From the products they offer to the company culture they create, workplaces differ on a lot of things. Yet there are certain things every business can do to boost morale and create a more effective workplace. That’s why we’ve made this rundown of the cool office improvements that are making waves in 2019. Learn how you can update your office space, giving your marketing strategy a makeover, and motivate your team to work more efficiently.
Stunning Interior Decor
Most offices chock full of annoyances that cripple morale. There are messy desks and stuffy rooms with no windows. And don’t even get us started about broken thermostats, hideous corporate art, or that annoying guy in the next cubicle who chomps ice cubes. While you may not be able to fire the annoying guy for making weird noises, you can get rid of the general doom and gloom. All you have to do is invest in good décor.
If you’ve got the money, now’s your chance to go hog wild. You can start by ripping out that ugly industrial carpet in favour of modern flooring. Another option: paint an accent wall in each office. A colour like turquoise or green can really brighten up a room; just make sure you skip super bright colours like yellow or sterile colours like white, both of which can cause anxiety and lower productivity.
Stuck on a limited budget? There are plenty of cheap ways to update your space. Get live plants to freshen up the room, and invest in some creative artwork—preferably by a local artist, so your décor can give back to the community you’re in. You can also opt for local co-working space that has all the cleanliness you want in your space, due to increasing competition among co-working spaces, they tend to give you the best possible solution and try to take all these thing into consideration for better selling.
Ergonomic Office Chairs
Your team won’t produce good work when they’re sitting in chairs that cause physical pain. If your decrepit office chairs have got employees devouring Tylenol like Tic Tacs, it’s time to get new furniture. Like, yesterday.
Start by shopping for ergonomic chairs that provide support for your employees’ backs. At this point, it’s a good idea to recruit a few employees to help you test these chairs and make sure they’re comfy. After all, it would be a shame to spend all that money on only to find your employees don’t like the new chairs as much as you do.
You can also go the extra mile and splurge for sit-to-stand desks. This will help your employees become more mobile, which can improve their moods and save them from the health risks of a sedentary job. These desks will improve their posture, increase productivity, and help them feel more creative; whenever they get stuck on an assignment, they can change up their desks for a fresh perspective.
Marketing Materials
While it’s true that most office improvements are going to be used, well, in the office, you’ll need to invest in some printed marketing materials for your customers. An iconic design on your business card, a creative direct mail campaign, or a well-designed marketing kit will give clients the info they need and show off your brand personality.
Vinyl binders are one of the best marketing tools money can buy (and a great way to organize your office). They’ve got rigid panels to protect important papers, and the exterior “skin” can be printed with a custom design to make an indelible impression on your clients. There are also cool mini binders that come with all the same options, just for smaller content. Even better, vinyl is recyclable—so you can turn an ordinary office supply into an eco-friendly marketing kit.
Another great piece of advice: top off your marketing binder with a promotional item. Coffee mugs are a fantastic choice because even people who aren’t coffee aficionados will still use them for their tea or hot cocoa. When you complement a great marketing kit with an item that people can use every day, they’re much more likely to be convinced that you’ve got useful products, too.
Stress Relief Options
You’ve heard the saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” But since you may not know what that means for your business, let us break it down for you. Employees who are expected to churn out mounds of work with nothing to stimulate their minds are likely to disengage. And if you think work is its own reward—well, the research proves you’re wrong. Roughly 70% of employees are not engaged, and their lack of focus costs U.S. companies $11 billion in revenue every year.
While it seems counter-intuitive to let disengaged employees play, that’s exactly what you need to do. Companies that let employees blow off a little steam during the day are seeing increased productivity, and they’ve got top talent crawling out of the woodwork. Just ask Google—or any of these top ten companies with innovative incentives.
The sky is the limit when you’re thinking of ways to help your employees unwind. You can go crazy with puppy play days, Beer Bash Fridays, or indoor playgrounds if that’s what you want to do. But you can also provide stress relief on a budget. For instance, you can set up a mini gym complete with yoga mats and weights. Keeping a few board games in the break room is a great way to encourage people from different departments to hang out and collaborate. Even bringing free coffee and doughnuts once a week for a social hour can give your team something to look forward to at the office—besides their mega workload.
Healthy Snacks
Didn’t think snacks qualified as office improvements, right? Well, they actually do. Just like it’s tough for employees to work at peak levels if they’re stressed, it’s pretty hard to do anything productive when they’re hangry. It can never hurt to keep a few snacks handy to keep your team feeling energetic and refreshed at the very least.
That said, it’s a good idea to skip cliché office snacks like doughnuts. According to Buffer, the sugary snacks we usually keep on hand don’t supply the right nutrients to the brain. Our bodies need the right amount of glucose in the bloodstream in order to keep our minds active and alert, so it’s good to look for foods with a low glycemic index that will slowly release glucose instead of cause a sugar-related crash.
Inc.com interviewed a lifestyle expert and dietitian to see which foods are best for increasing productivity at work. She came up with these easy-to-store snacks that can give you and your team an afternoon pick-me-up. Given that healthy snacks have the power to shift the entire office mood for the better, it’s time to add them to the shopping list.