At the core of every business, there is a workplace that needs to be maintained in working conditions. The safety of your staff, their health, their productivity and their happiness depend on it. But more importantly, your business survival depends on your ability to transform four walls and a roof into a place where people want to come and work. At a time where more and more businesses are considering the move towards a virtual office, it’s essential to address the needs of those industry sectors where virtual and remote work is not a viable option — for a variety of reasons, whether you need to keep your customer-facing team on-site or whether the tasks can’t merely be performed remotely.
The growing interest in digital solutions has been accompanied by a significant decrease in workplace arrangements and equipment. To put it simply, as more and more businesses are planning digital transformations for the sake of their users and client management strategies, they’ve paid less attention to their actual premises. It’s a big mistake as your employees need an engaging and exciting work environment to perform. This article will help you to understand in depth what the fundamental premises of running a smooth business are.
Start with the first question: Where should it be?
The first quality of great premises is where they are based. If you remember the basics of business marketing, the Four P’s might ring a bell: Price, Product, Promotion and Place. In the marketing environment, Place refers to the distribution system you’ve set up, aka where your customers receive the product or service. In the world of the workplace, it’s about finding the right location for your offices. In the business sector, the place of your premises tends to be pushed down the bottom of the priority list. In reality, the location is a key element if you think of the big picture. For a start, some regions, states or countries present friendlier tax and regulation system to entrepreneurs as others. It’s something worth considering if you are in a position where your geographical location has no impact on your business activities. Additionally, there are costs related to your labor force that are essential to examine. For instance, an office away from urban areas might be cheaper to rent or buy, but you will struggle to find the talents you need. Comparatively, while an office in town is easier to reach and more likely to tap into a pool of city employees, it’ll be more expensive for you to maintain.
Big or small office?
Finding the perfect location is one thing, getting the office space you need is another. Indeed, getting your office space just right is an art that is difficult to master — check this for more info. Pick it too big, and the space will feel overwhelming for your employees, and it will reflect poorly on your business performance. In fact, candidates who interview in an office that is too big for the current team tend to assume that the company is on the way out. Select premises that are too small and your team will feel too crammed to be productive. The best approach is to consider how many employees you employ and how many you plan to hire in the next couple of years so that you can get a clear idea of office space per person. As a general rule of the thumb, you need to count 150 to 350 square feet per individual, depending on their equipment, their requirements, and the kind of work they do.
What office arrangements do you need?
Your employees spend a lot of time in the workplace. So they need a little more attention than a desk and a chair, to put things plainly. You need to arrange your space in a way that people can work and relax effectively without disturbing each other. Starting with your must-have rooms and spaces, your workplace should provide employees with:
- At least one big conference room for presentations in front of the team or of clients, with video conferencing equipment too
- Some small meeting rooms for private meetings of a handful of people
- A brainstorming room, which can be the large conference room
- A kitchen where your staff can prepare their own meal — unless you can afford for a bigger than life cafeteria to feed your entire staff during working hours
- A common area, which can be attached to the kitchen, where people can socialize without disturbing those who work
- A wellness room where people can tend to their personal health requirements, from breastfeeding to stretching against back pains
Additionally, you can add a few nice to have spaces, from the outdoor space to the fitness area. More importantly, each room needs to be maintained and serviced to the latest electrical standards and regulations — click here to find out how to keep your electrical goods running at all times in the workplace. It’s always a good idea to ensure that your office arrangements are electrically safe before leaving your staff deal with errant wires.
The tech that can make the deal
There are plenty of inexpensive office perks that you can add to the workplace. Why do they matter? Because they give the place a friendly personality and they can keep employees motivated even at the end of a hard day. You could offer your staff to choose from a selection of keyboard stickers, for example, to personalize their laptops.
If the workplace is spacious, why not provide your employees with the option of working from a stand-up desk — or even a treadmill desk — to keep them healthy and active all day long? Another friendly addition to the premises is a ping pong or a Foosball table in the common room so that people can have a game as they relax. Contrary to the common belief, the addition of game and sports items in the workplace helps people to be more productive, as they are less stressed.
The tech you need anyway
Your office relies on tech devices to manage its productivity: Printers, phones, laptops, Internet servers, etc. When you prepare your budget for the purchase of essential work-related tech, you need to remain cost-aware. No, we don’t mean that you should be looking for the cheapest possible option. Instead, have a look at what Fletcher Previn, one of IBM’s vice presidents, has to say about technology. Previn is the person who changed IBM from being a PC only company to adopting Apple Mac.
Why so? Because, as he argues, even though Apple laptops and computers are a lot more expensive to buy, Mac users tend to need less support and to cost less in overall tech maintenance to the company. Being cost-aware means that you can think beyond the price tag and considers the other factors that can impact on the budget. In other words, the cheapest option may not remain cost-effective in the long term.
The feel-good perks in the kitchen
Not everyone can have a free cafeteria at work. We get that. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t spoil your employees with some much-appreciated kitchen perks, as described here. Free drinks, for a start, don’t break the bank and can make a great deal of difference. But if you want to put a smile on the faces of your employees from the Monday morning until the Friday afternoon, consider the addition of a modern coffee machine that can pour a perfect cappuccino. Make sure, also, to keep a kitchen that everyone can use, which is to say to equip it with the necessary tools for your staff to prepare their lunch breaks.
What about accessibility?
The one thing that a lot of people forget about the office space is that your premises need to remain accessible for all. For instance, wheelchair users will need sufficient room to move into the office freely, without disturbing anyone and, more importantly, without getting stuck on an uneven carpet or in too narrow doorways. Additionally, they will also need an alternative access if your office has a staircase. While this might sound simplistic and often not necessary, the lack of accessibility of offices can be perceived as a form of discrimination against disabled employees and clients.
Are your teams safe?
But enough with the interior planning. What about your outdoors? For instance, do you keep your entrances and exits secure with a controlled access into the building? Whether you choose to use badges or a code, it’s vital to ensure that not anyone can enter your premises. Additionally, if you have a car park, you should invest in CCTV cameras and car park barriers to keep intruders at bay. More often than not, the presence of video systems is sufficient to deter burglars. Finally, there is a lot of tech items in an office. Consequently, these should be protected with a security alarm that is linked to the local police station.
Safety, comfort, productivity, perks and accessibility are at the core of the ideal workplace arrangements. Running a smooth and successful business starts directly with your workplace design. Make it work for your employees so that they can work for your business.
