Have you ever stopped to think that it could be the way your office is laid out which is causing your productivity levels to drop?
Most people totally overlook this possibility, simply assuming that it’s more about the work being done or software problems, but in actual fact, it can really come down to the basics of the matter.
The way your office is designed and the overall layout affects everything but it affects morale in a big way. If morale is affected, productivity is also affected.
For instance, check out this video which pits open plan offices against cellular offices and try and identify the reasons why both of these office layouts could cause an issue for morale.
In order to really understand whether this is a problem for you and whether you need to change things in order to motivate your staff and see a change in productivity levels, let’s look at 7 of the biggest reasons why your office layout could be causing a problem with productivity.
- People are sitting too close together - Think about times in the past when you’ve had to sit close to someone at your office desk. How did it make you feel over the long-term? Perhaps you felt suffocated or penned in? If that happens over a long period of time, it can easily erode away at morale because people start to bicker and argue. We all need personal space!
- Morale is low because employees don’t like the layout - Have you ever stopped to ask your employees whether they’re happy with the layout of the office or not? If they don’t like the layout, they’re not going to enjoy working in that space. When that happens, productivity drops. So, if you suspect this could be the reason, ask your employees what they think about the current layout of your space and take action accordingly.
- Employees feel they’re being watched - If you have management in the same office as employees, this can sometimes have a detrimental effect. For instance, employees might feel that they’re being watched and that can cause them to worry or make mistakes as a result. In that case, could a combination office layout work better?
- Collaboration isn’t encouraged by the layout of the office - Cellular offices have many advantages but the biggest disadvantage is the fact that they tend to discourage widespread collaboration simply because people are sitting away from one another, in different offices.
- Employees need to walk from office to office to get what they need - Whilst open plan offices aren’t perfect, they do cut down on the amount of walking around employees need to do in order to find the things they need or talk to colleagues. If you have a contiguous office layout or perhaps even a cellular one, employees are going to spend a lot of time away from their office chairs. Sure, we need to be active at work, but not for needless reasons!
- The layout doesn’t suit the size of the office - If you’re trying to create a large agile workspace in a small office, you’re going to run into problems space-wise and it’s going to become a distracting place to work. Make sure that the layout you choose fits perfectly with the size and space you have.
- The office is too loud - This is solely on the shoulders of the open plan office! If your employees are complaining that they can’t concentrate because the office is far too loud, you have to take action to avoid too many mistakes being made and a huge problem with productivity.
If you can identify any of these 7 reasons, it’s perhaps time to start thinking about changing your office layout for the future. Make sure you discuss with your employees and find out their view on the entire subject and work together to create the best piece of middle ground for all concerned.