How To Design a Workspace with Productivity in Mind

The workplace is, fittingly, a place for work to be done. While there are a lot of factors that can contribute to a person’s day-to-day productivity, having a space that is conducive to accomplishing their work tasks can be seen as essential. Let’s go over how you can design a workspace that does just that:

Have a Place for Gadgets to Be Out of Sight (and Out of Mind)

While mobile devices have many legitimate and genuinely useful applications in the workplace, the pattern many have to sit and endlessly refresh their social media profiles isn’t one of them. A good rule of thumb to improve productivity is to keep these devices—and any gadget like them—put away. 

Of course, this isn’t a perfect solution to procrastination. People don’t need a device to zone out, and it isn’t as though they couldn’t visit Twitter on their workstation if they really wanted to. However, by reducing the potential for temptation, you and your team members can accomplish more. Pick a desk drawer to keep your phone in, and you may find yourself accomplishing much more.

Invest in the Right Peripherals

This may sound crazy, but giving your team the right tools to use can make all the difference. A good pair of headphones very much helps collaboration and communication if they also feature a headset, and by blocking external sound, they reduce the distractions that make it through to your team members’ collective attention. There are countless similar examples for all of the other peripherals your team may depend on, depending on their role—and there’s nothing wrong with going a little low-tech here, too.

For instance, if you haven’t switched to a paperless office and your team still uses paper documentation, providing each person with a pen and paper to jot down quick notes and a monitor-mounted document holder that allows them to reference other files and notes without shifting their gaze too far can keep their focus where you want it: the task at hand.

Encourage Movement and Personalization

There are also the little ways that you can help keep your team engaged and thereby productive. For instance, if it isn’t overdone, a little bit of movement keeps your team more engaged than motionlessly staring at their monitors all day does. Likewise, a clinical workspace that’s devoid of personality can also leave employees feeling devoid of purpose. So long as it isn’t overdone to the point of distraction, a few personal belongings and other identifiers can contribute a lot to an employee’s engagement (bonus points for plants, which have been shown to boost productivity through their presence).

In a lot of ways, you have more control over how productive your team is than you may think—it’s just up to you to give them the environment and tools they need to thrive. We can help supply the tools and support they’ll need. Give us a call at 607.433.2200 today and ask how our managed services can help boost (among other things) your business’ productivity!