Work Spaces And Employee Performance And Efficiency

In today's modern society the way we do our jobs has changed drastically, no more is the 9 to 5 schedule adhered to. With the age of technology upon us, we can be connected with one another in an instant, clients can reach us when we are at home at any hour of the day forcing us to continuously interrupt our lives with our work. This brings me to my research question To what extent do certain working environments and layouts of workspaces influence employee performance and efficiency? But this also brings to light another way of working one that does not require employees to come into the office or come in a few times. Overworking employees in the office cost employers as they usually must pay overtime, but what about teleworking. Employee performance must be at its peak to prove that working from home is efficient.

Another way that employers try to make their employees more efficient is by putting more effort into how the physical office looks like and its design. The primary colors of an office and their effect on employees. The way that individual workspace is assigned or if there is any individual workspace. Are employees more efficient when they work alone and what type of professions work better alone rather than as part of a team and vice versa? In today's fast-paced and faultless society the ability to perform as many tasks assigned in the smallest amount of time error free is highly sought after. So, does this have to do with where we work or how we work and interact with others in a workplace setting? In this investigation, I have used the combination of magazine articles, news articles and academic journals (insert specific examples). This research question is worthy of investigation because as humans we would like to make sure that we are able to complete or tasks to the best of our abilities and at the same time able to have a balanced work-home life. In this paper, we will be discussing to what extent certain working environments and layouts of workspaces influence employee performance and efficiency.

Color Theory

Color influences our mood and behavior and therefore might improve the efficiency of employees. Specific shades, intensities, and combinations affect us in different ways, some may increase our ability to think creatively and intellectually and others may affect us physically. Blue affects the intellect and promotes thought and of motor behavior, consciousness, emotion, learning, and memory activity. Green affects the balance between mind, body and emotions, the more green or natural spaces the more emotionally balanced employees might be therefore affecting the way they work. For deep thought and idea searching Indigo is the color to go as it is a mixture of blue and violet, a dark color which evokes deep contemplation and thought. Indigo might be the right color for employees who work to find solutions to tough and complex situations. Violet, a mixture of red and blue, stimulating imagination and wider philosophical ideas. The value and intensity of a color control how it affects thought, a light bright blue has a different effect on the human brain than sky blue. Every tint or tone of a color can be separated into four groups.

All colors are firstly divided into two groups ‘cool’ and ‘warm’ with blue being the primary ‘cool’ color and yellow being the primarily ‘warm’ color. This being said yellow based colors are warm and blue based colors are cool. This also means that there are cool reds and yellows and warm blues and greens. The colors are then divided into terms of both saturation and addition, not of black. From these criteria came four groups in which all colors can be sorted.

Group 1 consists of delicate, warm and clear colors containing very black usually none at all. These colors are not highly saturated and contain a percentage of yellow, they are often tints. Some examples of this color group are scarlet, watermelon, strawberry, peach, coral, cream, apple green, aqua, daffodil, emerald, sky blue etc.

Group 2 consists of tones that are also delicate but are subtle and cool, most of which contain gray. These hues have a percentage of blue added and low chromatic values; they can be dark but are never heavy. Yellows in group 2 have soft touches of both green and black added. Some examples of this color group are: raspberry, bottle green, royal air force blue, lavender, milk, rose pink, grapefruit, viridian etc.

Group 3 is warm but more intense and subtler than group 1, with very high chromatic values and usually the addition of some black. The hues also have some yellow or red added to them. Some examples of this color group are vermilion, poppy, burnt orange, rust, chrysanthemum, forest green, egg-yolk, ivory, flame etc.

The essence of the colors in group 4 is contrast and strength, the hue has blue added and either black or white. The yellows are cooled by the addition of green and the reds by a touch of blue, pure black and white also belong to this color group. Some examples of this color group are crimson, iced pink, lemon, indigo, pistachio, creme de menthe etc. There are more colors in groups 2 and 3 that there are in groups 1 and 4 this is because of the clarity and simplicity of groups 1 and 4. Most colors are derived from sophisticated equations of hue, value, and chroma. All the color in the same group belong together and harmonize with one another while combining colors from other groups do not work as well. Each of the four groups consists of versions of all the main colors, i.e. red, blue yellow etc. Furthermore, all of humanity can be divided into four personality types. No one person distinctly fits into one type and often everyone has subordinate elements - some personalities contain traits from a bit of each of the four types. However, the root of the personality can be classified accurately and will be the primary motivation of the individual.

