How To Instantly Improve Your Employees Productivity By 32 Percent

If you had total control of your workplace, how would you design it? When I asked a friend, he immediately responded with an excited “I’d love to have a fishtank at my desk. And huge windows!  Plus I wish I had an office…” Clearly employees think about these things throughout the day, but they are not given the freedom to take control of their workplaces in most offices. If you’re a business owner, consider letting your employees decorate it. That alone can increase work productivity by 32%, not to mention increasing employee happiness and office morale at the same time, according to a new study described by Science Daily.

University of Exeter researcher Dr. Craig Knight studied the attitudes and productivity of 2000 office workers in a series of studies. In an online questionnaire, Knight gauged the level of control workers had over their office space on a scale of none to being fully consulted over design changes and asked them how they felt about their workspace and their jobs.

Knight consistently found that workers who had more control over their work environment were happier and more motivated in their jobs than workers who had no control. Those who were able to dictate the design of their work space felt physically more comfortable at work, identified more with their employers, and felt more positive about their jobs in general.

In two follow-up studies, Knight had participants complete a series of tasks at the University or in commercial offices in a workspace that was either “lean (bare and functional), enriched (decorated with plants and pictures), empowered (allowing the individual to design the area) or disempowered (where the individual’s design was redesigned by a ‘manager’)” as described in Science Daily.

Knight found that workers in “empowered” work spaces were 32% more productive without any increase in errors than those in lean spaces. However, even workers in enriched spaces were 17% more productive than those in a “lean” environment. Knight explains the results as follows:

“Most contemporary offices are functional and offer very little user control, but our studies suggest this practice needs to be challenged. When people feel uncomfortable in their surroundings they are less engaged — not only with the space but also with what they do in it. If they can have some control, that all changes and people report being happier at work, identifying more with their employer, and are more efficient when doing their jobs.”

It has become a common practice in the corporate world to create a “lean” work environment that reflects a standardized corporate identity. It is time to rethink that mentality and follow companies such as Google and empower your employees to be happier and succeed!

What would your ideal workspace have?

Article image via trekbikes.