You take your employees out for boat days. You order them pizza for those long lunch meetings. You give them tablets to use in the office and at conferences. All of these extra perks are things that will make your employees love you, but they don’t mean much if they aren’t happy with their day-to-day workspace.
Small business owners often struggle with creating an office environment that their employees will love because they feel that they can’t compete with larger businesses such as Google, Facebook, and Zappos who are known for their perks and office environments. However, there are still things you can do to create a space that your employees will love. Here are four tips for creating a workspace that will make your employees love coming into work every day:
Keep it organized
All of your employees have a lot going on each day. Whether it’s writing blogs, keeping track of new customers, generating new business or even answering phone calls, there’s a lot of information to keep track of. Office supplies, electronics, business cards and mugs can easily clutter an office space if you’re not careful. As an entrepreneur, you have many managerial tasks on your plate, and creating a tidy workspace isn’t always high on your priority list. However, you know better than anybody that productivity and motivation can suffer when your workspace is disorganized. So, what can you do to keep the office organized? Try giving everything it’s own space, and make sure that both you and your employees are utilizing those spaces. The five most important areas to look at are paper, general (office supplies, miscellaneous, etc.), furniture layout, electronic information and time management.
Consider both open and private spaces
The open office layout trend isn’t going anywhere. Open office spaces promote and encourage collaboration, but they can also be distracting for your employees who need a quieter environment to focus. If your office has an open floor plan, find ways to create more private spaces for employees who may need a quiet space throughout the day. If your office is compromised of individual offices, try to create some open spaces where employees can work together when it’s needed. There’s no way to create an office layout that everyone will love, but your employees will appreciate it when there are spaces throughout the office that can accommodate just about everyone.
Make education a priority
As an entrepreneur, you know that no matter how long you’ve been in the business, there’s always more to learn. Even though you probably want your employees to spend most of their day doing actual work-related tasks, it’s important that you allow your employees to dedicate a little bit of time each week towards education. In fact, you should even encourage it. It’s important for your employees to keep up with the latest industry trends. It not only benefits your business, but it will make them better professionals as well.
Encourage employee feedback
There’s no way to make your office the perfect environment for every employee, but encouraging and allowing employee feedback can be incredibly beneficial. Even though you may like a certain layout, it may not work well for your employees. For example, if your desks are in rows, your employees may find that it’s hard to collaborate with their team. Instead, they may suggest that you put the desks into groups so they can work with their team more efficiently without shouting over other employees. You don’t always have to take their suggestions if you don’t think it will work well with your office, but at least take them into consideration. Some of the ideas may be ones you never thought of and may actually work well for your office environment and culture.