In the age of the millennial, there is a heightened interest in employee satisfaction and the factors that create a good working environment. Ensuring staff are happy in their work space leads to an increase retention rate, maximized productivity levels, and a healthy company culture. As such, it is worth investing money to boost the happiness of your employees. But the pivotal question remains: how can companies ensure the happiness of their staff? Clever office space planning may be the answer.
The Formula for Happy Employees
While flexible working hours, a manageable workload, and various social perks contribute to a healthy office culture, there is one factor that can have a greater impact still. In a recent study by OfficeGenie, it was found that good workplace design can boost happiness in the workplace by as much as one third.
As the report states: “feeling comfortable with the design of your office boosts workplace happiness by 33%: design is the environmental factor that has the greatest impact on levels of contentment.”
As well as improving company-wide communication, enhancing the branding of your company, and leaving a good impression to clients, good office design has a beneficial impact on an individual’s disposition and team moral.
The Findings
The report surveyed a sample of 2,000 office workers, with the aim of discovering the key to employee satisfaction. It was found that staff feel more comfortable, more engaged, and more productive when they are in a well-designed office environment. As well as considering how a cleverly conceived office layout may improve working conditions, it is also important to plan décor and give employees the opportunity to have some level of control over their own personal working space.
12% of workers felt that good office design was an important factor in determining their happiness at work, which makes it more important than the following four factors:
- Temperature: when employees had control over the temperature of their personal office space, they were 5% happier.
- Light: Team-members were 6% happier when they were working in bright, well-lit areas. Natural light is essential in the wellbeing of staff in the workplace; it can have a profound effect on a person’s mood.
- Noise: working in a noisy environment is virtually impossible and reduces productivity and job satisfaction. Workers were 8% happier when noise was kept to a minimum.
- Social interaction: employees relish the opportunity to communicate easily with colleagues. Design that facilitates social interaction made employees 8% happier.
Office design pervades many aspects of job satisfaction. Each given aspect of an office should be considered when designing an office in order to optimise the space. Up to 12% of people claimed that they needed a better working environment, while 16% attributed their high stress levels to their office environment. Workplace consultancy companies are on hand to assist with space audits and can make your workforce happier and your productivity level higher.
The report is a marked indicator that companies need to take a more proactive role in caring for their employees’ wellbeing by enhancing office design.
- Download the happiness report here.