Flicking the Switch – 5 Easy Office Additions to Simplify the Workplace Experience

Think of all the time we spend in our working environments.

Most people in full-time employment spend 38-40 hours at work per week. If you were to add that up for every week of the year (and factor in 4 weeks of annual leave per year), you’d get 1,824 hours per year. That’s a lot of time to be spending in a complex, unhappy workplace.

If you’re looking to enrich, simplify and brighten your working days, look no further. Here are 5 ideas for easy additions to your office to help keep your daily grind more manageable.

Upgrading Your Technology

One of the most challenging and overly complex parts of many modern workplaces is the (often archaic) and convoluted technologies we have to work with. Forward-thinking workplaces are adopting smarter, easily integrated technologies, like VOIP ( try Commander Centre VoIP Phone Systems) which allows workers to communicate instantly with the use of voice, over a safe, stable internet connection.

This eliminates some of the haziness of email communication and the constant back-and-forth emailing can bring.

Bring The Outside In

This might sound counter intuitive, but bringing a little bit of the outside world into your workplace can create a mood of lightness, brightness and calm.

Q: How can a workplace bring in the outside world?

A: Plants. Indoor plants can add vibrancy and much needed fresh air to an otherwise dull and grey working environment. Plants remind of of our connection to the outside world, and they are great for creating transitions between employee work spaces (rather than bland partitions and doors).

The inclusion of plants in our workplaces is also thought to add to our productivity – welcome news for both employers and employees!

Breaking Out

A fun and varied workplace environment encourages colleagues to congregate and feel at ease in their surroundings, and it can also create a further sense of calm (see above).

Create spaces within spaces at your workplace; like an area for relaxing with a coffee, or for lunch-breaks. If you have the room and the resources, add an area with games (table tennis, table soccer, air hockey). Some other less-noisy (and costly) ideas include adding a craft area (with basic supplies like magazines, glue, scissors and paint for scrapbooking) and providing a coffee machine. A well caffeinated workplace is a well-working (and fast working) workplace! It’s a ‘daily grind’ you can really get behind.

Encouraging employees to use these little spaces also reduces the time spent outside of the working environment, which can add to overall business productivity. It also encourages creativity in the workplace, and provides an outlet for stress relief.

Keep A Central Portal

Another simple (often overlooked) factor in creating a simplified, happy workplace, is to have an easily available employee portal, like an ‘intranet’ site. These are one-stop-shops for employee information, contact numbers, and important HR/Payroll notices. Referring employees to a company intranet site for information and important information is much easier, and much more reliable than individually disseminating information.

Light & Easy

Another so-simple solution to workplace doldrums, is the introduction of ambient and bespoke lighting.

To achieve this, place lamps, lanterns, and other devices which distribute and diffuse light (in more pleasant ways than traditional fluorescent tube lights) across the workplace accordingly. An added benefit to doing this, is that it can modernise and redecorate a tired workplace. Win, win!

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There are many cost effective and easy solutions to the myriad complexities of workplace life.

Armed with some of the fixes above, you will hopefully have a better understanding of how to introduce calm and simplicity into your working environment.