The four personalities are firstly defined by whether they are cool(blue) or warm(yellow) i.e. introvert or extrovert, secondly, they are divided into intensity of energies. The two cool personalities are type 2 and type 4. Type 2 is internally motivated, they are quiet with soft voices and do not find it necessary to comment on everything they are highly perceptive and do not miss much. Type 2’s have a well-developed sense of touch and sensitive skin; they tend to have a talent for any activity involving the fingertips. Type 2 personalities are the least commonly found. Type 4 personalities are also internally motivated, but often far from understated. Most people respect or admire type 4 personalities; they are often found in the public eye. Type 4’s often remain focused, and are not easily diverted by other people’s views, or by emotional distractions; they are natural leaders, with a gift for accurate delegation. Their sense of space is highly developed, so they prefer minimalist design. The two warm personality types are 1 and 3. Type 1 personalities are very aware of other people and allow their own behavior to be influenced externally. Type 1 personalities are light on their feet and quick, often communicating well over a large area - or to a large audience -, but reluctant to get into great depths of academic debate. They are very practical and like to get on with things. They can be more easily diverted from the main objective. Type 1 is very aware of light and dark and is never happy in a badly lit environment. Type 3 personalities are also very aware of other people and externally motivated. However, they want to ‘save the world’ and their energy is directed to action. They are prepared to debate an issue in great depth, as they have a fundamental need for authenticity. They are not impressed with the concept of style over substance. Type 3 abhor feeling restricted, so they can be quite rebellious. They have endless patience in the quest for answers, and the wish to put things right. All this being said, each person has a natural affinity with one color group. Each group is paired with its respected type (Group 1 colors are warm, clear and delicate as are Type 1 personalities).

Each personality prefers the colors that best reflects and expresses their own characteristics. The response to a color scheme is influenced and determined by the personality type. There are difficulties in color psychology for instance interpretation, there is no such thing as a good color or a bad color. This is true even though the reaction to spectral hues is universal. Red can be interpreted as stimulating but it can also be interpreted as exhilarating stressful and or demanding. The same with blue, it is interpreted as activating mental activity and this might cause reason and calm thought aiding in concentration or it may be interpreted as cold and bureaucratic.

To increase employee efficiency employers must be willing to work with their employees to better their working environments whether that may be using cubicles to section off parts of an office for those who prefer and excel at working alone to introducing collaborative spaces for those who enjoy and excel at working with others. Employers must also consider the primary colors that are expressed in their office or place of work. Individuals may like to customize their workspaces with colors that appeal and motivate them to do better. The introduction of a green space or an area that is full of nature and green may help and allow employees to relax during their work day so that they are able to complete their jobs to the best of their abilities. Colors play an important role in our everyday life, if we can use them to help us then we are proving that we can use all our resources to better our outputs.

Privacy/Distraction

In today's offices from the early 2000s in which we lost the cubicle and moved to open floor layouts; we thought this would be better and that employees would be more satisfied with their jobs but as it turns out this is not true. Employees prefer their privacy with enclosed workspaces preferred over open spaces. Employees like to not be seen by their coworkers and supervisors, they also prefer the quiet and a distraction-free work area. This is where they are more efficient according to a study titled Privacy at work: Architectural Correlates of Job Satisfaction and job performance written by Eric Sundstrom, Robert E. Burt, and Douglas Kamp of the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Employees preferred privacy over accessibility meaning that they liked to be far away from others to get their jobs done; they liked for their workspace to be enclosed and visually inaccessible. This type of workspace may be why more and more people are turning to work from home; where they can personally customize their home workspace or office to their liking with colors that help stimulate them and help them focus. At home, there may be fewer distractions than that of at work or maybe not. The fact is that home employees are freer to customize their workspace than they would be at their work office not at home. Certain jobs do not allow for teleworking and so employers must work with employees to offer them the best possible work environment that will produce the best results and work output of employees. The more privacy and employee had the more efficient they were; if an employee would need to collaborate on an assignment in today's day and age the internet is where most collaboration occurs.

A distraction-free environment is also worth a lot and having an open space plan will do just the opposite as employees often get distracted from their work and instead of working they are now socializing which causes problems later on as they still must complete their tasks for the day and meet deadlines which often leads to employees having to take work back home with them during non-working hours causing them to work overtime when instead they could be socializing. Work is not the place to socialize, it is a place of work (breaks should always be encouraged) but more often than not employees need quiet and distraction-free areas to meet their deadline and complete their work.