colours can affect our emotions and how we feel and therefore influence how well we work. For example, yellow is a good colour to stimulate our emotions and help to brighten our mood, and is a good choice for creative industries. Using a bright colour as an accent rather than on all of the walls is a good way to inject some brightness and fun into a room.

Blue is mentally stimulating and therefore a great colour to help keep workers focused which can help to boost productivity. It is restful on the eye and helps to soothe our senses.

How your room smells can also affect how conducive the space is for productivity. An overpowering smell can cause headaches and nausea, but a subtle aroma can help office productivity. Citrus and peppermint are thought to be the most effective scents to boost office productivity and concentration, whereas lavender helps to relieve stress and aid relaxation.

Office Organisation

How you organise your office equipment and furniture can have a big impact on how well your employees work within the space. A cramped space with insufficient room to move easily between desks, overflowing storage, and an office design that doesn’t flow aren’t conducive to getting the best work from office workers.

Creating a well-organised space is vital if you want to get the most from your staff. An office environment that flows well with plenty of space around each desk, specific areas for heads-down work, relaxation, and discussion, and sufficient storage that is easily accessible will help your team work better.

Desk & Storage Space

Desks are key productivity tools to help you get the best work from your teams. Uncomfortable desks that are too high or low and don’t provide enough space, aren’t conducive to creativity and office productivity.

Everyone works differently so having a range of desks types will mean your employees can choose which design suits them best. Flexibility is therefore crucial.

Build flexibility into your office design, allowing for the various needs of the workforce. Do you really need one desk per member of staff, or can you adopt a flexible working practice and make reductions in the number of desks required? Can staff who only visit the office occasionally be given a bespoke hot-desk environment to ensure maximum productivity while they are around? Developments in technology and communications means that employees often no longer need to be tied to one particular desk or workspace; provide hot-desks and breakout areas where staff can meet and collaborate.

Storage –

Clutter is no good for mind nor soul. It can make you feel stressed, overwhelmed and lost. Simply create stations for storing paperwork, technology devices and general appliances that you reach for regularly throughout the working day.

Desk Space –

Refreshments & Snacks

Refreshments –

We all need regular drinks and snacks to keep our energy and momentum up while working hard throughout the day. To avoid any clutter or mess, create a particular refreshment station within the office, asides from the kitchen, to keep everything in one place. Invest in a water fountain for the corner of the room, a vending machine for fruit/energy bars.

Office Temperature

Here in the UK, our weather is quite unique in the swings that it can bring. One day may feel like you’re sitting on the beaches of Miami, the very next day could have you feeling like you’ve stepped into an Igloo.

The temperature of the office is one of the biggest factors as it affects everyone and is a constant affect on comfort.

Temperatures are wildly fluctuating however they are easily controlled in the office. By having an effective air-conditioning unit as well as heaters, you can ensure that your office is always at the optimal temperature for your employees to achieve maximum comfort and minimise distractions that would otherwise take away from productivity.

Add A Bit Of Nature

Many offices are dull and have a single monotone colour that can stress employees out, however having the colour green present in the office has been shown to boost productivity and creativity, likely due to our evolutionary biology signalling that we’re in a nature rich environment and there are resources available for us to harvest.

Try adding some plants, green colouring and a touch of nature to the office and see if you can detect a measurable change in productivity.

Meet and Communicate Regularly With Your Employees

Holding regular meetings with your employees will help increase productivity in the workplace. Regular one to one interactions will encourage employees to collaborate and share progress updates and ideas. This can also increase job satisfaction and the mental wellbeing of employees as they will feel like they can communicate any issues or struggles they may have with the powers that be.

It is often the case that employees feel that the office isn’t moldable to their needs, and they may not spend time thinking about what would make their lives easier, what would make them more comfortable and what would boost their productivity.

It is likely the case that your employees are bursting with ideas for the office and how that’d directly correlate with their productivity, perhaps they need more space for larger meetings, or more places for smaller intimate meetings, or more chillout space. Whatever it may be, chances are your employees already know.

Provide Support And Set Realistic Goals & Targets

A lack of support and the setting of unrealistic goals is setting your employees up for failure, which is unlikely to promote productivity. Be sure to set achievable goals that they can accomplish without feeling overwhelmed or defeated. Setting up an ‘employee of the month’ award or other personal incentives could help increase productivity and give those who are working productively the recognition they deserve!

Offer Both Positive & Constructive Feedback

Offering employee feedback can help to motivate employees and identify any areas they need to work on. Make sure you tailor your feedback to each individual instead of just handing out general feedback to all of your employees. Setting personal goals to individual employees can certainly improve efficiency and productivity as they will be working towards specific targets and achievements which with the right tools in place could definitely create a more productive and healthy work environment. Recognising achievements will help boost morale and make your employees feel appreciated, which helps boost their productivity. Whilst positive feedback is important, don’t be afraid to offer constructive criticism if you feel like it would help the learning and development of an employee. Just like positive feedback, it’s important to know which areas could be improved so long as it is done in a productive and constructive manner. If their achievements go unnoticed they may be unlikely to work productively which certainly won’t increase productivity.

