As an office owner, it is your job to prioritize the safety and comfortability of everyone that’s working for you, considering that they continuously work inside your premises for over 8 hours on a daily basis.
A lot of office rentals Calgary does not prioritize offices in becoming comfortable because
they think their employees “don’t deserve it” or it is out of their “budget”.
But the thing is, if your employees are not comfortable working inside your
office, the chances are high that the productivity rate will be really low and
the stress levels will be high. This is why as an office owner you should
handle comfortability and take it seriously.
But the question remains, what can
you do as an office owner to make your office more comfortable?
10 things office owners can do to make their workspace more comfortable
1. Have a break room
Break rooms are a must in office space for Lease Calgary, especially if your employees work for you for over 8 hours
a day. As an office owner, you should allow your employees to use the break
room when they have some extra time or when you feel like there’s a lot of
pressure. Breaks in a break room that has a TV or magazines along with
newspapers can help your employees to freshen up their minds.
2. Comfortable sofa or seats in
break room
Inside that break room, you need to
have a comfortable sofa, I mean, would you like to be in an office break room
that has a pretty bad sofa? No, right?
As an office owner, it should be
your priority to have a comfortable sofa or seats inside your break room, where
you and your employees can chill out during lunch or break times. This can
allow you to know your employees better and can also help you promote teamwork.
3.
Office pet
According to research that was
carried out by the Virginia Commonwealth University, people experience less
stress when there is a dog around them. In the study that they conducted,
researchers took saliva samples from factory employees and looked at how much
stress hormone “cortisol” was in it. The results were amazing. They showed that
only employees who were around a dog had low cortisol levels by the end of the
day!
4. Coffee machine
Well, if you have an office you might as well throw in that coffee machine in the kitchen, considering that everyone loves coffee and it helps people become more productive. Remember, a lot of employees drink coffee, not everyone but most of them, and as an office owner, you must have a coffee machine for their beverage needs. Not only their needs, but coffee has caffeine, which can help people become more active when they become sleepy and tired.
5. Hand out headphones
Some employees love listening to
music when they are working, but the thing is, not everyone has headphones and
it’s not good to blast music on your office premises. This is why as an office
owner, try to invest some of your extra money in decent headphones so your
employees can listen to the music of their choice without disturbing anyone
else. Also, it will help them loosen up if they feel stressed!
6. Eye breaks
Not only snack breaks or any other
breaks that you have in your office, but you also want to look into eye breaks. If
your employees are constantly looking at computers throughout the day, it is
your job as a business owner to take care of their help. After lunch, at around 3pm every day, you want to give your employees a 15-minute break and allow them
to rest their eyes.
Here are some Eyestrain signs and
symptoms:
Sore eyes
Tired eyes
Burning eyes
Itching eyes
Watery eyes
Dry eyes
Blurred vision
Double vision
Headache
Sore neck
Shoulder pain
Increased sensitivity to light
Difficulty concentrating
7. Good temperature
It is your job as an office owner to
make sure that your offices have a pretty decent temperature. During summers
you need to have a cold office and during the winter season, you need to have an
office temperature that would allow your employees to wear normal clothes and
not feel cold. This one also depends on where you are operating from.
8. Allow them to go outside
Another thing that you want to try
is allowing your employees to take breaks and roam around outside. Breaks
outside of your office are good because it allows them to get out of the 4
walls of your office space. Not only that, but they get to breathe fresh air,
which can help them feel better and more relaxed before going back to work. Try
to do this daily and surely, you will notice a big difference.
9. Flexible timings
A lot of people do not agree with us
on this, but if you want to make your office more comfortable, you want to
allow your employees to come in late and work extra hours if they have some
important things to deal with. Yes, we get it that some people might think that
you have a favorite in your office, but that’s not really the thing. If you
want to make your employees comfortable, you want to act as you care for them,
which you can do by allowing them to come in late during emergencies and
cover-up for the time that they have missed by working overtime.
10. Ask your employees
The last one is to ask the employees
themselves. We know it’s not ideal or possible to buy everything your employees
want, but at least you can try, right? As an office owner, you want to
prioritize buying comfortable chairs, a decent desk, headphones, and even
screens that emit less light so you can keep your employees safe and healthy.
Doing this also allows the employees to feel like they are well-cared off in
your office space!
11. Neck rests
Working on computers for over 10
hours a day is not easy, especially if you already have a bad posture. Your
neck will end up having a bad form, which can cause shoulder, neck, and
headaches on a daily basis. As an office owner, you can help your employees
avoid this by simply buying neck rests, the comfortable ones. Give one to each
employee and tell them to keep it for work.
12. Have enough lights
Without proper lighting in your
office, your employees will easily experience eye strain. In order to make sure
that your employees remain completely healthy and their eyes do not get damaged
as they are working for you, you want to make sure that your office has proper
lighting. Also, try to bring in natural light from the windows, it's good for
the eyes too!
13. Try to listen to your employees
Another thing that you need to do is
make sure that you are listening to your employees. As an office owner, it is
your duty to understand and solve the issues that are present in your office.
Trying to resolve them will help you out a lot in making your office more
comfortable. This is important because not everything can be bought, sometimes
peace of mind can bring more comfort to your office!
14. Allow everyone to customize
their personal space
As an office owner, you need to
allow everyone to customize their personal space in your office. Allowing your
employees to customize their space will help them make themselves comfortable
as they work. If they want to have some toys, some pictures, or memorabilia in
their space, allow them to do it. It’s their desk and they should be
comfortable sitting there!
15. Good smell
The last place I want to spend 10
hours on a daily place would be somewhere that has a bad smell. No one wants to
work in an office that has a bad smell, so instead of allowing your office to
have a normal odor, try to add some air fragrances. We advise offices to invest
some money into automatic air-fresheners, which automatically sprays after 30
minutes. This will help you keep your office smell good!
