Making Employees Fall In Love With Their Office

Do you have a space at home which you use to get things done? A space where you go to write emails, type up reports for your business, make your future plans, organize your finances and more?

This sort of area should be somewhere you feel your mind can fit in. It should be a space where you enjoy sitting and working for long hours. Now, consider what kind of office you provide for your employees and what it must mean to them. What kind of impact do our surroundings have on us when we’re at work? It's without a doubt one of the most overlooked areas for any business owner.

Company culture is first reflected by the office. What you stand for, what kind of atmosphere you have and what kind of professional attitudes you want from your employees will be spoken without a single word just by your office. Not only does a great office improve morale and productivity, but it can supercharge employee creativity and even loyalty.

Don’t go crazy for neutrals

The aesthetics of the office should be pleasing to the eyes. It's important you don’t go crazy with neutrals. Far too many offices are colored in whites and greys. Although this may be good for a home, for an office you want a more varied color palette.

For example, you could have different departments in their own unique colors. The sales department could have red walls and red chairs, while the risk department could have royal blue walls and black chairs. Adding artwork to your walls is also helpful to employees. Nobody wants to stare at a plain wall all day long at their desk. Be creative and have fun decorating your office, make it feel unique so its own culture can arise and thrive. Adding plants to your office is not just for health reasons but they can also bring living color to your office. 

Being Tidy and Clean

Many office floors are carpeted. This can result in foul odors forming over time and this can lead to an unpleasant place to work. You should ask employees to be very careful with rubbish and how they treat their own personal workstations. It should go without saying but unfortunately, some employees have worse hygiene habits than others.

You could also call professional services such as Evergreen Janitorial Services, Inc. to keep your office spick and span. They offer services such as cleaning commercial office building floors. They can also clean marble, wood or tile so if you have expensive materials in your office, you should go with this kind of service that won’t damage them.

Allow personalization

Some businesses are strict with their office personalization policies. However, it's good to allow employees some kind of personalization of their own desk. Photos of friends and family members, their achievements, stuffed animals, badges, and small figures should be allowed onto their desks. Just remember to ask employees they keep their politics and religion to their own private lives.

The office aesthetic has such an impact on the psyche of employees. Their surroundings should not be bland with neutrals, but rather colorful and with touches of unique decorations and decor.

How To Make Your Office A Place You’ll Absolutely Love Working In

https://unsplash.com/photos/bKjHgo_Lbpo

To get things done in life, you need to be in the best possible frame of mind. When it comes to things like work, you need to also be in the best possible surroundings. You can’t be around lots of distractions all of the time and expect to complete things speedily—it rarely ever happens. Some people have the power to turn things out, but the majority of us struggle with multiple stimuli hitting us at once. 

Have you ever tried working while sitting on your couch? You might carry out a few things, but, on the whole, you’re too cozy and laid back. You’re probably stuck staring at the TV, too! That’s why the environment is so important.

When you’re in a more formal and professional setting, you behave accordingly, and you tend to get loads more done. It doesn’t matter whether you’re working for a particular company in their designated office space, or whether you’re working from home in your study, things need to be perfect if you’re to get things done throughout the day. Even if there are a few teeny problems; the whole day can be ruined.  

With all that said, it’s now a case of making the office a place where you’ll enjoy working in; a place where you’ll want to get lots done. How do you do that, though?

At the end of the day, it’s just a room where you sit and work, after all. Well, whether it’s an office at your company’s workplace or home office that you’ve created, you can do things to the aesthetics: you can remove or add items–-there’s not really a limit on what you can do; your options are as far as your creativity takes you. If you want a few pointers, then you might as well continue reading!

Declutter  

After a certain period of time, you’re going to have a build-up of clutter. It’s not too much of a problem; it happens to everyone. We all have items in our possession every single day, and we always need somewhere to put them. Unfortunately, we don’t all have lots of storage facilities, so we end up tossing them into the corner of the room! 

Your first step of this entire project would be to spend a little time removing all of the unnecessary items from the office. It’s quite a boring task, but it’ll be worth it as you’ll feel as though you have more space to breathe. When the area is much neater, you’ll feel so much better about your surroundings. Clutter just brings us down; tidiness gives us more of a boost. After the job is completed, you’ll have a blank canvas to play around with; the real work can therefore begin. 

Paint!

