Creating an office environment that enhances productivity

When it comes to success in business, productivity is key. Your office is mostly the place where all employees meet and get their work done. There is a direct connection between workplace environment and productivity. If not, all work could have been done sitting at home. Distractions are everywhere. Social media, messages, chitchats, and whatnot all take up a huge time of your life during which you were supposed to be doing productive work. However, this does not mean that putting your employee in a jail like environment with zero distractions will end up highly productive. There is a proper way of achieving an ideal workplace environment.

Make sure everyone is taking regular breaks

It is monotonous to have a strict and set timing in your workplace. It brings in a feeling that you don’t have a choice and that you are forced to live a certain way. When you let employees decide when they want to take a break or have flexible hours, it gives the employees more autonomy in their workplace and will have an indirect positive impact on productivity. Even though it looks like not taking any breaks will yield the maximum outcome, this is not true. Humans are beginning to have lower and lower attention span. This lets them not to focus on their work after a period of time. Study suggests that a 17-minute break is ideal for maximum productivity with 52 minutes of work.

Declutter

The phrase “A tidy house equals a tidy mind” does not necessarily apply to houses alone. This is applicable to every place you go to. When your work-desk has a pile of papers and whatnot scattered around, you tend to feel stressed with the amount of work in front of you. This is where your lowkey obsession for neatness comes into play. Try organizing it into categories and throw away unwanted papers immediately so that only what is required is in front of you. Study suggests that the more things in front of your brain, the more you tend to feel that work is left undone. This will make your brain want to finish them immediately, but they all get cluttered and you end up not finishing anything. Minimize the things on your desk and organize it according to priority and you will feel much calmer than before. Encourage your employees to clean up their desks to improve the office look as well have clear their minds.

Have a Set Workflow and Managerial Structure

It is best if an employee has to report to just one person. There will be no clashes of work from different mentors and all their work will be under a single person. When an employee has more than one person to deliver to, they tend to be confused as to what to work on at a particular time. This confusion will cost them time and productivity. The lesser the number of managers they have to report to, the more organized their work will be.

Promote Well-Being

While having a fancy pantry makes the employees happy, it might not do them good in the long run. We are not suggesting taking off the pantry room entirely. Of course, the employees need a place to go to be refreshed with a few drinks and snacks. This will only do them good. However, it is important to ensure that the snacks and drinks you keep are healthy ones. This will help in creating a fit and healthy body and mind.

Take Time to Point Out Successes

Even if you make your passion into your work, too much of anything is not good. No matter how much you are comfortable in your workplace, a long, tough project can drain you and will leave you needing a break. One way to motivate employees to keep working on that project is to inform them constantly of the growth and update on the project and their work. Knowing that there are positive results from your work will only motivate you to do more. Nothing motivates an employee like knowing that they are getting closer to the ultimate outcome of the long project.