Hacking Employee Happiness With Shared Office Spaces

Even in the age of automation, the success of a good company falls largely on the shoulders of the employees. Getting the most out of your employees will often lead to positive results in all aspects of your business. Fortunately, a shared office space can help you hack the code to improving employee happiness.

The Value of Employee Happiness

Employee happiness is an important marker for the most successful operations. Factors like contentment help to increase morale and reduce retention. But the true value of employee happiness is measured in their ability to thrive. Thriving is what makes for truly effective, high-value employees.

Here are just a few key benefits of happier employees:

Performance

Working in an environment that allows them to thrive results in greater efficiency and quality of work. Happy employees are more engaged and driven. They are a driving force behind growth.

Care

One of the great detriments to a company’s performance is indifferent employees. When an employee doesn’t care, it affects the quality of their work. They miss deadlines and make more frequent errors, as well as coming up with fewer solutions.

An employee who cares about the company brings more to the table. They create a better atmosphere for others and they take pride in doing a good job.

Sick Days

Sick days are an underrated source of lost profit for employers. The day comes out at a net loss for you. You lose out on the work you needed the employee to accomplish, while still paying for those hours. Of course, you can’t scrap sick days, but you can reduce how often people take them.

Improving employee happiness results in people taking fewer unnecessary sick days. As well, happy workers have less stress and tend to take better self-care, resulting in better health.

Above & Beyond

If you want to see your workforce going above and beyond the call of duty, you need to keep their job satisfaction high. Happier employees are driven to go beyond the call of their job, while simultaneously avoiding burnout.

Retention

It’s no surprise, happier workers are less likely to leave. By keeping their happiness-level up, you can avoid the high costs of employee turnover, as well as the loss in efficiency while they go off on interviews and touch up their resume.

The Solution: Shared Office Spaces Allow Employees to Thrive

When it comes to increasing employee happiness, coworking may be the solution. Employees at shared office spaces have higher self-reported levels of vitality, learning, and job satisfaction.

In the context of the workplace, vitality means the passion and excitement for the job. The collaborative, open atmosphere of a shared office space helps people see that their actions make a difference to them, their coworkers, and their company. The result is greater enthusiasm for the job, incentivizing people to accomplish more.

The landscape of business is constantly changing. As such, those who stay ahead of the learning curve help your business thrive. In a coworking space, people are more driven to learn. In part, this is due to to the increased vitality. However, it’s also propelled by the atmosphere.

In a shared office, your employees are in the proximity of other agile, learning businesses. This encourages further learning, as well as resulting in a cross-pollination of knowledge. Businesses in the same shared office space learn from each other, creating a symbiotic relationship, even if they do not directly conduct business together.

Furthermore, shared offices increase job satisfaction. Working in an open office keeps up a team mentality. This promotes a healthier, happier business atmosphere. People are less likely to try and one-up coworkers or steal credit. As well, it’s easier for management to see and recognize peoples’ efforts.

This collaborative atmosphere and recognition of one’s own efforts make a big difference in overall job satisfaction.

5 Ways to Enhance the Benefits of a Shared Office

While coworking is already a great way to promote employee happiness, there is still more you can do. Here is a quick list of five easy ways to enhance the benefits of shared office spaces:

Increase Collaboration & Community
Provide Support
Environment
Empowerment
Flexibility

1. Increase Collaboration & Community

Coworking is all about collaboration. One of the simplest ways to improve on this is to build a community in your workplace. Team outings are a low-cost way to quickly increase employee satisfaction and build bonds between workers. As well, they are a nice bonus for attracting new talent.

2. Provide Support

A shared office space gives management the ability to work closely with employees. This allows them to provide meaningful support and feedback. Employees feel more valued, leading to improved efficiency and/or quality of work.

As well, the best shared offices offer support services for on-demand use. These services avoid employee headaches, stress and inefficiencies that can happen when trying to solve problems outside of their expertise.

Technical services like IT and troubleshooting prevent frustrations and keep everyone operational. Administrative support can prevent your team from becoming swamped in by other duties in peak periods.

3. Environment

The workplace environment has a big impact on employee morale. Professionally-designed shared office spaces with plenty of natural light and ergonomic furnishings are a great help. But employers can do more to improve the environment inside the coworking space.

Allowing workers to have plants or other decor can make a big difference in a coworking space. It helps to remove the sense of the impermanence of agile office spaces. As well, it creates a more personal, friendly touch.

Also, making full use of the space can help employees thrive. Good coworking spaces have lounges, wellness areas, and more. This allows employees to shake it up a little, working in different locations. It’s a great way to keep them comfortable, happy, and flexible. Don’t keep your workers chained to their desks.

4. Empowerment

Toronto shared office spaces don’t share the same rank-and-file structure of a traditional office. You can use this free-flowing atmosphere to empower your employees. In this atmosphere, they feel more capable of making a difference and are more likely to suggest new ideas. You can promote this further by allowing them more decision-making and sharing information with them.

5. Flexibility

Coworking offices are bastions of flexibility. This is making them popular business spaces for enterprise and startup companies alike. Embracing this flexibility can help you get more out of your workforce.

For example, many companies in shared offices have flexible hours. This can include allowing for different arrival/departure times so that employees can better schedule their day around their commute or needs of their family. For example, an employee may work from 8 to 4, rather than 9 to 5.

As well, offering the flexibility of a few work-from-home days is a great help. In addition to being a nice benefit for employees, it’s also great for employers. For example, many employees will use work-from-home days rather than sick days when they get a cold. This has a double benefit. For one, you don’t lose out on their work. And for the other, they don’t get others sick, resulting in more sick days.

Increase Employee Happiness With Toronto Shared Spaces

In a competitive landscape like Toronto, companies need every edge to reach their full potential. The best shared office spaces help to create happy, thriving employees, for more successful businesses.

Book a tour of our prime downtown Toronto shared office spaces today.