The Benefits of Outdoor Work Spaces
Everyone loves the great outdoor workspace and all of its benefits – connecting with nature, getting some fresh and quality air, soaking up the sun, to name a few. Employees don’t associate the outdoors with formal office space, yet there are more and more offices that are developing their work environment for a variety of reasons, including increased productivity and higher revenue.
Are employee retention, commitment, and satisfaction essential to the success of your business? If yes, you may need to discover more about a growing trend that developing organizations are deploying in their workspaces.
The Benefits of Outdoor Work Space
Working and spending more time outdoors helps maintain mental health, reduces stress, improves sleep, and strengthens the immune system. When your employees have the opportunity to work outdoors, these benefits will improve their overall health, which means fewer sick days, better focus, and increased productivity overall.
- Promotes Problem Solving
Teamwork is vital to any collaborative work environment. Recent studies show that spending more time outdoors is related to less exhaustion and creativity. By having an outdoor workspace, your employees can get more responsibilities finished more quickly.
- Retain & Attract Talent to your team
Today’s young generation is always looking for work in the progressive office. Being competitive is no longer just salary and benefits. It’s about what sort of working environment you provide. If your employees have the flexibility to spend time working outdoors, new hires will perceive your outdoor workspace as an asset. This can give you an advantage compared to other offices that do not have an advanced outdoor work environment.
- Encourages Collaboration
Flexible workplaces and furniture not only promote diversity but also encourage collaboration. When you incorporate flexible furniture into your design, the spaces are divided into zones. First, find areas in a room where furniture is most effective. For example, niches in cafes or near large windows are perfect areas for modular sofas and stools. The conference rooms are also ideal rooms for flexible, multifunctional work surfaces.
By offering your employees options for collaboration and relaxation, they will feel stronger and more connected to the spirit of working with your company environment.
There are many simple ways to incorporate open space into your workspace, even if it’s not possible to transform the current workspace to include the outdoors. Providing alternatives such as activity-based workstations, inviting employees to take a short outdoor walk, or simply bringing in more outdoor elements such as plants and natural daylight – can have a huge impact on concentration and attention, creativity, happiness, productivity, and employee engagement.