Promote Employee Well-being Around The Office

Even before the pandemic 61% of workers said they were burnt out in their current job, with 31% feeling high levels of stress at work. Stress is detrimental to productivity, and can lead to mistakes, which is definitely not beneficial for your business! So make sure you encourage your team to stay both mentally and physically healthy. Wellness programmes may also be something to consider, with studies showing that they can increase productivity by up to 11%,

According to recent statistics, it was reported that 26% of work is actually done outside of normal (and paid-for) working hours. That may not seem like a huge percentage, however when you consider the amount of hours this may take up and consume from your down-time outside of the office, it could lead to issues within the workplace.

Another Promote a health work-life balance. Try and put a stop to employees responding to emails, or sending Slack messages after hours! Although you can’t force employees to take care of themselves, you can set the right example.

Invest In Your Employees

Your employees are the people who make your business what it is, so if you want to increase productivity in the workplace you need to invest in them. Whether this be improving your company culture or organising regular team socials, these things show your team that you care and have a direct impact on productivity. When people feel a part of something they actively want to work harder.

Reduce Distractions In The Workplace

Reducing distraction is essential when it comes to increasing productivity. Agile working spaces are specifically designed with the intent of allowing employees to have the choice to move around the office and work in areas that are supportive to the task they are working on.

For an employer, implementing agile working spaces can help to highlight the performance of your team. It can help you recognise what conditions are best for particular employees, as some may prefer to work in a busier environment where there is a lot going on, the phone is ringing and clients are entering. But on the other hand, you may have staff members who require the use of a quiet room to be able to work best for them.

Here at Office Options, we can help your business to implement agile working spaces with a Space Planning and Management consultation and the design and fit of Meeting Pods and Third Space furniture.

Set Up Workflows And Processes

Poor workflow can be a major drain for your business. So make sure that any documents are organised and easily accessible for any employees to access. This will help prevent employees having to spend more time figuring out how to do their job than actually doing it.

Having a separate dedicated space with the right tools to collaborate, such as a desk with a large monitor/TV on the wall that multiple people can see at the same time can really set the tone for a meeting and allow employees to accomplish a goal.

It switches the mindset from “we’re having a discussion with no end goal” to “we’re in a different place until we achieve the goal of the meeting”. This switch in mentality can mean that set amounts of time can be used to discuss an idea and the tools required to properly communicate and get ideas across will be heavily facilitated.

Ensure Access To The Correct Tools, Software And Equipment

Teamwork is also essential for productivity. So by ensuring that there are appropriately equipped work spaces it will help to increase the collective productivity of your employees. Outdated and poorly working tools and equipment will lead to ongoing frustration, and make it harder for your employees to complete their duties efficiently and on time.

Office Options’ furniture accessories are the perfect finishing touch to any office perfect office, not only by encouraging the ‘work tidy, work smart’ atmosphere but also by posing several ergonomic benefits.

Provide Practical And Comfortable Office Furniture

Choice of office furniture can also play a part in the productivity levels of your employees. They spend a majority of their 8 hour work day sitting at a desk, so it’s important that they’re comfortable – it’s hard to get on with work when you’re suffering from back pain after sitting down all day on a poorly designed chair!

Your furniture can be fitted with customised power and data points, and we can design and install coordinated storage, cloak cupboards, credenza units, refrigerator units and coffee points etc to meet your requirements. We can supply wall-to-wall fitted storage and display units to complement your boardroom furniture or desks, with integral display screens and power and data provision as required.

Improve Workplace Facilities And Conditions

If you want to improve the productivity of your employees you’ll need to make sure that they’re working in optimal workplace conditions. Make sure there’s plenty of natural light in the office, as this will help to reduce headaches and eye strain. An environment that’s too hot or too cold distracts from concentration, so ensure that there is good ventilation throughout your office.

Lighting –

Can you imagine how it would feel working in a dark or poorly-lit office space every day? Especially during the British winter months when daylight hours are scarce to begin with. It would make you feel tired, unmotivated and generally low in your mood. This is why your source of light is vitally important within the workplace, to give the best possible opportunity for your workforce to stay alert, positive and hold concentration and focus levels for longer.

Ensure that your office is well-lit by utilising your window areas if your building is lucky enough to have them. Open your windows to allow a constant flow of fresh air to come through and try to position desks as close to a window as possible to see an improvement.

If your office building is not very fortunate with natural lighting, then modern LED lighting solutions can make an impressive improvement.

How Can Office Options Help Improve Workplace And Office Productivity?

With an impressive Case Study of clientele including Newcastle International Airport, Spire Healthcare, Go North East and many more, we can assure you that we have experience in approaching industry projects with a varied background, to meet the demands of each business.

Whatever the nature of your project, refurbishment, office move or new-build fit-out, you can be assured of a friendly and flexible approach with our team here at Office Options. We take care of the stressful aspects of your project, leaving you free to focus on your business priorities. To discuss your project idea with an experienced member of our team, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! Give us a call on 0800 342 3179 or write to us at sales@officeoptionsuk.com.

The aim of any company is to be successful, and productivity can either make or break success. High productivity means that they use their work hours wisely to produce high quality work and better results in less time. Employees being productive does not mean they work longer hours and push themselves to the point of exhaustion to get things done.

You always hear the phrase “work smarter, not harder”, which directly refers to productivity, and involves better managing your time, knowing what needs to get done and when, and utilising tools that will keep you on track.

What factors affect your team’s workplace productivity?

Your workspace should promote productivity, and this can be done through a variety of methods from switching up the office floor plan, to promoting employee wellbeing and mental health. There are many different elements involved in increasing productivity, such as time management, project management and job satisfaction. Once you know how to create a productive team environment, you can begin to expect positive results from your team.