Believe it or not, one of the things new businesses seldom think about is their office dynamics. They are too focused on launching their new brand to reflect on things such as the layout of their desks or even topics like health and safety! They just select some suitable premises to lease and sort things out as they go along.
The trouble with that approach is it can alienate new employees to the firm. Plus, it could even give the wrong impression to potential clients that might visit your offices. We all know that there are plenty of things about an office environment that annoy us. Here’s how to avoid the top 5 annoyances for your startup and how to avoid them:
- Smoking outside the building
It’s likely that some of your startup’s employees will be smokers. Sure, you can ban them from smoking indoors for legal reasons. But, you also don’t want them hanging around outside of your building, especially in full view of visitors to your premises.
One creative option is to make use of your building’s roof space and convert it into a designated smoking area! All you’ll need to do is have installed some suitable roof fall protection and ashtrays for cigarette waste.
- Lack of inspiration
When you’re sitting in an office all day staring at four white colored walls, you will seldom have any creative juices flowing through you. It’s a big annoyance for many companies, especially when employees get paid by the hour!
There are various ways you can make your office space more inspiring. For instance, painting the walls certain colors is a start. And you can even introduce plants to break up the open-plan look of your office.
- A maze of electrical cords crisscrossing the floor
Not only is having electrical cables loose on the floor a trip and fall hazard, but it’s also unsightly in your office! It’s important to use furniture that helps you to disguise cords from computer equipment and other machinery.
Another option is to invest in some elevated flooring. This is where you can run lengths of wire in a hollow space beneath your feet.
- Noisy employees
It takes all kinds of people to create a vibrant and productive workplace. Unfortunately, some folks have a rather loud personality, and it can irk some of their co-workers. Aside from telling people to be quiet, what else can you do?
If you’ve got an open-plan office, you may wish to consider installing modular dividers between desks or departments. Doing so helps to keep the noise down and afford a degree of privacy for employees.
- Slow computers
The last thing you want to do is reduce the productivity potential of your staff because you can only afford to buy old computer systems. Having said that, you also don’t want to spend a fortune upgrading your IT to the latest Intel Core i7 desktops or Apple iMac systems! So, what can you do?
One option is to install a remote desktop environment. In a nutshell, you have a powerful server capable of supplying the computing resources needed by your staff. They connect to them from terminals located at their desks. It’s a cost-effective and flexible solution to an often expensive and annoying startup office problem!