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Does office design affect the productivity of your employee?

Low productivity has been a growing concern for many organizations from all over the world, especially in this rapidly growing economy. People tend to get easily distracted over minimal issues such as noise distraction, bad office lighting and poor seating arrangement. A study conducted by TechniAsia have found that 43% of the people in the workforce tend to be more productive working outside of their office. The reason behind this is due to the unfavorable office design and environment. Furthermore, research have shown that companies with a higher standard of interior design for their office often has increased productivity among employees.

With that being said, businesses need to take into consideration of their office design and environment when it comes to boosting employee’s productivity.

Here are the 3 tips that businesses should take note of when it comes to office space design:

Private Working Booth or Rooms

Open concept workspace are becoming increasingly popular with businesses in this modern era. Many businesses believed that an open space concept helps to foster collaboration and innovation between employees. However, with increased collaboration in open spaces, employees are less focused on their work due to the number of discussions that happens around their desk.

To mitigate such issues faced by employees, businesses should take note of offering private working booths or rooms for the employees so they can focus and utilize the rooms for discussion. Businesses too can install sound-absorbing materials for the walls in these private rooms or spaces. Thus, minimizing the noise in the office and increase productivity.

Improved Lighting

‘’I like my workstation bright- with natural and cool white. I find that it helps me to focus on my work and it sets my mood on a serious and ‘’let’s hustle’’ tone. For discussion rooms, I have a preference for warm lights – it feels more inviting. Poor lighting in all makes me feel sluggish.’’ – Priscilla Ho, VP of Corporate Development, ESCO.

When it comes to lighting, businesses often neglect the importance of good lighting in the office. Poor lighting causes eye strain, headaches and increased level of fatigues, thus impacting productivity. Furthermore, good lighting have been observed to boost the performance of employees.

A research conducted by Light Right Consortium shows that 70% of employees working in the office finds that downward lighting was comfortable and 91% of them prefers having an atmosphere that has direct and indirect lighting with a high quantity of vertical lit surfaces. For instance, businesses should use a bright and warm, but white-based lighting for workstations because these type of lighting helps to increase performance and productivity. However, in meeting rooms or areas where discussion is involved, it is best to use ambient lighting – not dim but less bright than workstation lighting. As such, businesses should take into consideration on the type of lighting that is needed in the office space to increase productivity.

Efficient Video Conferencing Solutions

‘’During any video conference calls, communication is key and every participant must be able to hear and see each other clearly in order to share and discuss information more effectively. Therefore, I believe that having efficient video conferencing solutions is definitely important for any employee’s productivity especially when it comes to dealing with global partners and clients. It is always good to have everyone involved in a project to be on the same page so that there won’t be any miscommunication issues.’’  – Shashi Jeganathan, Global Program Manager, ESCO Singapore

In this modern era, most meetings are virtually held. Thus, many companies are slowly beginning to install video conferencing equipment in their meeting rooms. However, when it comes to designing a meeting room specialized for video conferencing, companies tend to neglect the minor design details that will affect the video conferencing systems. For instance, the placement of speakers and video camera can affect the quality of a video conference. This will in turn have an impact on the productivity of the employees as constant system checks have to be performed.

All in all, having a well-planned office design helps to increase the productivity of the employees. In ESCO, we design the desired office layout for our clients, while taking into consideration of the details that will affect productivity, such as lighting, noise and technology systems. We have highly trained designers and technicians to ensure that the design of the office helps to increase productivity.

Contact us at [email protected] today for an effective workplace design.