Impact of Workplace Environment on Employee Productivity
Question:
What do you know about the impact of the work environment on productivity. Johnson and Johnson in St Leonard’s Sydney pioneered ‘hot desking’ in Australia and that was about thirty years ago. What about ‘working from home’. What about ‘the significance of seating positions in meetings’. What about conducting ‘stand-up meetings”. What abot ‘open plan offices’.
In order to get the best out of their employees’ business organizations take initiatives which may at times be regarded as extraordinary. Businesses are happy to offer expensive gifts, cars and money to the employees in order to gain their loyalty and enhance their productivity. Business may also apply other creative methods towards the employees to enhance productivity of the business. As stated by Tews, Michel and Stafford (2013) working environment has a direct impact on the productivity of the employees. Where the employees are given an environment where they feel comfortable and safe to work they can effectively focus on only work related activities rather than other unnecessary activities. In addition when the employees get to know that the organization is actually making an effort towards the development of the employees through enhancing the working conditions. However the issues which arises in relation to expenditure on working environment is that whether such level of expenditure is feasible for the organization or not. It has been seen in the article that Apple and Google have made extraordinary expenditure towards enhancing the working environment. It has been provided by Tews, Michel and Stafford (2013) that employees require a spacious working environment which is safe for working. However as seen in the article Google and apple has spent significant amount of money on the workplace. These initiatives have had a significant impact on the productivity of the employees for such organization. Productivity is also enhanced by the fact that employees know that the organization are taking special interest in them and they are actually working for the best organization . This feeling makes the employees provided additional effort towards the organization knowing that they are working for the best and therefore the need to provide the best. A healthy and inclusive workplace also makes the employees comfortable in relation to each other which enhance the organization culture as well as employment relations which have a direct positive impact on the productivity of the organization. The article therefore clearly argues in favor of enhancing the workplace environment for the employees towards increasing productivity.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Working from Home
Working from home is the process through which the employees are allowed by the employers to take carry out their activities from home instead of coming to office. There are arguments which suggest that the process of WFH has both positive and negative impact on productivity. On one hand it makes the employees save traveling time and also allow them to have a enhanced work-life balance and on the other hand few employees take advantage of the process to indulge into unethical activities. In addition it has also been argued that the concept of WFH has a negative impact on employee satisfaction. It is a well established fact that employee satisfaction has a direct impact on the productivity of the employees. Therefore the impact of the process depends upon how it is used and what is the kind of work associated with the employee. Where the employees are Human Resource Mangers and WFH is provided to them than they would not be able to perform their role properly as the purpose of their job is to interact with the employees. on the other hand where WFH is provided to those who are data analysts, the process can be effective as it saves the expenditure of the organization towards the employee and the workplace an also provides the employee additional time along with a enhanced work-life balance. In addition the findings of Bloom (2014) provides that when the people are provided the opportunity to WFH that ended up working for more hours which has a negative impact on their social life. This is because while working from home under no physical supervision the employees get complacent and therefore have to put in additional hours to complete their work. The productivity of the employees can be undoubtedly enhanced by providing them the opportunity to work from home. However the option has to be effectively monitored in order to ensure that its impact is positive rather than negative.
