6 Ways to Make Your Office More Appealing
- 24 Oct 2022
6 Ways to Make Your Office Appealing
Office space isn’t cheap, but for many businesses it is essential. Just like everything in business, smart business leaders will find ways to improve their return on investment in their office space.
In this article, we offer you insight into 6 of the best ways to make your office space more appealing to team members, getting them into the office more often and boosting productivity.
Why Create a Better Office?
There are several reasons why creating an office space where your teams want to be is beneficial to business.
The most current and prominent reason for this is the general shift toward home working. Whilst offering your team members the opportunity to work across various locations has many benefits, for most businesses encouraging your team members to work from the office (at least on occasion) will help boost levels of productivity, communication and streamline team management.
Other benefits include the fact that a better office is simply nicer for your teams to work in, helping increase employee satisfaction, which in turn is likely to have a positive impact on the quality and volume of work they produce.
A great office is also a great recruitment tool, making your business more appealing to talent within your industry.
Ways to Make Your Office More Appealing
So, how do you actually make your office a more appealing place to be in? We explore 6 great ways to do this below.
Facilitate a Great Culture
There is no greater reason that people love coming into an office than a positive culture. In fact, for the majority of people culture will overrule most other factors.
For example, employees are likely to happily come into an office with a happy, positive and vibrant culture even if the space isn’t all that exciting, doesn’t have all the best productivity tools and doesn't provide them with fantastic benefits.
On the other hand, you may provide your employees with a stunning workplace, the most expensive tools and countless freebies - but if the culture is toxic, team members will do whatever they can to get out of coming into the office.
Of course, you can’t dictate culture, you can only influence it. This can be done through clever hiring, considerate people management and the adoption of some of the other tips we include in this guide.
Offer Small, But Important Benefits
Sure, renting a huge open-plan office with fancy fittings and floor-to-ceiling glass windows is nice, but it doesn't have to take HUGE investments like this in order to create a more appealing office culture.
Sometimes, just offering small conveniences can make a big difference. For example, try providing things like:
- Tea
- Coffee
- Snacks
- Small kitchen areas
- Areas to relax
If you can afford it, you could also try and upgrade some of these areas such as providing a coffee machine and a nice coffee roast rather than instant.
Small benefits like this show that you care about your team and make your office a more enjoyable space to be in.
Provide Productivity Tools
One of the biggest downsides to working from home is the fact that homes are rarely set up to be productive.
Of course, most digital work tools can now be accessed from anywhere via the internet. But very few homes have space for physical, permanent tools.
For example, setting up meeting spaces where teams can meet clients or discuss ideas will help boost productivity. You can also use those spaces to put up whiteboards and notice boards which are simple, yet powerful tools for explaining concepts and communicating key messages.
Make It Easy To Get To
Commutes are by far one of the biggest reasons people don’t like coming into the office.
After all, would you rather pay to spend 45 minutes on a packed train or roll out of bed, enjoy some breakfast and open your laptop in a comfortable living room for free?
…unsurprisingly most people would select option two.
So, making the commute to work easier and more affordable will help make coming into the office a more attractive option.
There are lots of ways to do this, although which ones work best for you will depend on your location, team and circumstance. Some ideas include:
- Creating a ride-share scheme
- Joining the Cycle Scheme
- Moving your office to a more convenient location
- Putting on free transportation from popular local living locations
Keep it Clean
Another simple way to make your work environment more appealing is to make sure it stays clean and tidy.
When people work from home not only do they have to deal with the mess that is created during their non-working time, but they also have to invest more time into keeping their own workspace clear.
Removing this job by employing cleaners to regularly clean your office space can help free up employees' time. Plus, a clean and tidy work environment is more likely to be productive than a messy one.
Add Elements of Fun
Working from home can detach your employees from social interactions. This can be concerning on several levels such as team members not being able to properly talk through their problems and challenges with others.
Another reason this is bad is simply due to the fact that a lack of social interactions can also mean a lack of fun.
Again, how you inject fun into your workplace will depend widely on the type of business are in and the personalities of the people within your teams. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Create office-place competitions based on anything from simple games to monthly sales (with prizes)
- Organise fun social events in or out of the office
- Simply introduce a silly (but tasteful) joke of the day which can be written on a whiteboard to brighten the mood
- Install a radio or Bluetooth speaker so people can listen to music throughout the day.
Creating an Attractive Office: Summary
It is clear that bringing your teams into the office can be beneficial both for the business and for the individuals. In this guide, we have offered you some simple and affordable ways to make your office space more attractive and make it more likely that your teams will want to spend time there.
If you enjoyed this article, you may also like…
- Reimagining Office Working
- Creating a Stylish and Functional Office
- What your office furniture says about your business
- The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Your Office Space
