Whether it’s McDonald’s choosing yellow and green for its restaurants, Intel adding the signature “ding” tone to the end of its commercials, or countless companies using celebrities to represent their products and brand, the psychological roots of business run very deep. In fact, there are several branches of applied social science that explore (and frankly, exploit!) the fact that what goes on between our ears has a direct impact on the buying decisions we make.
However, there is another application of psychology on the business landscape that is just as important as adding profitable customers: office design. Below, we explore three key ways that office design impacts and influences employee engagement, productivity, performance — and ultimately, to the bottom-line:
1. Create open, bright spaces to foster teamwork.
The core building block of any high-performance workforce is teamwork. Employees need to know that colleagues “have their back,” and that everyone is working together vs. at cross purposes. Open, bright spaces can foster a trusting environment, because employees can literally see — and feel — that they are part of a bigger team. Using glass walls to enclose spaces that require privacy (meeting rooms, executive offices, etc.) can also help balance the need for confidentiality, with the desire to demonstrate and encourage trust, togetherness and support.
2. Use hot desking to foster equality and inclusivity.
In the old world of work, employees were expected to slowly and methodically climb the corporate ladder before making their way out of the proverbial mail room, and getting a key to the executive restroom. Well, those days are over!
These days things are dramatically different: hierarchies are out, and equality and inclusivity are in — especially since businesses need their new people to hit the ground running, and make a meaningful contribution as soon as possible. Hot desking is an innovative office design strategy that supports and establishes this democratic vision, since it allows employees to work wherever they wish or need to vs. at assigned stations/offices, where politics and favoritism often determine who works where.
3. Create breakout spaces and a great lunchroom to promote health and wellness.
Today’s “employers of choice” lean forward to help their employees improve their health and wellness — not just because it’s the moral and ethical thing to do, but also because it reduces absenteeism and benefits usage, and drives productivity and performance. One of the best ways for organizations to demonstrate this commitment is by creating breakout spaces for employees to recharge their batteries, and by re-inventing the lunchroom so that it offers healthy selections, and is both large and comfortable enough so that employees gladly want to go there vs. can’t wait to head to a nearby coffee shop or fast food restaurant.
Learn More
To learn more about how to use psychological insights to create an optimized office design plan — one that supports your employees and boosts your bottom-line — contact the Key Interiors team today. Your consultation with us is free.
For more information the open and collaborative office design, download our FREE eBook:
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