All businesses crave efficiency. But making a workspace conducive to productivity can be a complex task. We lack a concrete answer as to what an ideal workspace would be. And that is why businesses keep experimenting to see what works. These experiments provide us with great insights into what the businesses of today are doing to improve their workspaces. Hence, we have compiled a list of the most prominent workspace design trends of today. In this article, I am going to discuss the top most innovative workplace trends of today.
Since our childhood, the image of a traditional office has been etched in our memories. The image involves multiple walls and cabins with employees’ heads thrown into their computer screens. Well, not anymore!
Today’s offices are rigorously trying to make their workspaces as much collaborative as possible. This has caused a drop in the general perception of offices among the workforce.
Think about it. Why did we succeed as a species? Two simple reasons that made us outperform other species were teamwork, and competition. Of course, they often seem way out of balance. But you can always try to instill these traits into our workplaces. This will make your workers work hard, come up with great ideas and help each other. Just like our ancestors!
Hence, the rise of shared workspaces has been quite significant in the recent past. In a study on workspaces by Jones Lang Lassalle, the following key observations were made:
These figures seem quite interesting. They speak volumes of the positive impact shared spaces have on working environments.
For any organization to become productive, investing in workplace ergonomics is worth the cost. In a study by Steelcase, a staggering 77 percent of the employees revealed that ergonomics were necessary for productivity.
Ergonomics offer you benefits like:
Feeling like the outdoors
Many companies have started incorporating some natural elements into their offices. These have reportedly had a positive impact on the productivity of employees and has reduced stress levels. Natural elements can be:
It’s true that nature heals us. Incorporating elements like glass walls for sunlight exposure, and plants around desks is a great idea to make your office more appealing, and working experience more satisfying to you and your employees/coworkers.
Any worker will be mistaken to think he or she can work productively on a desk with unscrutinized papers all over it. The OfficeMax® Workspace Organization Survey revealed that the productivity of work dropped by a staggering 77 percent in a cluttered space.
It is hence, certain that an organization can immensely benefit from this one area which is often overlooked. And when we talk about clutter, we are not just covering general clutter on your workstation. Computers, all over the workspaces, are filled with needless files and folders that you can easily get rid of. This alone will undoubtedly bring much efficiency to your workflow.
We all used to take colored notes as kids. It was effective because it enhanced reinforcement of learning with strong associations in our minds.
Offices can learn from this, and they do! From color coding storage bins to entire rooms at the workplace, color coding has become quite a trend today. Different colors induce different psychological activities. The same has been testified by various studies like the one by the University of British Columbia, which stated that red walls in an office boosted performance in tasks like proofreading and enhanced memory retention.
As mentioned earlier, there’s no such thing as a perfect workplace. But having a good look at the trends in workplace designs helps you come up with ideas to improve your working experience and become productive.