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Many people spend an incredible amount of their lives working within the confines of an office. With that being the case, it only seems reasonable that offices should be optimized to encourage healthy lifestyles and high productivity. Unfortunately, most are not. But before we get too downtrodden, I’ve put together a list of5 Things Offices Should Support (if they don’t already).
1. Space to Concentrate Modern offices have veered heavily toward open plan offices, which place staff in larger areas i.e. cubicles. By adding small areas where concentrative work can take place, or where conversations can happen, distractions are reduced and concentration increases.
2. Collaborative Work Areas Collaboration seems like a no brainer to most office planners, but thinking out loud, revising, and brainstorming are all collaborative processes that need proper equipment. Whiteboard walls, markers, projectors, and writing materials are all items that should be present and ready to use in a brainstorming session.
3. Environment Having a nice environment isn’t something strictly limited to the great outdoors. According to several studies, higher indoor air quality improves employee health and productivity. Indoor plants have been shown to help clean pollutants from indoor air and reduce sick days.
4. Active Lifestyles If you’re interested in keeping your employees happy and healthy, then it will be important to support and encourage active lifestyles. Either add a gym to your office or help employees exercise by providing local gym memberships. All offices should also provide storage space for employees wishing to reduce their fuel consumption and increase their activity by biking to work.
5. Adjustable Workstations Adjustable desks allows your staff to adjust the height of their desks and lets them reduce the amount of time they are sitting and slouching. If you’re able to adjust your desk and chair, adjusting your monitor to the proper height can really help make both seating and standing optimally comfortable.
Some of these recommendations may cost your office money, but the return on healthier, more productive and happy employees will pay off in the long term boosting employee retention and moral. To assist in providing some of the amenities mentioned above, offices all over the world are renting empty desk spaces and conference rooms by the hour, day, week or month online on websites like DesksNear.Me.
Feel free to forward this list to your HR and Facilities personnel.
What should your office support? Let us know in the comments!