Employee Engagement and Office Design
Keeping your staff happy, motivated, and productive has never been so difficult. It’s also never been so important. A crucial part of this puzzle is staff engagement – how connected staff feel toward their organisation.
If your staff aren't committed to your company, they will be unmotivated, less creative, and less hard-working. On the other hand, if your staff feel enthused about your company, they will be always looking for ways to improve.
There are many ways to boost staff engagement. However, one often overlooked aspect is office design. As the place where your staff spend most or all of their working lives, your office has a huge impact on how engaged your people are.
At Zentura, we've spent the last 16 years defining, designing, and delivering workspaces that improve staff engagement and unlock company performance. Today, we'll go through exactly what staff engagement is, and why it matters so much to your company. We'll then explain how you can improve your employee engagement through office design.
By the end, you'll understand the impact that staff engagement can have on your company's performance, and you'll know how to maximise staff engagement in your company.
Understanding Employee Engagement
What is Employee Engagement?
Employee engagement is the emotional commitment and involvement an employee has towards their organisation and its goals. Engaged staff are committed and enthusiastic about their work. They are always looking for ways to improve their individual and company performance. Engaged staff will go above and beyond to do so.
Engaged staff are intrinsically motivated – they find their work interesting and enjoyable. They are not working merely because it leads to a personally desired outcome. As a result, they are always looking to improve the company. You don't have to coax and reward engaged people into desired behaviours.
Why Employee Engagement Matters
Unsurprisingly, engaged staff are far more effective. According to research by the Harvard Business Review, an engaged employee is 45% more productive than a satisfied worker. An inspired employee is more than twice as productive as a satisfied worker.
Companies with highly engaged people are more agile, innovative, and profitable. According to Gallup, companies with engaged workers have 23% higher profit than those with workers who felt “miserable”. Additionally, teams with thriving workers see lower absenteeism, turnover and accidents. They also see higher customer loyalty.
However, many companies are missing out on most, if not all, of the benefits of a highly engaged workforce. Studies have reported that as much as 87% of the world's workforce is not engaged. In the UK, this is even worse: just 9% of UK workers surveyed for Gallup’s ‘State of the Global Workforce’ report felt enthused by their work and workplace in 2022.
According to Wellable, disengaged employees are lower-performing than their engaged peers on multiple levels. They have an 18% lower productivity rate and 15% lower profitability rate. They also have a higher absenteeism rate, with a 37% increased likelihood of taking time off work. Overall, It is estimated that disengaged employees are costing the UK economy £340 billion every year – over 15% of the UK’s GDP!
Staff engagement is hard to measure, let alone manage. However, your staff engagement levels will be having a huge impact on the performance of your company right now - for better or worse.
Enhancing Employee Engagement Through Office Design
There are many things you can do to improve your staff engagement and unlock the benefits for your company. A great culture, good communication, and well-designed recognition scheme are all important components of an engaged workforce.
One often overlooked aspect of improving employee engagement is your workspace. As the home of your company and the place where your people spend so much time, your office has a crucial role to play in how engaged your staff are. Here, we'll go through 5 ways you can improve employee engagement through your workspace design.
Culture-Based Design
Many people and companies think of office branding as using the company colour scheme throughout the office. However, culture-based design is about much more than the colour scheme. It's about aligning the employee experience with your culture, from location and layout to furniture and finishes.
When your office is on brand, your people will be working in an office that brings your brand and culture to life. They will be immersed in your company culture, rather than working in a bland featureless space. As a result, they will work in a way far more aligned with your company, and their results will reflect that. To learn more, read How to Create an Office Design Tailored to Your Culture.
Incorporate Biophilia
Biophilic design is the use of natural materials throughout the workplace. This includes everything from office plants to fresh air and natural light. Staff working in biophilic offices reported a 15% increase in wellbeing, are 6% more productive, and 15% more creative.
The easiest way to add biophilic design to your workplace is through office plants and living walls. They are relaxing from a colour psychology perspective and they increase the oxygen content in the air. A biophilic design will make your office a more relaxing and enjoyable place to work, which will in turn increase your staff engagement.
Design for Wellbeing
The physical and mental wellbeing of your people is an essential part of their performance. If your office does not optimise the wellbeing of your people, they will be working in a frustrating and dulling environment. On the other hand, a space that promotes both physical and mental health will maximise the connection between your people and your company.
There are 9 key steps you can take to improve wellbeing in your office design. Some, such as ergonomic furniture, maximise the physical health of your staff. Others, such as customisability, will improve the engagement of your staff by providing them with a workspace that matches the way they work. To learn about how to improve workplace wellbeing with office design, read this article.
Create Collaborative Spaces
In most cases, staff commitment to their colleagues exceeds their commitment to the company. This means maximising their ability to collaborate through office design is essential. Your company can benefit significantly by facilitating this with collaboration spaces.
When designing to improve collaboration in your office, you first need to allow enough space. Collaboration spaces should take up about 40-50% of your office. You should also consider how your people work together - in what size teams, using what facilities, etc. To learn more, read 5 Ways to Improve Collaboration with Office Design.
Enable Customisation
A lack of autonomy is one of the biggest drivers of poor staff engagement in many companies. Studies have shown that 79% of autonomous employees are more engaged than employees who lack autonomy. You can give staff control over their environment by designing it so that they can customise to suit their individual needs.
To boost customisability in your office, you need to include modularity and portability wherever possible. As the part of the office your people interact with the most, customisable furniture is essential. Movable walls and portable screens can also be used to provide more privacy if required. To learn more, read about the Top 4 Ways to Enable Customisation in Your Office Design.
Improving Staff Engagement in Your Office
Unfortunately, there is no X-step formula to creating an engaged workforce. The path to better staff engagement looks different for every company. As the home of your company and the place where your people spend so much time, your office has a crucial role to play in how engaged your staff are.
If your office is not designed with your people in mind, your space will be a frustrating and uninspiring place to work. On the other hand, a space that is designed to maximise the engagement of your people will improve their emotional and intellectual investment in the ongoing success of your company. Consequently, they will be much more responsive, innovative, and collaborative.
If you know you need to improve your workspace to increase staff engagement, download your Definitive Office Design Guide. There, you'll get answers to all your questions about office design, before you reach out to a designer. To learn more about improving your culture through workspace, read How to Create a Culture of Performance in your Office.
