Seating Arrangement Ideas for Improved Workplace Creativity
Creativity and productivity of employees at the workplace is affected by a number of factors. As trivial as it may sound, the seating arrangement in an office setting can have a significant impact on employee creativity and productivity.
There are various ways to improve employee creativity by playing around with the seating arrangement. These range from undertaking a complete overhaul of the existing commercial fit out design to less complex alternatives such as rotating the seating position of employees on a regular basis. Here is a detailed look at what employers can do with the seating arrangement so as to boost employee creativity.
Transform the Office into A Mixed-Use Office Layout
This is the epitome of seating arrangement manipulation to achieve greater employee creativity
A mixed-use working environment helps to create a more relaxed office environment. A mixed-use office set-up will allow employees to work and relax without leaving the office. Transforming the office into a mixed-use work environment can be done in various ways. For example, a new set of commercial fit outs can be used to create an indoor cafeteria and similar areas of socialisation around the office premises. Such areas are bound to attract employees from all departments and encourage their interaction for enhanced creativity.
Choose Seating Positions for All Employees
A large number of commercial entities would laugh at the thought of having senior members of staff decide where each employee gets to sit. However, doing this is not a waste of time. This is especially true for commercial premises with open office layouts since employees work in clusters as opposed to cubicles. Such employees will inadvertently turn to the next nearest employee when looking to make casual conversation. A large number of creative ideas around the workplace are born out of these casual conversations.
In this regard, there should be a deliberate attempt by the management to position employees in a manner that will improve dialogue between them and increase the fruitfulness of casual conversations during work hours.
Rotating the Seating Arrangement
Commercial entities looking to improve employee creativity can also do so by rotating employee sitting positions on a regular basis. Doing this allows employees from different departments to interact, exchange ideas and come up with more creative ideas for the benefit of the commercial entity.
It is important to point out that employees may not always welcome the thought of being partnered with different people. For this reason, it is important to explain the logic of changing positions to employees beforehand and to get their input on the same. This will reduce employee hostility towards the intended activity.
