Employers.
Employers who focus on employee engagement and job satisfaction have better employee retention and creativity. Feeling engaged and truly in-tune with the work and needs of an organization makes an employee feel they are heard and valued.
Creating a comfortable space fosters growth and innovation. A Forbes article on engagement and productivity notes, “According to a 2016 Gallup poll, teams with high employee engagement rates are 21% more productive.”
However, this Inc article reports that in an average eight-hour work day, employees are only working about three hours total. If creating emotional and physical spaces that are more conducive to employee engagement can improve number of hours worked, it is easy to see how that could also increase revenue.
Does your work culture foster the ability for your employees to work in a style that best fits their needs? A recent article by Business World said:
“A good workplace design has a strong influence on how employees think and behave. If the office space is unable to support the work style of users, the success and business outcomes of the organization can become an uphill battle.“
An open space design can create areas for natural collaboration, brainstorming, and innovation.
Employees.
Workplace efficiencies found in the emotions and behaviors of employees can be returned to them in dollars. Let’s talk about the link that brings us full circle, here.
If you as an employee have a conducive work environment and feel valued and rewarded for your contributions, you are statistically more likely to do more and better work. This means you are becoming a better professional, building your skills, and making yourself more marketable.
This also means that the business gets to benefit from your growing skill-set and time devotion, generating more income. Which they can then pass along to you, the employee, in the form of wages, benefits, team building, office structure, and talent.
Don’t be afraid to communicate this to your employer. Speak with your team to discuss what may be the best work environment for you to do your best. If you have limited autonomy, look to this article from Greater Good on tips to stay engaged.
I find scheduling think-time outside of the office brings more creativity and clarity to my work. I do this for an hour about two times a month and have found it to be very helpful. A bonus to this is checking out a multitude of great coffee shops in my community.
Entrepreneurs.
If you are not providing an environment to yourself in which you can produce your best work, you are doing yourself and your customers a disservice. Many of the women entrepreneurs I have engaged with look to working outside their home.
They opt for renting a co-working space or working from coffee shops, parks, and other public spaces. They find getting out of the home reduces distraction and streamlines their work flow. Live Plan shares how some entrepreneurs find motivation in surrounding themselves with like-minded entrepreneurs working on their businesses, which pushes them to stay focused.
The advantage is, as an entrepreneur, you have the most control of who is in your work space and where your work space is. That choice will ultimately affect your level of engagement with your work.
This level of autonomy may not be available to the corporate employee or employer. Use this advantage to get a leg up on the competition and produce your best work.
This post was originally published on Ellevate.
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