Employees not performing up to your expectations?
Their work spaces could be the culprit. When individuals have to do their jobs in uncomfortable conditions, or waste time looking for work materials, it can negatively impact their attitudes, focus and productivity.
Thankfully, no matter where your employees work – in warehouses, cubicles, shop floors or offices – simple adjustments can lead to big improvements over the long-term. Here are a few ideas to boost productivity by improving employee work spaces:
- Warm things up. Comfortably warm working conditions increase employee’s accuracy and productivity. In fact, a study by Cornell’s Human Factors and Ergonomics Laboratory found that, as office temperature increased from 68 to 77 degrees, typing errors decreased by 44 percent – and typing output improved a whopping 150 percent!
- Dial down the volume. Although collaboration is essential for certain types of project teams, noisy working environments can create real productivity problems. Studies have shown that office noise can negatively impact an individual’s mood, ability to concentrate and even health. If your work environment isn’t conducive to quiet, try offering one or more of these alternatives: provide noise cancelling headphones; install sound-absorbing panels in cubicles and/or on ceilings and walls; create quite spaces where workers can go when extreme focus is needed.
- Provide better quality lighting. Those buzzing fluorescent bulbs are not the best choice for supporting productivity. Over the years, scientific research has shown that artificial light disrupts employees’ circadian rhythms – and can dramatically increase feelings of sleepiness at the end of the work day. Wherever possible, increase the natural light available to workers. If adding windows isn’t an option, consider using light bulbs that mimic the sun’s natural light. And for workers who are forced to remain in artificial light conditions, offer frequent breaks outdoors to rejuvenate them and increase their alertness.
- De-clutter and re-organize. It may be a little early for spring cleaning, but it’s never too soon for employees to organize their work spaces. De-cluttering instantly improves both relaxation and focus. So set aside time for your team to devote exclusively to cleaning their areas, archiving old projects and re-stocking supplies. Having everything they need easily within reach (and nothing in their work spaces that doesn’t belong) will greatly boost productivity.
- Encourage personalization. Sometimes, it’s the little things that make your team happy. Encourage your staff to display personal items in the workplace, to remind them of why they do their jobs in the first place. Adding a few personal touches gives employees (and your culture) an instant lift.
- Fix things that irritate employees. Tangled computer wires, broken file drawers and buzzing lights do more than just bother your staff – they can rob them of concentration and efficiency. Stay on top of workplace repairs and empower your employees to fix small problems that get under their skin.
Here are two more ways a CT employment agency like A.R. Mazzotta can help keep your staff’s spirits and productivity high:
- Treat an employee to a day off. Allow us to provide a temporary replacement for the day.
- Reduce employee burnout. Bring in our temporaries to help ease the burden of overtime, remove bottlenecks and fill last-minute staff gaps that put undue stress on your team.