Member Article

Making your rented office more fun

If you work out of a rental space, then you might be somewhat limited as to the alterations you can make to it. As such, you might be wondering how you can make your office a more enjoyable place. Fortunately, with a little time, effort and creativity, almost any workplace, including rental offices, can be transformed from boring to fun. This being the case, you should take a look at the following ideas to see if they can be implemented to improve the atmosphere of your office. In addition, check out this article from Forbes for some extra help.

Plants, Plants, Plants

You might not be able to conduct a full-scale renovation of your office. However, your landlord probably doesn’t have a rule against decorating with plants. As such, you should introduce at least a little green to your work space. After all, plants have been shown to help in the office by:

Reducing stress, Increasing productivity, Boosting creativity, Filtering air

In addition, studies have also indicated that offices with plants tend to have employees with fewer sick days and absences.

Welcome home

While you definitely need a place where you can get away from the distractions of home and get down to work, there is no reason why your office shouldn’t feel at least a little like home. Quite often, offices are too sterile feeling, making them uncomfortable places to conduct business. As such, you might get more done if you takes the steps to turn your office into a place that you actually enjoy being at. To accomplish this task, you should use warm colours, plush fabrics and soft lighting. Basically, focus on turning your work space into a cosy and inviting area that feels more like a living room than a hospital.

Exercise

To boost your mood at work, keep some exercise equipment around. You don’t have to bring in large weight machines or conduct full workouts while at the office. However, using aerobic steps, jump ropes, light barbells and other easily stored exercise equipment during breaks from work can help to alleviate stress and increase the general office demeanour.

Organise Office Parties

Organising office parties and events doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be as easy as inviting co-workers to a nearby bar after work finishes or ordering pizza for lunch and taking an extra 30 minutes to enjoy it. However, spending time with co-workers will help to build a team spirit and a feeling of friendship between all the members of your office. This will make work a chance to meet up with friends and cause everyone to feel more appreciated.

Encourage Creativity

If you want to make your office more fun and exciting, you should encourage creativity. Let employees decorate their areas however they see fit. In addition, you may want to even hold a contest that allows everyone in the office to submit ideas for decorating shared work spaces. It is likely that people will enjoy being at least given the chance to somewhat determine the setting of their workplace and find the new environment to be more enjoyable.

Encourage Play

Encouraging play at work is definitely a way to make the office more fun. Of course, you can’t play all the time. However, having an area where you can lounge and goof off for a few minutes between jobs or meetings is a great idea. Try implementing a few of the following at your workplace to make it more enjoyable:

Video games, Movies and TV series, Foosball and air hockey machines, Pool tables

Of course, the above suggestions are just a few ideas for making your rented office more fun. For some more advice, read this article from Entrepreneur magazine. With a little effort and creativity, you can create a dynamic and enjoyable workplace that makes coming to work a lot easier.

Lauren Downey is a freelance writer for MWB Business Exchange, a company in the UK that is dedicated to providing for the needs of those who are looking for quality meeting and training venues that fit perfectly a client’s business.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lauren Downey .