You just got hired in a company. A big one. The one you always dreamed about. Today is your first, exciting day. You arrive at 9 A.M. sharp, your supervisor welcomes you and introduces to rules and customs in the company. First stop, kitchen and coffee machine (yay, freshly brewed drink of gods). Second stop, chill room and hammocks, sweet. Third stop, your team (open)room and your desk with a shiny laptop the IT guy delivered a few seconds ago. You couldn’t be happier, could you?
You are trying to find yourself in this new situation. Looking around you notice a copy-paste effect but in the real life this time. Everybody has the same setup, nothing extraordinary - you were told it’s company policy. The same desks, one additional screen, a docking station for your (identical, of course) laptop, a keyboard and a mouse. It turns out that your new employee is dealing with overcrowded offices and it helps them to save some money. Some smart people calculated that only 80% of desks are used at the time. Why would they keep the additional 20% empty? The solution is obvious: buy fewer desks and force people to store their laptops in the lockers at the end of the day. In the morning, take your computer out and go for desk hunting. However, it isn’t that convenient for the employees, is it?
Creating a Comfortable Work Environment
From my observations, I could conclude that office workers like to add a personal touch to their workplace. A plant to the left, a photo of their children next to the keyboard or some stickers around the screen. It feels better to start your day in an environment you are used to and feel safe, rather than in a plain, boring one. What if you had the freedom to do a makeover of the place you work in? Would you decide to sit on a standard chair, a ball or maybe no chair at all? You would be free to do whatever you want with the things around you just to make yourself more comfortable. It doesn’t matter if you leave a stack of notes on the desk for the next day. You don’t have to empty the desk at the end of the day. A rubber duck that helps you debugging? It can always sit there. You could even build a nest for it on top of your screen. Because why not? :)