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living wall of plants beside an office table

Want a happy office environment?

Wanting a happy office surrounding?

What is a happy office environment? The average person will spend half or close to half their life at work, and for many, it is a happy experience. But for others, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Studies have shown a happy worker will also tend to have lower absenteeism levels, be less likely to leave and more innovative and productive.

There are of course many variables into what makes someone happy at work. Some of them could be changes to the working environment, making the office more of a friendlier place to work.

For me, a happy office environment would be either the office from the movie the internship (Google) and “its free salsa, chips, pudding, ice cream and pizza”. And the Lloyds of London building, designed by Richard Rogers. This building just because of its amazing architecture would have me spending all day wandering around it checking it (so for me maybe not the most productive places)

You can see then my choices are maybe not the most productive, although they would appeal to my inner child or my love of buildings.

When out and about cleaning offices, I come across a lot of different layout examples.

Cubicle setups, open plan. Dark offices and light offices. Bright colours and the usual grey/white ones. Now we have the standing desks or the big bouncy ball things.

I have yet to come across a bean bag, but I know they are still out there.

Here is a list of 5 things that you could do make your office environment a little bit better to work in

Colour

I know we all have our corporate colours, and these should be displayed. But sometimes they can make the place look a little drab. That beige and wood effect can go from making you look sophisticated and refined to staid and boring

Good office colours to add to your bright white walls are blue, which denotes honesty and loyalty

Green is calming and suggest security and growth

Soft muted orange creates a welcoming and warm feeling

Yellows can be used to help create an increased energy flow

Obviously don’t mix them up too much or you may just end with a Jackson Pollock painting

Light

A study on natural light found as I suspected it would that natural light in the workplace significantly improves health and wellness amongst workers. Other studies have found that daylight is the number one request from office workers.

If natural light is not available, the use of well placed and sufficiently bright lights along with light and breezy colours can help in the to make the place a more comfortable and productive environment.

Here is a great diagram from Cohere in Melbourne who specialise in creating wellbeing spaces for its clients, shows the importance of daylight or natural light in the workplace

200 strip lights, behind opaque plastic, defuses does not really constitute good lighting.

the happy office and light

Plants

Who doesn’t love plants in the workplace? Adding that splash of colour, usually, green the resting and calming colour. They can make even the most austere of concrete cubicles look inviting and pleasant.

They can, of course, help clean the air and deaden the dreaded background office noise. And if you want to go the whole way, SMI national will build you a living wall of plants.

Movement

Allowing people, the freedom to move around helps with many of the complaints due to sitting in one place all day.

This could be with the use of stand-up desks or hot desking. The addition of movable walls which can be moved to change layouts depending on office requirements.

Communal areas for people to work, eat or relax together help foster feelings of the community which in turn helps with collaborations and innovation.

Cleanliness

All the offices I have researched for this article all have one commonality in that they are clean.

None have cluttered workstations, overflowing bins or dirty floors. Who wants to work in a dirty environment?

Having desks wiped down, bins emptied, or carpets vacuumed are the bare minimum that the office needs to keep it a pleasant environment.

You can have the best colours, nicest plants or an endless supply of snacks. But if the toilet stinks you will lose everyone’s interest pretty quickly.

If you need help here just give NRE a call, this is something we help a lot of clients out with.

Easy solutions

Don’t overlook the simple and easy things that can make a happy office environment. Before you go filling the place with bean bags, exercise balls and sleep pods


Keep your business clean. Book NRE today.

Leave your office or commercial building in our hands. The NRE Cleaning team will keep it healthy and spotless – it’s what we do best.