Insights

How Modern Office Spaces Help Increase Productivity & Enable Collaborative Thinking

The office space, much like a park, or a home, has a specific operational purpose attached to it. Every aspect of an office is instrumental in determining productivity within the ecosystem. The space engages and motivates people into reaching their fullest potential.

Example: Innovators will prefer a workspace that is flexible and collaborative. This will allow smooth functioning. Similarly, individual contributors would rather opt for a power cubicle to chart plans and organize their tasks. On the contrary, an independent creator would opt for a cafe or a co-working space that allows them a clutter-free environment with a rich social experience.

This suggests that there is a certain set of criteria that determine productivity and thinking. In a world that’s constantly changing, finding the criteria that work the best is important. Offices can be what the employees need them to be - flexible and adaptable. This is the ground rule of modern office spaces

The question that arises is, how do modern office spaces help increase productivity and enable collaborative thinking?

1. Effective and efficient design
   The office design must be creative. The quantifiable square feet don’t matter as much as the efficacious use of those square feet does. With designs that allow sufficient natural light and ventilation, innovatively curated co-working spaces, conference rooms with convenient and effective resources, employee satisfaction is taken care of. People will physically feel more free and comfortable to think creatively and collaboratively without the constant pressure of being tied down to one fixed place.
   
   
2. Inspirational spaces
   A space that offers inspiration with art, decor, garden spaces, and more, invariably increases the productivity levels of a person. The motivation is higher than what a dull and disengaging space might have to offer. In fact, research has proven that people operating in creative environments will inevitably attempt to reflect that creativity in their work.
   
   
3. Collaborative spaces
   Humans are social animals — this is an established fact. A person removed from their community is but a disengaged and detached creature. Collaboration, communication and interactions fuel a person’s connection to themselves. They become a more rounded individual in a rather lively environment instead of becoming an alienated employee working for an invisible firm.
   
   
4. Flexibility and movement
   One of the groundbreaking researches funded by the NCBI suggested that the “sit less-move more” method significantly increased productivity. It urges people to come out of stagnation and let their thoughts churn while they move. In fact, active movement and physical activities also help induce serotonin that then boosts mood. This is the same reason why a lot of organizations choose office spaces for rent that offer activity centres and gyms on their campuses.
   
   
5. Health and wellbeing
   This is a factor that has been on the rise increasingly. Office spaces need to be conscious about the employee’s health besides promoting a healthy lifestyle. Promoting the practice of walk-and-talk meetings is a good choice in that case. This is also tied to the quality of water, food, and air that an employee is an inadvertent consumer of. Furthermore, the closer the space is to nature, the higher is the productivity by virtue of being in a healthier space as compared to a polluted space.
   
   

A lot of modern offices have introduced cafeteria-cum-conference halls that integrate the idea of a cafe to a conference setup — an 18th-century practice propagating that caffeine synergizes creative thinking. Design layouts like introducing bean bags and reclining chairs, flexible tables, quick sporting arenas — are all the result of innovative office creations that allow collaborative thinking as compared to a competitive setup.

The intention is clear: the office must inspire and not exhaust. It has to be people-friendly. This is the 21st-century that believes in passion for work beyond the struggles of survival. Innovation, technology and collaborations are transforming the world beyond the 9-5 establishment.

Amidst a crystallized flux, creativity is at the heart of it all, because, it is only creativity that inspires creativity, and an endless domino effect creates a transformative impact.