For years now, office layouts have been a point of debate. Are open offices better? Are open offices terrible? What about cubicles? Pros and cons?
Author Jacob Morgan, who recently published The Employee Experience Advantage has a different perspective — one that involves a whole slew of different layouts. "It's about having some open, some closed, some café-like environments, some isolation — It's about giving employees a choice," he told the WeWork blog Creator. "You can't have a house with just a kitchen, and you can't have a work environment where we tell employees to do everything in one room."
Morgan had a few other necessities for a successful office environment, including (of course) the aforementioned one. Here are the office ingredients Morgan swears by:
- Giving employees physical workplaces that they enjoy.
- Having up-to-date technology, so that employees can do the work they need to with ease.
- Fostering a culture that employees can celebrate.
While these aren't the only tools of the trade, these three components are definitely key in creating a successful company culture. Everyone wants spaces they feel comfortable and productive in; everyone wants technology that is up-to-date and easy-to-use; and everyone wants a company they feel proud of. Sounds like a no brainer, but anyone whose suffered through a bad office environment will tell you this list is far from a given.
That said, if you're building an office, why not start with some ideas that are proven to work?