Does bad office design mean low work productivity?

Offices are the most used spaces and we spend an average one-third of our lives at the offices. As an employer, everyone wants to recruit top talents in their workspace to increase the work productivity. But there are times when we struggle to keep up with work productivity. Is it because of bad office design? Or the output is hurt due to some other bad office habits?

1. The statistics

According to a recent study by COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, office design is a vital, in fact, most important factor in increasing employees’ productivity. Another study on US workplace environment concluded that 89% of the respondents rated design as the most important factor for work satisfaction.

And almost 90% of the senior officials stated that a successful office design is crucial to increase the employees’ productivity. Well, these are enough to say that why office design is important.

2. Relation between work environment and productivity

How many of us find it difficult to work in a cold or noisy environment? Many surveys are conducted to list out which factors contribute to the work environment and how they’re connected with the office designs.

Lightings contribute 9% to the work environment while air and temperature contribute 20%. Noise is the biggest factor in work environment contributing 71% of the total.

Moreover, Environmental Psychologists argue that office design states how workers feel. And a bad office design is the main villain in the employees’ low productivity.

3. The good and bad office design

A bad office design points to unmotivated employees while a good office design means employers care what their employees feel. This also means a bad office design is nowhere near to a happy workplace.

Forbes recently made a study to reveal that the US Economy lost approximately $500 billion in a year due to bad office designs and low productivity.

As more millennial enter the market game, it becomes important to keep your workspaces loaded with positivity, high work productivity, and a talent pool. These all starts with a good office design.

4. Is good office design expensive?

You can change this question as “Is bad office design even more expensive?” Take a look around your office space. Overstuffed file cabinets, yellow lights, mismatched furniture, terrible chairs.

Do these things point that your office design is mediocre? This can be the reason why you’re lagging behind your competitors.
Hence, a good office design may cost you something big, but this certainly does not cost you productivity.

5. The future of office design

So what’s a good office design to follow in 2016? According to Saci Trave, Interior Designer, and Project Manager for BOKA Powell, LLC, “Workplace interior design is a thoughtful, client-centered, strategic process.”

Appropriate lightings, ergonomics, the democracy of space, use of technology, everything improves productivity. Even the surrounding areas near the office location are important to keep your customers and employees loyal to your company.

Finally, a happy employee means a long term employee and happier employees these days are the ones who enjoys working in their offices. This means office design is the heart of the work productivity.