Making sure your people are happy at work can be tricky to balance: you want them to be comfortable enough to be their most productive. And, of course, it goes without saying that you never want them to be so uncomfortable that they want to leave altogether.
Because while investing in your people, their development and environment, can be a cost, not investing in them is infinitely more expensive.
According to a report by Oxford Economics, replacing members of staff can cost in the region of £30,000.
That’s a staggering figure.
And there are many factors that contribute to that cost: hiring temporary staff, management time, recruitment agency fees and advertising, and those are just the logistics. Far more significantly, the report counts the cost of the time taken for a new employee to get to optimum productivity level – an average of 28 weeks at a cost of just over £25,000.
People who are more engaged, on the other hand, are more profitable for your business.
But how do you get them engaged – and keep them engaged? Well, that answer varies from individual to individual. Some people are motivated by money. Others by job satisfaction, solving problems and doing something they see as worthwhile. Others want to be their best selves and are driven by continuous development.
We would add that all, unequivocally, are motivated on some level by where they work: the environment and the people.
It’s also indisputable that your work environment has a contribution to make to productivity and so profitability. An unsuitable environment will hamper instead of help your people to do a good job, getting in their way and creating obstacles they must get around. If it feels old or worn, cluttered or chaotic, people won’t be energised by it or look forward to coming to work.
On the other hand, a great work environment is designed around your people, taking into account their needs and wants, encouraging team interaction, providing space for time out and injecting energy into every day.
So, if you’re thinking of investing in and maximising employee engagement, your work environment is a great place to start.
Our success as a business is built on creating space that is modern and fresh, free from clutter and a joy to work in. And we continue to innovate in this area. Our team have perfected concepts like Cosy Cove, which transforms a storage area into an attractive, casual meeting space perfect for impromptu meetings or quiet thinking.
We’ve also developed the Tea Point, a completely bespoke yet easy to design and install functional storage solution that can quickly become the hub of any office space.
The key to all of our innovative work space solutions is that not only are they high quality and so look and perform better for longer, but also that they are easy to install and made bespoke for your space: minimising work, installation time and interruptions.
If you’d like to find out more about how we can build a workspace that engages, excites and enthuses you and your people, just ask.
