IS YOUR OFFICE ENVIRONMENT RIGHT FOR YOU?

2 May 2019

Man/woman cannot live on artificial light and synthetic machine coffee alone, so the saying (kind of) goes.

And yet here many of us are, required to sit in an office day after day in order to earn our crust.

Well, the good news is, with some little tweaks to your environment and your routine, office life can be vastly improved.

Here are our top 10 simple tips to improve your wellbeing and to make office life work better for you. Who knows, perhaps they might even have a positive effect on your productivity?

1. Stay hydrated

Your brain function is better when you’re hydrated. Since your brain is mostly water, you’ll improve your concentration, memory, your mood and will reduce stress. All of these things are surely going to make your life much, much easier during a day at the office?

2. Keep important things within arm’s reach

Make life easier for yourself because, why not? If you regularly use post-it notes, a certain file or a stapler, why hide it away in the very bottom of your drawer? It just adds to irritation and eats up your time. Minimal effort for maximum return all the way.

3. Personalise your space

You put photos up at home to remind yourself of good times and loved ones so why not do the same at work? After all you’re there for a while. Being able to decorate our workspace increases our sense of autonomy and therefore our happiness.

4. Maintain a source of daylight

Okay, you may have to sit where you’re put but, where choice is possible, head for the desk nearest the window. Anecdotally, workers who have a decent view of trees and grass during the day take fewer sick days.

5. Keep a pot plant

If you can’t be outside communing with nature and lowering your blood pressure, then bring a bit of nature inside. Plus plants create cleaner air which inevitably reduces sickness and therefore absence rates.

6. Take a five-minute walk

Taking an active break will stimulate your brain and help you recharge for your next work sprint. Plus, physical exercise releases endorphins which help you feel good, decrease stress and regulate your mood. All amazing for work productivity.

7. Talk to real people

Don’t forget, those people who sit on the other side of the room to you will also respond if you talk to them face-to-face. So, why not eschew the email from time to time in favour of hopping out from behind your screen and taking a short walk to their desk to have a chat. It’s good to talk.

8. Do important thinking outside

High ceilings have been shown to aid creativity and there’s no higher ceiling than in the great outdoors. Take that inspiration from TV show The West Wing and go for a walking meeting, except unlike Jed Bartlett and his staff, don’t walk around and around the corridors, get outside and breathe deep.

9. Nature sounds

Bear with us on this one, it’s a bit Californian. If you can’t get outside for a walking meeting or you really do have to stay at your desk, why not try listening to an app that delivers the sounds of nature directly into your ears? There’s an app for everything these days – you could try Calm or Noisli.

10. Minimalist work zone

Okay, so you have the important things within arm’s reach. Now get rid of the rest of it. Channel Marie Kondo and bin anything that doesn’t ‘spark joy’ or, perhaps in language closer to that used in the average office, bin anything that is not of immediate use in your working day. Cluttered desk, cluttered mind.