The color scheme of a particular place always makes people feel a certain way. It might not always have a huge impact on your workday, but it definitely has a part to play. For example, some people become buoyed by warm colors. If they’re entering an office and see that they’re going to be surrounded by boring and bland decor, the blandness can creep into their mindset.

If you’re working from home and your spare room is your new office, then your walls might be covered in old wallpaper and paint—it hasn’t been occupied in a while, right? Painting the place will help to revitalize it and, thus, revitalize you. 

Work At An Attractive Desk

It helps if you like the place that you’re sitting at all day, huh? If you have to work at a worn out and old desk, then your motivation is going to match the beaten and broken workstation. As humans, we naturally judge things based on looks, so if we’re sat working in a pretty area, we’re going to be more content. If we’re sat in a place that doesn’t really inspire us, then we’ll probably want to be elsewhere. 

Look at places online that sell professional and formal furniture. If you have a basic table and chairs set up in your office, then it won’t exactly be difficult to look for an upgrade. If you have something fairly fashionable, then choosing something might take a little longer! You’ll have the opportunity to check what kinds of things are out there. Perhaps you’ll prefer a fancy-looking thing with Wood Table Tops and classical design, or maybe you’ll enjoy a more modern style. Whatever you choose, you’ll be in a much better place than before. 

Get Yourself A Really Comfy Seat (Or Two) 

What you’re going to be looking at all day is, of course, very important. Your backside’s well-being is arguably more important, however! You need to be comfortable while working. If you’re not comfy, then you’re going to be heavily distracted all the time. There’s nothing worse than having to constantly shuffle around in your seat because your back is sore and you need to relieve the stress a little. 

Again, you can look online for some of the comfiest office chairs around. Unfortunately, some of the best ones can cost an absolute fortune, but you can get some good quality seats for less than three figures. Like before, if you’re currently using a basic, cheap chair, then you’re not going to be too bothered about the specific quality because the quality will undoubtedly be better than what you currently have.  

Purchase Great Software 

We all like new things. If you have old stuff on your computer, then you’re not exactly going to be inspired by it. Newer and more powerful equipment and programs do the complete opposite for us, though. Whenever a new technology comes out, we feel compelled to get stuck into it. Perhaps you could buy some new equipment and get it installed on your workstation. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a project management system or a piece of accounting software—if it’s new and exciting; you’ll enjoy it. 

Personalize It To Your Taste

You’ve cleared the place out, painted it, and added furniture. Now that all of the necessities have been installed, it might now be time to add a personal touch to the whole place. If you’re not really into the idea of customizing, then that’s okay; it’s not for everyone. If you are, though, then you could bring in all kinds of ornaments and decorations. Adding a little personality to the office stamps your name firmly onto the room. It should make you feel more comfortable, especially if you’re working on your company’s office. 

Do Something About The Lighting

If you’re sitting in a pretty dreary and dark place, then that’s only going to lower your mood altogether. If you can’t do anything about the windows in terms of natural light, then you could get a few more lights installed. Either that or buy a lamp for your desk! The darkness can really put you off – try to avoid is as much as you can!

Get Stuff Done In There 

We’ve talked about how to change up the aesthetics and the overall feel of the office. There’s one final way you can become more interested in the office, however, and that’s by completely lots of tasks in there already!

If you sit in a room all day struggling, then you’re going to associate that room with struggle. If you get lots done, then you’re going to bounce into it the next day. Knuckle down and get your work done, even if you’re having a bad day. There’s nothing like completing work and being productive with your time! 

Please note, this article contains affiliate links.

Keeping The Best: A Guide On Staff Retention

It is so often the case, that staff members are a business's most valuable asset. However, keeping the best ones over the long term can be a real challenge for companies, both large and small. After all, people's needs change, and there are always competitors that will try and poach the best workers away. Happily, there are some tactics you can use to keep hold of the very best employees.

Read on to find out what they are. 

Image at Pixabay - License CC0

Don't say goodbye to your best employees! 

Work environment 

Above all else, what keeps people in their jobs for the long term is that they enjoy them. That they don't dread going into work each morning or watch the clock religiously until it gets to 5 pm each day. 

That means as an employer, you need to make the atmosphere in which your employees work as positive as possible. In fact, you can approach this situation in two ways. The first is to look at the physical environment in which you expect people to work. The idea being to ask yourself whether it's safe, clean, and aesthetically pleasing? These are the factors that can make the most difference in staff satisfaction.

