We often talk about returning to the office, debating the merits of working from home vs. in a shared space. But we are missing a beat. In this conversation, we rarely consider what kind of office people are returning to and how it affects productivity.

Work by Bukky Akinsanmi Oyedeji of London Business School shows that offices can have a negative AND positive impact. Turns out, returning to the office is a balancing act.

Bukky, together with the Singapore Management University, assessed workspaces across three dimensions - ambience, spatial configuration and aesthetics. They found that all three impacted two key factors of doing business: employees’ ability to work, and the firm’s resource position, referring to the tangibles (e.g. running costs) and the intangibles (e.g. corporate image, appeal to workforce).

So, sounds like what many of us consider a nice-to-have - a pretty, well-designed office space - might actually be a must-have. It’s scientifically-proven, folks 🤷🏻

Let’s break each of these factors down.

• Ambience is an architectural term referring to the characteristics that make a space comfortable, such as temperature, air quality and (my favourite) lighting. The level of comfort we feel has a direct impact on our cognitive and physiological processes.

• Spatial configuration is how things are laid out in the space. What is the desk arrangement? Are there partitions? Spatial configuration is crucial because it determines how we move through the space, guiding our interactions with furniture and coworkers. 

• Aesthetics are the design elements. These are mostly sensory, like colours, textures and materials that sway your overall perception of the space. Aesthetics, which are commonly overlooked, are a crucial tool to creating an environment that’s welcoming and inspiring, directly impacting our psychological well-being.

Bukky’s research shows that all three factors impact things like absenteeism, staff retention and the perceived legitimacy of your organisation. Getting these wrong could be a costly mistake.

So, now that we’ve established that when returning to the office, we need to be returning to a nice office, how can you take your space and turn it into that perfect, productive environment?

Well, I hate to say it, but Bukky’s tips are spenny (aka expensive, for anyone not well-versed with Aussie slang). Here they are:

• Integrate natural sunlight into your space - hard to do in the UK, right

• Reduce background noise - who is ready to tell Carl to use his bloody earphones (love ya, Carl)

• Create separate spaces for different activities, like meetings, breaks and focused work - the open plan workspace is cancelled, people

• Get creative with bold colours, unconventional decor and playful accessories (example from us enclosed)

• Embrace biophilia by opting for green, sustainable designs and materials, and incorporating plenty of plants

Unsurprisingly, given the title of the website you are on, the last one is my absolute favourite. But actually, all of them are pretty great.

Unfortunately, though, not many businesses have the means to fully redesign their offices to adhere to Bukky’s standards (have you seen the state of the economy?!). This is where small, cost-effective changes come into play. 

Now is the time for shameless self-promotion, right? 

Well, at Visionary Farms, we are all about creating small changes in your workspace that leave a big impact.

Using our smart grow lighting system, Ignis, we bring ambience (unique lighting), aesthetics (lots of healthy, thriving plants) and optimised spatial configuration (no more dark, dead space!) to your office. Big or small, and independent of budget.

If you are thinking about how to make your space more productive without having to reconfigure EVERYTHING, message us, we don’t bite 😉

And if you are worried about keeping plants alive… don’t worry, because we give you all the knowledge you need to help with that. But that’s a story for another time.

Read Bukky’s work here.