According to Andrew Naber ’07, an average person will spend about 90,000 hours, which means about one-third of their life at work. Nowadays, people expect to have a more optimal workplace filled with amenities that promote wellness, happiness, and satisfaction.
However, not all amenities are created equally. What types of amenities do companies need to provide to create a positive office environment? Which amenities provide the greatest value to employees as well as to the company? These questions should be kept in mind while the company plans for office design.
The worth-investing amenities must satisfy their core purpose of enhancing the productivity and creativity of people using them. Moreover, with the brand identity represented in the design, those amenities should also provoke a sense of belonging from the employees.
To increase employee workplace experience and productivity, here are the top five amenities you should consider investing in for your office.
1. Innovation hubs
An Innovation Hub is a place that provides facilities to nurture new ideas and reinforce creativity. It’s one of the top amenities to deliver high efficiency and positive experiences that can increase employee satisfaction and performance. People who work in different locations away from their desks often perform better than those who sit at fixed places. However, there needs to be a balance. Not enough time at the desk leads to unproductivity, while too much time at the desk results in lower experience scores.
The innovation hub is a perfect example of a feature that can promote effective and positive work experiences. This is considered a communal workspace that fosters conversation through creative learning, technology trends, and strategic planning. People come together to bring specific insight to engaging topics and bounce ideas off each other to come up with solutions.
2. Makerspaces
A makerspace is a collaborative workspace inside a building or an office for making, learning, exploring, and sharing that uses high-tech or no-tech tools. Employees can use this area for brainstorming, experimenting, collaborating, and changing hypotheses based on experimental outcomes.
Collaboration in the workplace is a growing trend in many corporations. Not only are corporations promoting teamwork, but they are also providing the teams makerspaces to aid in productivity and successful outcomes. Therefore, many companies are now using makerspaces as a guide to incorporate more collaborative and learning opportunities in a traditional office setting.
3. Quiet/ Tech-free zones
These days, work-life balance can seem like an impossible feat. Technology makes people accessible around the clock. According to Harvard Business Review, employees who do not feel psychologically safe are more prone to error. This also leads to a high rate of employee turnover. Tech-free zones can let the employees feel relaxed, recharged and boost productivity among employees.
As a matter of fact, many workplaces have been incorporating different amenities for their employees: one of them being quiet, tech-free zones. According to Gensler’s 2019 U. S. Workplace Survey, quiet zones are the third-highest ranked amenity in terms of value.
According to Mindfulness Research, mindfulness meditation can help boost attention and keep the brain sharp and increase attention throughout the day. Quiet zones provide employees with a place to zone out, stretch, nap, or even meditate as well as enable them to buckle down and use the time to gather thoughts over a coffee or catch up with a colleague. Rooms for napping or tech-free zones are growing in popularity in many organizations.
4. Outdoor workspaces
Corporate health is a hot topic today – more and more companies start taking it seriously. It’s for a good reason – employees are much more likely to work effectively and remain in the company longer if their well-being is respected and taken into consideration.
Outdoor amenities provide green areas, a place for quality relaxation as well as an outdoor workstation. They benefit not only employees but also employers. Employers experience the benefit of healthcare claim savings and more engaged, productive, and positive employees.
5. Focus Rooms
It’s time to get productive! Meet the new favorite room in the office – the Focus Room.
Focus rooms are areas where employees can touch down and relax or work with more privacy. Previously, focus room was only a small area enough for one or two people. In recent office design, focus rooms have taken several different shapes, where privacy meets productivity that allow you to concentrate on the task at hand.
