Poor office design continues to hamper productivity

Research published by Dell claims to highlight the issues related to office design holding back workers’ productivity and the impact this has on UK businesses. While classic gripes like office temperature and loud colleagues take the top spots, poorly designed or implemented technology is having a negative impact on employees – with out of date technology (29 percent), poor Wi-Fi (22 percent) and poorly integrated technology (19 percent) featuring in the top ten factors UK workers feel impact their office lives.

The report claims that failure to address concerns about office design and technology will have far reaching consequences, with almost three quarters of UK office workers (73 percent) stating they’d consider leaving an employer if they failed to provide a suitable workplace environment that inspires them to fulfil their role.

Top ten factors impacting productivity

1. Unsuitable office temperature (35 percent)

2. Colleagues talking too loudly (34 percent)

3. Unnecessary meetings (32 percent)

4. Old/out of date technology (29 percent)

5. Lack of quiet working areas (28 percent)

6. Messy desks (24 percent)

7. Poor Wi-Fi (22 percent)

8. Poor lighting (22 percent)

9. Lack of training (20 percent)

10. Poorly integrated tech (19 percent)

Meeting creativity and collaboration needs

When it comes to boosting creativity and collaboration at work, having a diverse workforce was highlighted by nearly a third (29 percent) of UK office workers, alongside creativity training (25 percent), having dedicated areas for brainstorming (21 percent) and access to suitable technology for working remotely (19 percent). In addition to this, communication tools including Microsoft Skype (19 percent), collaborative tools such as Microsoft Teams or Slack (18 percent), and large interactive monitors (14 percent) were cited as significant aids to creativity.

The study also claims that a quarter (25 percent) of workers rate the ergonomics of their office environment (such as comfortable and supportive desk chairs) as poor or very poor. Just over a fifth (21 percent) rate the office layout as unsuitable and a fifth (20 percent) suggest their workplace doesn’t meet their technology needs.