There comes a time in every employee’s life when they see the light. The light of the soft-bulb, diamond shaped desk lamp that illuminates the sudden realization. It may have happened on the first day of your new job at a start-up, or when you visit a friend at work for lunch, but suddenly the words through widened eyes shine through “People actually work here?”
When one spends so many hours at one place, nothing can be better than a feeling to make you love it even more and by this, I don’t mean for the work you do or personality you have but for your environment instead. Corporate culture does practice ice-breaking sessions, outings and other activities that are convivial. But, interior décor can also contribute well enough to motivate staff members.
So, 10 quick design elements that can make employees feel motivated at their workspaces.
Create a wish or thought wall: We all have certain wishes that are unfulfilled or thoughts that are thundering our nerves every moment we have a success or failure notion tapping our soul. So, might as well have a wall where all employees can scribble their heart out and release stress along with letting others know their minds and who knows, many may connect more than ever and create a like-minded environment.
Let them feel their space: Different departments of the company are the most productive with different working conditions. While a bright, white, open room may work well for the creative team, engineers might want a dimly lit room and headphones so they can listen to music while they code. The sales teams might want a command center of phones, teleconferencing equipment, and space to be louder as a group. You cannot obviously create this for every department but being as flexibly operational as you can.
Graffiti is hot. It’s raw and when done well, fits seamlessly into the energy of the company and reverberates the successes of the employees. There are a lot of common interests your employees have, TV sitcoms, characters etc. so use them to create your art.
Personalize your space: Feel at home, do up your desk your way and get whatever accessories you wish by yourself that keep you happy and make your work better. Provide them with basic facility and let employees chose their customized preferences. Keep pads of paper around, have a chalk wall, get a white board – when you have a spark of inspiration write it down right away to get it out of your head then return to the task at hand. Then, at the end of the day or when you have free time, collect all the ideas and review them. With a little time and space you can better decide if it’s worth pursuing or better to leave it on the back-burner.
Bring in brightness: Say it with a colorful painting, an art sculpture, some vibrant color quotes all over your office or in your furniture angle instead but get some bright factors so that people enjoy color, break out from their grey monotonous routine and breathe easily.
Add nature: Humans crave the outdoors. And while not everyone can trek the Amazon, filling workspaces with plants and other natural components relaxes employees and fosters productivity.
Flash out some lighting: To prevent this, workspaces should provide access to natural daylight. Vary light levels with expansive windows and augment the use of daylight with automated controls and a variety of lighting levels and colors. The full spectrum of lighting is needed to keep people from feeling out of whack, and when an office absolutely can’t use natural light to achieve this, well-designed light sources can work as a substitute.
Experiment with seating: Now after a point, seating becomes too boring during long work hours. Hence, you can try and incorporate some innovative seating arrangements that allow your employees to feel comfortable and take a break for a while.
Keep your environment clean: Your mama was right, it’s important to clean up your room. Clutter may help the creative mind create, but it isn’t necessarily helpful for focus and productivity. So, while you can’t control the cleanliness of the office at large, do keep your own environment around you clean
Like the color of the space you work in, our sense of smell can powerfully affect our mood, mindset and thus our productivity. Consider adding scents to your workspace to jar your mind into focus when you start to notice yourself drifting off.Try using these scents to stay focused:
Pine – Increases alertness
Cinnamon – Improves focus
Lavender – Helps to relax you during a stressful work day
Peppermint – Lifts your mood
Citrus (any) – Wakes you up and lifts your spirits
About the Author:
Sagar Datta heads and operates an interior design consultancy firm, Casa interio.
