Office design should be a priority for senior management

Engaging your workforce and creating happy, motivated staff is still being driven by the office environment but businesses are still largely failing to provide their staff with engaging, healthy offices. It appears that for some companies, that there seems to be a disconnect between senior management and employees regarding the importance of creating a positive working environment. Despite many studies showing the impact of bad office design on mood and productivity, it is still not being regarded as a priority for some leaders and decision makers. Our latest happy office survey shows that 81% of workers feel that the workplace is not a high priority for their senior management.

Staff engagement

From our survey, we discovered that despite 91% of UK workers stating their office environment impacts directly on their productivity, only 29% of UK workers believe that their opinion on the workplace is valued. This disconnect between what staff think and what is being delivered for them in the workplace highlights the lack of importance placed on the office environment by some senior management. With 66% of staff agreeing that they feel most productive in the office, there is a disparity and failure to recognise how the office can hinder the performances of individuals, as well as the overall effect on the wider businesses.

Office design should be something that has comes from within and it is the role of senior management to ensure this happens and that these ideas are made a priority. This ability to drive change to their own environment should involve staff and processes like workshops and surveys are a good way to get maximum staff engagement. Then the staff ideas can be moulded into something that supports the businesses goals and commitments to staff.

Office design strategy

Workplace consultancy is an opportunity to evaluate the space you are occupying, the behaviour of staff within it and how to optimise any areas of the workplace which would have a positive effect on staff wellbeing, productivity and ultimately, happiness. There needs to be a strategy in place that underpins the goals you want to achieve and how you can get there. Workplace consultancy essentially provides you with the true facts and figures that relate to your office and helps to inform changes and improvements that are relevant to your people and your wider business.

Employers should become, and remain to be, proactive in ensuring that the environment they provide for staff is not only making them engaged and motivated, but supporting their wellness and lifestyle. An inspiring office environment will help retain your best people, attract new talent and develop a company culture, so it is essential that workplaces don’t become stagnant and that key decision makers are communicating with employees to ensure it is optimising their performance.

Read more from our happy survey which also revealed how businesses can combat the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) on employees and how the rapid evolution of the workplace is too focused on the next big thing, creating ‘the forgotten generation’.