How important is happiness in your office? The answer should be ‘very’ because happiness affects your employees’ productivity. And if you’re complacent about productivity, like this CEBR survey shows, it could ultimately affect your business’ bottom line.
A huge part of your employee happiness will be the environment they work in. Your office space, their workstations – from how their desks are set up to the amount of light they get – it all impacts their employee wellbeing.
So, how do you find out how your employees feel about their workplace? Let’s take a look at some ideas…
1. Conduct an office satisfaction survey
A survey may seem like an easy and obvious solution.
However, there are a few things you should bear in mind if you want it to really work.
Firstly, keep it short and sweet – remember everyone has jobs to get on with so keep questions to a minimum and focused purely on their physical working environment – like office interior design & desk ergonomics. This way, you’re more likely to receive well thought-out responses.
Also, consider an incentive. Again, your employees likely have better things to be getting on with – so offer a prize draw for everyone who enters or a voucher for the local coffee shop.
It’s funny how much more keen employees will be to provide feedback on their workspace once there’s something in it for them!
2. Use an anonymous tip box in the workplace
It can be an intimidating process for your employees to give feedback to senior management.
Therefore, you should take away that fear by introducing an anonymous tip box.
Assure your employees of complete confidentiality and you may truly start to understand whether they are happy, or not, in their office set up.
Moreover, your employees will also appreciate that you want to hear their voice and value their opinions – which can help later down the line when you want to make a change to their workspace – like office refurbishment.
3. Introduce workspace feedback into appraisals
Appraisals set the bar on how well, or not well, your employee is performing.
So, why not use it to evaluate your office environment too?
If an average appraisal is one hour long it can’t harm to set aside 10 minutes to discuss how happy your employees are with their workspace.
Remember – nurture a ‘safe space’ with your employees – so they feel they can openly discuss their wellbeing in the office.
Knowing that you want to understand any concerns – and there are absolutely no negative repercussions for their possibly negative feedback – will help you get a true picture of workplace satisfaction.
Good feedback means great office fit out plans
When you know what makes employees happy or unhappy it can help you make the right business decisions in the future – especially with something physical like office design, space planning and fit-out.
Revamp your office & improve your office wellbeing
The results are in and it looks like it’s time to consider an office revamp or workplace refurbishment.
From considering productivity-boosting breakout areas though to good desk ergonomics, we have the skills and tools to help you inspire a happier, healthier and more productive workforce.
To learn more about Planned Office Interiors and how our office fit out service can help it can help you, click here.
Or, contact Richard on 01785 817114 to speak to an expert about your office fit out plans.