Having a creative work environment is vitally important if you run a company and own or rent office space.
Why? It can help foster innovation and help to boost overall morale in your office, having a knock-on effect on productivity levels amongst your employees, which can then affect market share and revenue growth too.
Not only this, it can help to encourage staff retention: after all, happy staff members are more likely to stay with a business if they enjoy the office they are working in. But what exactly makes a creative office space?
Here are our top tips to get you started.
Areas in London which have creative offices
There are certain areas of the capital that are known for fostering more creativity than others, thanks to their highly innovative and inspiring working spaces. Some of the most creative offices in London can be found in Soho, Holborn and Shoreditch.
Why not take a look at these spaces and pinch some of their ideas to see if you can do something similar with your own office? Alternatively, if the cost of renovating your office would be prohibitively expensive and you are already in the London area and would like to boost creativity among your staff, perhaps now would be the time to start thinking about relocating to a place that is recognised for their creativity.
Natural sunlight
One way to spruce up your working environment for staff members is to ensure that natural sunlight is able to get into the office space. A dark space, perhaps due to a lack of windows, could end up hindering productivity, as it could lead employees to feel they are working in a depressing environment, which will evidently have an impact on the daily work they do.
This means you should try to maximise natural sunlight whenever possible. If you are looking for new office space, keep in mind the importance of windows and light into rooms, for current spaces, make sure blinds are not always kept down, and utilise mirrors to enhance the feeling of light coming into the room.
Open spaces
If the staff at your office feel that they are working in a claustrophobic environment, it is likely that this is going to affect their mood: it could make employees feel on edge and therefore stressed, and this could very possibly impact the work they produce for your firm. As a result, try to ensure that you have carefully planned the layout of the office to encourage open spaces, to provide a more relaxing atmosphere. In addition, inviting open spaces (such as coffee and lunch areas) can help to encourage staff bonding, making your team stronger.
Keep the decor minimalist
Try to maximise the space you have by keeping decor minimalistic in nature: having large, unnecessary items of furniture dotted around the workspace could make the area feel cluttered, which evidently, is not conducive to a creative working environment. Utilise the space you have efficiently by making the most of neat but useful workstations and storage equipment.
Breakout areas
If you are serious about providing a creative work environment, you should take note from the most successful businesses regarding innovation and do what they do: provide breakout areas for employees so that they can sit on their own and think. Giving people the chance to sit back and have a moment to themselves can help to lead to creative thoughts, which could have a hugely positive impact on your company’s future.
Keep it colourful
Did you know that every colour has completely different effects on the brain, and could directly impact levels of creativity in the workplace? For example, a study carried out by the University of British Columbia in Canada concluded that blue was seen to be the most effective in terms of helping to boost people’s creativity. In fact, those who participated in the study produced double the amount of output compared to those who were exposed to red.
Plants and flowers
Having plants and flowers in the office can have a big effect on workforce morale. They can be advantageous for a variety of reasons: not only do they brighten up the office, but they can also help to inspire people.
Providing free food
Providing your staff with free food in the common areas can be an excellent way to encourage productivity: with many huge companies such as Google investing heavily in free snacks for its employees. It can be a great way to encourage staff members to connect with each other and potentially think of great ideas. Furthermore, it can help to encourage networking.
