Over the course of the pandemic, many businesses had the choice of shutting down or letting their staff work from home.
This was logical, as it reduced the spread of the virus and saved countless lives. However, now that people are being vaccinated and immunity is increasing, many business owners are considering a return to the office. Of course, if you want your staff to return and maintain good levels of satisfaction and productivity, you’re going to need to make sure that your office is a pleasant environment to spend time in. There are plenty of remote jobs out there now, so you don’t want to lose your own team to them. Here are just a few different ways that you can make your office a more pleasant environment.
Cleanliness and Safety
Cleanliness and safety are at the top of most of our lists of priorities right now. So, you need to make sure that you’re taking proper precautions in your office. You may want to consider a deep, professional clean of the space before staff return, as well as implementing basic Covid-safety precautions. This could include color coded wrist bands or lanyards indicating how comfortable different staff members are with closeness and contact. It could include providing plenty of hand sanitizer. It could mean perspex barriers between desks and one way systems or distanced queuing systems in communal spaces.
Temperature Control
Temperature can massively impact your employees’ comfort. They should be able to control the temperature of the office space, based on general concensus. This means making sure that your heating systems are fully functioning at all times, as well as installing HVAC systems that can cool the space if necessary.
Scent
Believe it or not, scent can have a big impact on happiness and productivity too. You’ll want your office space to smell nice for employees, so look into an air scent diffuser that can spread subtle scents across the space. Make sure that nothing is too strong, as this can be overwhelming and create feelings of wooziness or sickness.
Break Space
Your employees shouldn’t be stuck at their desk all day. Instead, you should offer them a dedicated space that they can retreat to on their lunch breaks or tea breaks. This could just mean adding a few comfortable chairs or a dining table and chairs to your office kitchen space. This will give them somewhere to disconnect, relax and unwind between projects. This can help to significantly improve productivity.
Smoking Areas
Chances are, some of your employees smoke. Chances are, some don’t. So, you’re going to need to cater to each group’s needs to make sure everyone is comfortable. You should make sure that there is a designated, sheltered smoking area a little distance from the office doors. This means that smokers will have a space to smoke on their break, while non smokers don’t have to walk directly past smoky atmospheres to get into the office.
These changes are all simple to implement, so make sure to give them some real consideration!