Office Design: Do You Need Fake Grass and a Throne for Managers to be a Good Place to Work?

Office Design: Do You Need Fake Grass and a Throne for Managers to be a Good Place to Work?

The simple answer to this is that it really depends.  What is one person’s cool and contemporary is another’s trite and unnecessary.

As a manager, a working environment is doubly important.  Firstly, it has to satisfy your individual desire to have a nice place to work.  But secondly, it needs to be somewhere your team want to work and where you can get the best from them.  So, in many respects, the working environment you choose is dependent upon your team.

So, why is it so important?

Young professionals want lounge settings: Whether it’s because Millennials have grown up in a wireless world or because the nature of their work simply enables mobility, this group values the freedom to choose where and how they work—and to be comfortable doing it.  Allowing your team to work the way they want promotes a culture of authenticity and fuels productivity.

Attract great talent: In today’s competitive job market, offering perks like multiple work areas within the office, flexible schedules and a great culture can be trump cards for choosy candidates. Not only does a fun, interactive culture foster relationships and provide a sense of belonging at work, but flexibility breeds satisfaction.

Increased productivity = increased bottom line: There’s no doubt that happy employees are productive employees. Satisfied employees concentrate easily, feel free to express and share ideas, and are able to work in teams without being interrupted. But this kind of success doesn’t come by accident, areas where collaboration and solo work can happen without interruption are the product of careful space planning, not good luck.

Improve Well-being: ease job-related stress by creating spaces in the office that encourage movement and help your team relax.

So, whilst a helter-skelter, fake grass, a feng shui room and a bubble room might be pushing it, careful space planning is very important.