Workplace 101: Decorating Office to Improve Employee Wellbeing and Productivity

How long have you been dedicating your life living in the office? Quite long enough, we supposed.

Approximately, one-third of our life is spent in the workplace. Andrew Naber, an industrial and organisational psychologist, said that an average person spends 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime. As we spend a lot of our time at work, Naber said, it affects our general happiness and life outcomes. 

So, how can we have a good life while being at the office all the time?

The answer is by balancing personal and professional life. Having a work-life balance is important as it determines your overall wellbeing and ensures your happiness. The good news is, you can actually have a good time at your office by improving your workplace appearance. A survey by CUInsight found that how we decorate our office can affect wellbeing, wellness, job performance, and importantly, it can represent our brand better. Most of the surveyed respondents said that office decoration has a greater impact on how they experience company culture. Besides, beautifying your building can also leave an impression that matters to every team in an organisation as well as customers/clients.

If you are thinking to rearrange your workspace, here are some ideas to start.

Vision and mission – First and foremost, make sure everyone understands your company’s vision and mission. Making everyone aware of your vision and mission can showcase your business values and can be a great reminder for each of your employees as well as customers to always perform their best. The first thing to notice is you should make an interesting announcement of your vision and mission so it is engaging to read and can retain better in everyone’s memory. Additionally, you should place and hang them in a publicly visible area that can be seen by everyone.

Read also: Do Motivational Posters at Work Really Make an Impact?

Greenery – Another important thing is to provide a well-breathed environment in your office. Take advantage of the window placement and place some greenery plants in each corner of your office. If possible, you can have a garden inside your office to give a refreshing look. Thusly, every time employees feel bored or burnout, they can refresh their mind by looking at that greenery.

Arts – Decorate your office wall with arts that integrate with your business brand. You can either paint the wall by yourself or connect to the local art community whether they can customise some pieces for you or not. You can also place a large pile of art on your office wall to add more aesthetic.

Posters – Besides arts, you can place motivational or inspirational posters to your office wall. Hang it in a place where everyone can see like hall, toilet, the stairs, or lift.

Mirrors – Although you have put a large mirror in the bathroom, adding a mirror in your office can change the whole look of your workspace. A mirror can make your office more refined and professional while making the room look wider. A mirror could be helpful for your employee to check their appearance every time something important comes up, such as meeting with clients.

Add unique decoration – Sometimes, people just want to look at something new – fresh one that no one ever able to see before. So, the unique decoration is a good choice. You can add, for example, a funky ancient table, swaged couches or chair, or stylish trash can. This uniqueness will spark the company brand in the eyes of visitors, customers, and the whole team.

Recreation space – Build a recreation space in your office and fill it with games, colouring palate, books, food, and movie. These types of things will help decrease the employee’s stress.

Office odour – No one wants to work in an office that smell like one-week organic garbage, right? So, invest in some air fresheners and make sure that the air circulation in your building is up to par. Something like an aromatic candle might give some added aesthetic with a nice smell.

Hanging reminder – Reminder is important for a good performance, but no one wants to read a boring reminder. Thusly, you can place a hanging reminder in an open area such as a meeting room, your door office, or somewhere on a wall or board where everyone can read it.

Welcoming entryway – Ever since your employee enters the office, whatever they see can change their mood. So, do create something to make your entryway encouraging, fun, and welcoming such as fun couches or wall hanging photos of team building. You can also place a big interesting clock in your entryway.

Lighting – Don’t forget about lighting. It is the most important aspect of a well-designed office. Also, your unique furniture and best colour combinations cannot well shine without the light.

Get rid of office junk – Sort out paper, clips, boxes, and file, then pile them up. Encouraging your employees to set aside 30 minutes to 1 hour a day to do this will have your office space looking clean and refreshed. You can do this as an added exercise which is good for your employee wellbeing.

Lastly, encourage employees to be more creative by letting them personalise their own space. Everyone has different taste of art or style when it comes to decoration. So, you can integrate any elements that will keep them motivated throughout the day. It can be as simple as a colourful planner or an extravagant mural artist.

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What is your idea to make your office looks better to stay?

Next read: The Ups and Downs of Being an Employee