Meetings are of significant importance to the organization and have a direct impact on the productivity of the company. Not only how the meetings are conducted has an impact on the productivity of the company but also the way in which seating arrangements are made in the meeting. The importance of seating arrangements in relation to a meeting has been argued in Zhu & Argo (2013). It has been provided by the paper that attending meeting is mostly like attending classes in schools or college. Where a person sits in the classroom can have a positive or negative impact on the grades. The teacher in the classroom ensures that the weaker students are made to sit near them as compared to intelligent students. The same kind of principles are to be applied in the situation of official meetings as well. In case of a official meeting the mangers have to ensure that the employees who are less obedient or those who have difficulty in understanding are made to sit near them during the meeting so that they can pay much more attention to the managers and understand their point of view. However the formula is not as simple as the class room process. In an official meeting the Hierarchy of managers also needs to be maintained. In the given situation both the principles have to be combined and applied in order to enhance the understanding of the employees in meeting and consequently the productivity within the work place. The weaker employee needs to be positioned near their respective managers in the situation of a meeting so that they can make them understand about the situation in case they have difficulty in understanding. The article provides another argument that those employees who are near the chair are more likely to gain promotion as they are always near the sight of the management and their behaviors are more frequently observed by the chair. Thus seating arrangements have an impact on productivity of the organization as well as career of the employees
Open-Plan Offices: Benefits and Drawbacks
An open-plan work environment lack walls or any other physical barriers which makes it much easier for the employees to communicate with each other regularly. This persisting merging in the work environment not only enhances a sense of companionship amongst the personnel but it also accelerates the flow of information and encourages teamwork. Unlike the usual office, an open space office does not have separate rooms instead the workstations are situated together which is separated by short panels or screens, that too, within only one uncovered floor plan. This article talks about the potential benefits for the staffs and the business associated with this form of work environment has.
In regards to the personnel, it enhances communication and promotes teamwork, which enables the staffs to trust each other in respect of any advice or assistance. This process is less time-consuming as the teammates may turn to each other for such assistance without having to arrange any schedule formal meeting or seek prior permissions. It is advantageous for a business organization as enhanced teamwork that results from an open-air work environment often leads the business in respect of advancement and innovation. This form of work environment is economically beneficial for the business as well as it tends to reduce costs associated with utilities, construction and other office equipments. For instances, less walls implies less material and time that is required to build the office space. It can save expenses incurred on electricity and may save on equipment investments as well because communal spaces usually support shared use of resources such as staplers copier, etc.
The article has significantly pointed out the certain disadvantages associated with this open-air office layout. The level of regular communication may result in distractions and noise that might make it difficult for the employees to concentrate and carrying on business activities. The disadvantages a business might face is in respect to privacy. This inherent issue may create further ethical and legal issues arising due to lack of confidentiality about clients and colleagues.
The article defines the concept of Stand up meetings, which refers to a team meeting that is organized to provide status update regarding the development of the members of an organization regularly. The regular updates about team development not only hoists possible issues but coordinates adequate efforts to resolve those issues that usually consumes a lot of time. The concept of attending stand-up meeting is derived from the notion that if the meeting is held while the members are in standing position instead of sitting, the discomfort of standing up for a long period usually makes the meeting shorter.
The article discusses about the matters that is dealt with during such stand-up meetings. The attendees of the meeting usually stick to the essential matters and avert indulging into discussions over matters that are usually time-consuming in nature. This form of stand up meetings is also known as scrum meetings, which is held for maximum fifteen minutes because generally, after fifteen minutes an average person becomes unable to focus on matters being discussed in the meeting.
The standing position keeps the attendee focused and engaged in the matters to ensure that they are resolved. This type of meetings are usually take place regularly and are not postponed even if there are members who are absent and are unable to attend the meetings. The article focuses on the purpose of the meetings, which is to recognize challenges prior to its commencement and build up into serious issues. This form of meetings encourages updated discussions, which provides appropriate resolutions for such issues.
Stray, V., Sjøberg, D.I. and Dybå, T., 2016. The daily stand-up meeting: A grounded theory study. Journal of Systems and Software, 114, pp.101-124.
Tews, M.J., Michel, J.W. and Stafford, K., 2013. Does fun pay? The impact of workplace fun on employee turnover and performance. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 54(4), pp.370-382.
Zhu, R., & Argo, J. J. (2013). Exploring the impact of various shaped seating arrangements on persuasion. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(2), 336-349.
Bloom, N., Liang, J., Roberts, J., & Ying, Z. J. (2014). Does working from home work? Evidence from a Chinese experiment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 130(1), 165-218.
Nagarathinam, S., Doddi, H., Vasan, A., Sarangan, V., Ramakrishna, P.V. and Sivasubramaniam, A., 2017. Energy efficient thermal comfort in open-plan office buildings. Energy and Buildings, 139, pp.476-486.
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