Staff Experience and Workspace Design
Imagine walking into your workplace, and every element – from the layout to the coffee – feels designed to make your day better. An office that isn’t just somewhere to work, but a place that enhances your wellbeing, productivity, and engagement.
Such an office is not a distant dream – it’s the power of an effective office design. As your company battles for top talent and strives to improve employee job satisfaction, your workplace can be a key differentiator.
Your workspace has a huge impact on your employee experience. Effective office design increases staff happiness by up to 33%. Most interviewees would reject an offer if they did not find the office appealing. This experience also impacts performance. According to Gensler, a well-designed office can boost employee productivity by 21%.
We’ve been creating workspaces that improve employee experiences for over 17 years. We understand that your office isn’t just a place where work happens. It’s a distillation of your company culture, values, and commitment to success.
Today, we’ll explore how you can improve your employee experience through effective office design. We'll delve into actionable changes that can transform your workplace into a space where all your people have a great day every day. By the end, you'll see how these design elements aren't just aesthetic choices. They're essential investments in your people, driving better performance, retention, and business success.
1) Foster Collaboration with Designated Spaces
As the primary environment where your staff work, your office design has a role to play in facilitating collaboration. Collaboration is crucial to staff engagement and innovation.
According to the Harvard Business Review (HBR), 73% of employees would go to the office more frequently if they knew their direct team members would be there. HBR also found companies with highly collaborative workspaces see 15% higher innovation rates.
To foster collaboration in your space, you need to have space designed for it. Most collaboration happens informally in small teams, so you need informal spaces that support this. To learn more, read 5 Ways to Improve Collaboration with Office Design.
2) Boost Wellbeing with Biophilia
Biophilia is another element of an effective office design that optimises your employee workspace experience. Biophilia is our natural tendency as humans to appreciate natural elements and features – from plants to natural light.
It may seem like a technicality, but biophilia can have a huge impact on your space. Exposure to natural light increases employee satisfaction and productivity by 40%. Greenery reduces stress and enhances air quality.
To make your office biophilic as possible, ensure the most used areas of your office are near windows, with plenty of access to natural light. Office plants are an easy and effective addition. You should also integrate natural materials such as wood and wool wherever you can.
3) Prioritise Comfort with Ergonomics
It is impossible for your staff to have a great day at work if they can’t get comfortable. That’s where ergonomics comes in. All the furniture in your space needs to be designed to support health and comfort of your people.
Ergonomically designed workspaces reduce absenteeism and increase productivity by up to 17%, according to a study by the University of Pittsburgh.
Commercial grade furniture is crucial. Your staff are all different, and need different things from their workspace, so adjustable furniture is essential. Adjustable task chairs and sit-stand desks are good examples, but all your furniture should be ergonomic.
4) Enhance Concentration with Focus Areas
One of the biggest detractors of a good employee experience is a constant stream of distractions. Your workspace can help avoid this by providing your staff with designated quiet areas where they can focus on deep work without interruptions.
A study by Udemy found that 80% of employees are regularly distracted at work. Providing quiet zones can significantly reduce distractions and improve concentration.
Quiet zones are not cramped desking areas. Focus spaces include soundproof pods, bookable private offices, or spacious quiet desking areas. By allowing your staff to focus, you will give them the quiet time that is an essential part of a great employee experience.
5) Support Customisation with Adaptable Design
All your people are different and work in different ways. As a consequence, they need different things from their workspace. It’s impossible to create a great workspace experience without designing adaptability into your space.
Adaptable office design enables staff to customise their environment to suit their current task. This ensures your office space supports all your people, no matter what they’re working on.
To make your space adaptable, have a variety of spaces that suit different tasks. Modular furniture and movable partitions can also create spaces that transform from meeting rooms to collaboration areas or social lounges, depending on the need. Learn more by reading Top 4 Ways to Enable Customisation in Your Office Design.
6) Promote Social Interaction with Breakout Spaces
Social spaces are one of the most important areas of your office for your people. To create a great employee experience, they need to be a key consideration in your design process.
A study by HBR in 2022 found 84% of employees would be motivated to go into the office if they could socialize with coworkers. Social connections at work increase employee happiness by 50%, as per research by Officevibe.
You can encourage social interaction by creating communal areas for staff to relax and build relationships. Ensure these spaces are comfortable and aesthetically pleasing. This will help build culture and strengthen staff relationships. These are both key components of employee experience.
7) Enhance Culture with On-Brand Design
The design of your office space both reflects and impacts the attitudes and behaviours of your people within the space. As a result, creating a workspace tailored to your culture is an essential part of office design.
A great employee experience is of little value if it creates an atmosphere and behaviours out of line with your culture. An off-culture design could be very damaging, as it will encourage off-culture behaviours.
Creating an office design tailored to your culture is about far more than aesthetics. It’s about creating a space that embodies your company’s identity, from the location and the layout to the colours and the coffee. It will all impact your culture and experience, so it all requires careful consideration.
Enhancing Your Employee Experience Through Your Workspace
Creating a great office isn't just about designing a beautiful space. It’s about elevating your employee experience in ways that drive tangible business results. By creating a space that gives you staff what they need to have a great day, you’re doing more than improving their satisfaction. You’re creating a space that drives productivity, is a key differentiator in the talent market, and is a key part of the success of your company.
At Zentura, we’ve seen countless times how these design considerations can lead to happier, healthier, and more effective teams. Implementing these changes in your own office will deliver ROI in the form of improved wellbeing, lower churn, and a vibrant culture.
So, are you ready to elevate your employee experience with office design? Get started by getting your copy of the Definitive Office Design Guide. There, you’ll learn everything else you need to know about office design before you speak to a designer – from costs and processes to common mistakes. Get your office design guide here.
To keep learning about workspace strategy, design, and fit out, explore our learning centre.
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