The Core Of Your Company: Making Your New Business Location A Pace Your Employees Want To Work

If you are thinking of starting a business, it can be one of those things that can add a little extra meaning to life. Or it could be the undoing of you. But if you are a people person, a business could be the best way for you to marry your interest in people, while also providing a good service.

A lot of people view the idea of starting a business as a way to make money for themselves. But this attitude bypasses the reason businesses survive in the first place, the custom.

In addition to this, if you are at the point where you set up a company, and it’s beginning to make headway, and you are seriously considering taking the next step, by acquiring a physical location, it’s not just about the cheapest option for your budget. But it’s got to be somewhere that your employees can work effectively. And more importantly, want to work in.

So how can this multifaceted issue be solved by your business location?

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Easy Accessibility

It’s important to remember that you are expecting potential employees to spend a third of their life in one place. As such, the perfect working environment has to encapsulate so many things. But you need to consider it from their perspective.

For example, what sort of hell are they enduring to get to the office every day?

Are they navigating a particularly difficult commute?

Your location is essential because you need your employees to have easy accessibility.

So many businesses choose to set up far off the beaten track, because it’s cheaper. As we’ve seen with many industrial estates housing various types of businesses. It used to be predominantly factories and the like. But now, because of rising inner-city costs, companies are taking the cheap option and moving further out.

This causes a few issues, not just in relation to accessibility, but your employees’ frame of mind. If they have to commute 90 minutes, by bus and by train, just to get to the office in the morning, how long do you realistically think they will be with you?

Granted, the business and its relationship to the customer takes priority. But if you don’t have happy employees, and they are already unhappy by the time they log on first thing in the morning, how long is it going to be until they decide that enough is enough, and they cannot bear the commute?

So this is why you need to consider accessibility by public transport, not just roads. As a rule, public transport is getting better. But if you have no choice but to pick a location far away, can it be accessible? And not only this, does getting to the location require navigating some difficult terrain?

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Creating A “Home Away From Home”

You need a working space that cultivates so many different things, not just inspiration, productivity and the need to come into work every day. So many things fall under this, that it can be difficult to find the right balance.

But even if you have a small roster of employees, you should hand it over to them. So that you know exactly what they want as far as a worthwhile working environment consists of for them.

In many ways, we can view a working space as somewhere that’s a place we go to for 8 hours a day and we can separate the two entities. But when we are in a job that requires us to pour our heart and soul into it, we need to make this environment as nurturing as possible.

Home comforts may be one of the best ways to implement this in an office environment. Because now, there is such a focus on health and safety  and not being able to put something next to your desk. Because it contravenes the fire code, that we can all feel that we have to keep our working environments as sterile as possible.

But, are there ways for you, not just to create a homely environment in the workplace, but also, to ensure that it improves relationships with the working staff?

If you have a small team working in close quarters, you need a few things to ensure that everybody gets along properly. You could take the typical working approach and install something like a pool table, or a games console. But will this be just paying lip service to the idea?

If you want your employees to be truly happy in their working space, you have to get their honest opinions as to what defines a good working environment. Granted, your employees may not always want to work, but who does?

This is why it’s important to create as much of a relaxing environment as possible. Which is impossible if you have a space that is falling apart.

You can take it upon yourself to give the location a sprucing up. Especially before the employees begin to work there. If you don’t have the time, there are services provided by companies like the Helitech Civil Construction Division to ensure that every structural aspect is up to code. And this includes the integrity of the interiors.

To create that homely environment, you don’t necessarily have to ensure that a pipe and slippers, as well as a trusty dog is on hand. But bringing some of those little home comforts into the office will work in your favour.

We all like to personalize our working environment, and when you are looking at creating a place that’s beneficial for your employees from a mindset perspective, this is one of the best tools.

Giving Your Employees Various Options

And to actually make the place somewhere your employees want to go, you need to provide different options. And while this may include remote working, if it makes for a happier workforce, then you should work to implement this.

During a typical working day, your employees may need a space to work on their own, to collaborate, or somewhere to relax and kick back with other employees.

The goal is to create an environment that is nurturing and nourishing, and doesn’t feel like it’s all about work. While the physical location can be altered accordingly to reflect this, it’s the personality of the business that needs to be altered if there is still a sticking point.

By giving your employees a smorgasbord of options to choose from. This will show them you have their best interests at heart. When crafting a place that people actually want to work, you can provide anything and everything. So long as it’s conducive to a happy working atmosphere.

For example, many sites now have a gym. But if you don’t have the finances for expensive gym equipment, you may want to think a bit more laterally about encouraging fitness in the workplace.

Something like resistance bands is a very cheap option, and even small products like the X3 bar are being used by many entrepreneurs and workers alike. For the very simple reason that it is compact but still gives a rigorous workout.

On the flip side, you may have employees that are making an arduous commute to the office. And giving them the opportunity to rest properly, even by having a few camp beds at hand, will help them to increase their productivity.

The power of afternoon naps is greatly underused in the business environment. Because we place such an emphasis on the early bird getting the worm. So if you are looking at making your location that little bit more special, by providing various options for them, not just in terms of their work, but in terms of their downtime, you are making the environment a lot more bearable.

This is something that is worth considering in light of the type of work that you do. If your business is a very stressful environment, you need to have the welfare of your employees at the forefront of your mind. Encouraging so many different outlets doesn’t just make for a positive working environment but it will encourage your employees to look after themselves better.

For those people thinking of starting a business, or people who are already in the thick of it and considering where to go next, but don’t necessarily have the best resources to hand, making your employees happier in a working environment is essential.

You may not consider these things, based on your own experience, where the values of hard work and knuckling down were considered more important than anything.

But now, with increased pressures in life, we can’t just view the working environment as this. Because not only do we spend a third of our lives in a working environment.

But taking into account commuting and the struggles that people have getting to and from the office, they are already anxious before they start their working day.

It may be very simple thing in theory, but to implement it is quite difficult. Your working environment doesn’t just need to be practical and safe. But it needs to have the interests of your workers firmly at its core.

*collaborative post

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