Secondly, don't forget that the atmosphere of a workplace is more than just the physical environment but extends to the emotional situation as well. Therefore, someone feels left out, or there is a particular toxic member of staff, you must deal with this as soon as possible. In fact, doing so can not just help you retain the best staff over the long term, but also reduce any employee advance days due to stress as well.

Training 

Next, if you want to keep a hold of the best employees in your business over the long term, you must provide them with opportunities for training.

Now, you may think that as long as they are performing their work tasks adequately, training is an unnecessary expense and use of time. However, this is not the case. In fact, offering training to staff can help them be more invested in their work, and stay in their posts for longer, especially if it is leveled training that is related to official levels which can be displayed on their resume.

Happily, you don't have to dedicate a lot of person-power or in work time training to provide these benefits either. In fact, you can use automated lms software to manage training functions. Something that basically allows employees to work through the content at their own pace with very little interaction from your HR department. 

Wages 

They say that money makes the world go round, and it is true that many of us would not work if we didn't have bills to pay. Of course, what this demonstrates is the importance of remuneration for a job well done. In fact, being able to offer comparatively high wages is something that will also help you to keep the best employees working for your business. Often over the long term, this can be very beneficial for your company. 

Please note, this article contains affiliate links.

Happy Staff / Happy Business - How To Make This Your Mantra

Pexels

It’s easy to think that in order to run a successful business, you need to crack the whip and squeeze every last ounce of value out of your staff. In some respects, it’s important to stay firm. If someone is continually taking days off, making a mockery of your process or acting as dead weight, disciplinary and dismissal processes might be needed.

But it’s also essential to, as a baseline, ensure your staff are happy at your firm. If not, then standards slip. It can be easy to think that staff will just leave if they are unhappy, but in some job markets that’s not as easy as you think. Some might prefer to stay for the security and financial comfort of a job while stress harms their working productivity, or they simply decide to achieve the bare minimum. No, actualized people, those who care about your brand, those are the people you want to work at your firm.

But it’s your job to actualize them through their career. It doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and you can’t expect your staff to always bring their best selves if you don’t give them that conduit. So, let’s consider how you might achieve this with care and intention:

A Rational Work/Life Balance

Some careers are known for their heavy time investment during the working week. For example, you wouldn’t expect to only work 35 hours a week as a partnered lawyer. Yet does this mean you should completely revert your needs for a healthy work/life balance? We’re not so sure that would be healthy. If anything, a rational work/life balance is needed, in fact, it’s absolutely essential.

This is where you need to consider your work schedule. If we’re not being naive, most business leaders know that overtime, working through lunches or a range of other effort-laden requirements are needed, even when fully staffed. But it’s important to know what features your work schedule should include, so that you can disseminate that information to our staff well. It can take a little time to implement a schedule that works for you, your staff, and the repeated sustainable needs of your business. And yet this is what you must fine tune, over and over again, in order to get to the best result. We think you can achieve this, with the resources linked.

Training

Training your staff is essential. You cannot simply expect staff, even if experienced, to be aware of every single process you have to deal with. They might not understand your working module, you might not have taught them of practical procedures unique to your firm, or they might just be confused with a process and need a further explanation. Do not treat this as a waste of time.

The more you can engage the learning interest of your staff, the better. For example, let’s use a business everyone can understand to illustrate this point - a restaurant. Let us say you’re making new changes to the menu. Instead of simply telling your staff how to describe the menu and showing them what it looks like, have them taste each item. Get their thoughts. Ask them how they might describe it, and what wines those foods would pair with. This is the difference between an order and helping staff absorb the new direction, able to use this to inform their best work.

In an office setting, it can be the same way. For example, helping them become aware of the intimate details of a client’s brief rather than simply telling your staff to do something a certain way can inspire the best work, and help the entire team, even in a hierarchical structure, feel like more of a collaborative environment.

Confidentiality And Respect

It’s essential to treat everyone the same way. Treating staff with confidentiality and respect is essential. No matter if they have been accused of workplace bullying, stealing from your stock room, or simply failed to make a certain deadline. It’s important to give everyone their fair chance, and be as neutral as possible from your HR perspective as you can.

Sometimes, unless essential, having your HR staff inform you of only the lightest, anonymous and most needed details of caring for a certain employee can help them retain their dignity, especially through essential matters such as mental health issues etc. There is a way to conduct this work and keep an open door policy that will always help your team know you are there for them. This is important.

With this advice, we hope you can ensure a happy staff, and from then on a happy business.

Please note, this article contains affiliate links.