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Why involve your employees in office refurbishment planning?
Generally, managers or business owners take responsibility for office refurbishments so that space and design objectives can be achieved and budgets watched. But as employees often spend a third of their day at work, there are some good reasons to involve them in the decision making process—with a few caveats as well!
GIVE THEM A SENSE OF PRIDE. Employees who have a sense of pride in their workplace are known to be more motivated. If they have been involved in the office design and their working conditions, they take ownership for the result and will be more positive at work.
BUT REMEMBER TO…Explain why there are limitations to the ideas you can implement—budget constraints, building code requirements and lease conditions are all valid reasons. Communicate and over-communicate to get maximum buy-in to your final designs.
STRESS CAN BE TURNED INTO FUN. Office refurbishment can be stressful for staff. Their day-to-day routines and personal spaces are often compromised. Find ways to make the refurbishment a fun time. You could involve your staff in a room naming competition, arrange for off-site teambuilding days or trial working from home initiatives during the renovation period.
BUT REMEMBER TO…Work with a fitout company that is experienced at reducing stress and staff disruption. Plan major work for seasonally quiet times, weekends and overnight.
IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY. Your staff will have some of the best ideas for ways of increasing productivity. It is easy for people to repeat the same inefficient tasks every day, without thinking about it. Redesigned office layouts can improve work flow and communication, so ask for ideas for efficiency improvements.
BUT REMEMBER TO…Ensure that the ideas work for all team members and are not selfishly promoted.
BETTER STORAGE. You might be surprised how many files and cupboards are unnecessarily full. Ask your staff to audit their storage areas and redefine what they need and where they need it. Set up a mini task force to audit shared areas such as the stationery and kitchen cupboards.
BUT REMEMBER THAT…Storage options have come a long way in the last ten years, with multi-functional storage units that can double as stand-up desks or privacy partitions. Be prepared to invest in new furniture.
REWARD STAFF. Select key team members to be involved in the process as a way of recognising and rewarding their loyalty and contribution to the company.
BUT REMEMBER TO…Let everybody feel valued by having a mechanism through which they can put forward their ideas. This might involve every department having a team meeting to discuss their ideas, or a feedback form. At Evoke Projects, clients tell us how impressed they are with our ability to manage fitouts while they continue to operate. They also praise our office designs and furniture ideas, which improve employee productivity and motivation. We believe that involving clients’ staff in our ideas process is an important part of our success.
At Harris Partners real estate agency, we created a special access pathway to the premises during the refurbishment work, and we used ZipWall temporary partitions so that staff had a clean and safe working area. When managing the Strategic Group fit-out, we included some fun and quirky elements in the office design, as they are a creative group and the staff wanted the office environment to reflect that.
To start a conversation about your next office fit-out, please contact Evoke Projects. To find out more call 1300 720692, see our website www.evokeprojects.com.au and follow us on https://www.linkedin.com/company/evoke-projects.
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Tags: Office Refurbishment