Five Panda Pointers: How to make your office great for everyone

May 4, 2017 3:51:27 PM

You might have seen that the pandas recently moved into a brand new office! Happy days. It got us thinking…what makes a great office? We’ve previously looked at what makes a great work location, which of course is important, but so is the actual office.

While some people love the idea of a pool table or a beer fridge, others might not really care about that kind of thing. Is music in the workplace a good idea? What about an office dog? How do you get a good balance of things that not only motivate the team, but every team member appreciates? It’s a tricky one…but do not fear! Our five panda pointers are on hand to show you a few things that could help the office vibe.

1) An office brainstorm

Put some time aside to find out exactly what helps the team and their effectiveness in the workplace. A discussion only has to be an hour to get a good grasp on what motivates people, while finding out what the team agree on.

This is probably the best place to start when it comes to improving office morale and finding out what makes employees tick. You can then begin to find out what will work in your space and get to work. An alternative to this is to implement a suggestion box, where people can vote on their favourite suggestion of the week or month.

2) Free fruit

One thing people are always conscious of is daytime snacking. Wellness and health is at the forefront of our minds too. Getting your 5 a day is important but it can be easy to fall short on this during a long work day. Having a free fruit basket is more effective than you might think. Morale is high when people feel there are healthy snacks readily available and know the fruit is there to give them a much needed boost. The top tip is to have a variety of options to appease the apple fans while the clementine fans get their orangey fix.

3) Artwork and imagery

Did you know certain colours are believed to trigger different emotions and influence productivity in different ways? How accurate this is, we can’t say, but it’s worth thinking about in terms of welcoming vibrancy into the workplace. What better way to inspire workplace creativity than to have fantastic pieces of art decorating the office? How about some intriguing and unusual pieces to encourage expression? Another great idea to really motivate people is to allow them to decorate a certain part of the office. A photo collage of the team on a company day out or perhaps photos from holidays will help people visualise what hard work results in.

4) Breakaway area

This is one that is on the rise, though is still overlooked in some workplaces. It’s important for employees to be able to step away from the desk for a quick break if they need one. Even if it’s just to rest their eyes or stretch their legs, they will feel more comfortable being able to recharge in a designated spot. While it may be hard to accommodate this, depending on the space, it is a great perk to consider when you want to give the workplace that extra bit of comfort!

5) A touch of nature

From lighting to office plants, it’s the small things that encourage employees to relax. Plants around the office have been proven to reduce stress and introduce a more natural feel to an office people spend a lot of their time in. Natural lighting is a workplace productivity boost too, but of course not all offices have access to this. Quickly researching how to combat this if this is the case will work wonders; mirrors, wall colour and the aforementioned art work can work wonders if natural lighting is not an option.

These are just five of many tips you can take when considering improvement of the workplace. Of course, it all boils down to your team and the company culture. If everyone wants a pool table, then by all means install one but always try to consider what benefits every person and not just a few.

What do you think?

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