Can a fun office be a productive office?

From open plan layouts to comfy breakout areas, the trendy workplace appears decidedly completely different from the cubicle farms of the previous. Kitted out with Apple merchandise and fancy espresso machines, the working environments of as we speak actively fight the drudgery that traditionally outlined the workplace expertise.

It isn’t simply the newest tech and collaborative workspaces that separates the modern workplace from its dusty ancestors, although. Positive, the feel and appear of places of work have undergone a seismic shift, however the basic perspective to work itself is what’s undergone a revolution.

As an alternative of punishing environment, as we speak’s employees are handled to perks like free lunches and beer fridges. This transformation in working circumstances has all however ensured that as an alternative of breeding one other era of clock-watchers, employers are taking huge steps to make workers benefit from the time they spend at work.

That is all excellent in precept, but it surely does beg the query of whether or not extra relaxed places of work can really foster productiveness. In different phrases, will we get as a lot executed at work as our mother and father did? To reply this query, it might appear affordable to match two typical days within the workplace. One from the Eighties and one from the current day.

Presumably, an worker sure to the workplace some thirty years in the past would begin their day by actual, steel-mesh inbox. In it, they’d discover all of the excellent paperwork that required their consideration. Geared up with their duties, they’d proceed to finish them between journeys to the water cooler. The lunch hour would probably encompass some real socialising (nobody had telephones to stare into again then) and they might spherical of their day by attending to any remaining work.

All in all, the routine was straight-forward and distraction-free for workplace employees of yesteryear.

The every day routine of as we speak’s workplace employee appears somewhat completely different. Slightly than sitting all the way down to a desk with a literal inbox, the trendy workplace employee checks their electronic mail to find what work they’ve to finish. Besides, it’s not that easy- their laptop gives them with an infinite variety of distractions. Particularly, social media platforms and information websites compete for his or her consideration while the smartphone of their pocket provides out the occasional vibration.

This naturally makes settling all the way down to carry out any type of significant work greater than somewhat troublesome. Nonetheless, they overcome the flurry of distractions and steer themselves in the direction of finishing duties between the occasional social media and telephone verify.

The lunch break might nicely be isolating, with the temptation to easily sink into social media being better than the desire to endure any of the senseless chit-chat with colleagues. The afternoon would look loads just like the morning, with issues being ended as soon as each final electronic mail has been replied to and each notification has been and acknowledged and responded to.

The conclusion is pretty self-evident: the enjoyable and trendy workplace, for all of its enchantment, is affected by distractions. Fortunately, these distractions might be mitigated by listening to easy issues like furnishings and décor.

Certainly, fixtures like workplace chairs have been expertly engineered to extend productiveness. Manufacturers like Herman Miller have invested critical money and time into understanding how our posture impacts our means to work successfully. To dismiss all of this analysis to roll round on a yoga ball when replying to emails can be nothing in need of absurd.

Clearly, the previous can train us some beneficial classes with regards to workplace design. There’s no denying that it’s good to play

In brief, with regards to our workplaces, we shouldn’t be throwing the newborn out with the bathwater. Or, extra correctly, we shouldn’t be throwing out the desk chair with the cubicle.