Our work environment significantly affects our productivity, to the extent that some design consultants suggests slides, hammocks and soft-ball areas… You may feel that this route may be a bit extreme, but perhaps you should consider some alternative suggestions.

Layout

Instead of the traditional workstation, which is based on office layouts from before computers were in use, communal working areas are becoming popular. Encouraging staff to work collaboratively and offering the opportunities to understand other people’s roles can be effective in boosting productivity. It’s also a good way to ensure that your employees are in good health, since they can’t hide away.

Break-out areas

Not just places where people can eat lunch, these areas can be used to take a quick break and for informal meetings. You can decorate these areas in bright colours, or put thought-provoking paintings up to stimulate the imagination. Allowing your staff to work like this may help them to feel more trusted and may reduce stress.

Lights

Lights are often neglected, but they are hugely important. The wrong lighting can cause headaches and eye strain. In fact, the NHS cites bright or flickering lights as one of the causes of sick building syndrome. At the very least, make sure all your lights are in good working order. Natural lighting is best, but not always possible, so you could consider daylight bulbs. If you need examples of these in offices to let Basingstoke is a good place to look.

Colour

Colour can affect our mood and productivity, at home as well as at work. Yellow is a happy colour, and great for creatives. Blue is calming and good for those whose work requires a high level of detail. Green is great for creating harmony and is restful on the eyes, which is very good if people are overwhelmed by the amount of work they have. Red is not such a good colour in an office environment, and is better for those doing physically demanding jobs. Sites such as www.matrix-house.co.uk have a wide range of office types to let, to suit all businesses.

Making all of these changes in one go may cost too much, and you won’t know what has the biggest impact, so why not make small changes, monitoring the effects as you go? You’ll soon see a more productive workforce.