Can office design impact employee engagement?

The distracted, dissatisfied and disengaged.

One out of three of your employees or co-workers suffer from a lack of true engagement in their work directly impacting bottom-line business results. The demand for a resilient workforce is critical to achieving a sustainable competitive advantage.

“Businesses need people who come to work energized, ready to generate new ideas, create new strategies and make meaningful progress every day.”

The modern business climate is one in which competition for top talent is a complex undertaking that requires a multifaceted approach beyond employee benefits, job perks and compensation packages.  The workplace ecosystem, or spaces in which humans, systems, processes and technology intersect, is more than just a contributor to recruiting & retaining top talent—it is FOUNDATIONAL.

Enhancing Employee Engagement: Designing Spaces to get the job done!

We human beings are incredibly influenced by our surroundings—weather we recognize it or not—we ARE products of our environments.  The spaces in which we interact, live, work, & play have a heavy weighted average on the mood, mode and mean in which we gravitate and operate.

In a 2016 Steelcase Report “Engagement and the Global Workplace,” Steelcase, Inc. ⁽¹⁾ and Ipsos ⁽²⁾ partnered to research employee engagement and whether engagement keeps companies innovative, energized, productive and resilient (yes, yes..it does!).

As they mention in their marquee study ⁽³⁾, employee engagement is essential to a company’s bottom line; without engaged and happy workers, the business might not only stay stagnant, but could decrease in productivity and creativity, hurting growth and progress. In this landmark review of over 12,000 participants from 17 countries, the report explores and highlights the relationship between employee engagement and how people feel about their workplace (mostly from an environmental work-space perspective).

Key Findings

Of their key findings, most notably was: “Employee engagement positively correlates with workplace satisfaction” _{(p. 6)}. Essentially, most employees are conditioned to accept less-than-optimal office experiences with work-spaces that inhibit inspiration, motivation and engagement. Those that include plant life, natural light, more colors and layouts—these spaces do more for employee satisfaction, which this study (and many, many others) ties back to increased engagement and productivity. This demonstrates that the workplace can be apart of a holistic strategy to increase engagement.

Additionally, Dr. Tina Cade from Texas State University ⁽⁴⁾ highlighted this in a 2008 study, as well. Workers she surveyed who had live plants or views of exterior plantings indicated that they felt better about their jobs and the caliber of work they performed—to a significant extent! They also rated their job satisfaction as higher.

Who knew plants could be the answer to some of the biggest questions in business?

We did.

Call us today to talk about how we can enhance your space, and your employees’ satisfaction, engagement, and productivity!