When sitting in an office for hours on end, it really is important that, while working, you’re experiencing some ‘feel good’ factor. After all, if you feel good, you do perform better. So, what can be done by you to achieve that dizzy height of feeling good at your desk? Let’s go and have a look.
No two offices are the same, though you will be able to generalise between a private office (maybe for the manager or a supervisor), an open-plan office environment (several people in the same big room) and the ‘cubicle’ environment (false walls which don’t meet the ceiling but still give you some privacy from the next person along). Depending on the nature of the work, you may have silence or, in the many call centres, you may be fighting to make yourself heard.
For me, I would find that background noise would make it impossible for me to concentrate, so I’d have to do something to address that and, believe it or not, soft furnishings do absorb sound. When I say soft furnishings, I’m talking about carpets, the cushioning in your ergonomic office chair and, yes, those room dividers. If you’ve ever been inside a completely empty room in a house, you’ll have noticed that your voice will create an echo. Put curtains, armchairs and cushions in there and you’ll realise that there is no longer an echo. So help your office space soak up some of that unwanted noise by adding personal touches: they’ll help with that sound problem and begin that ‘feel good’ atmosphere.
To work comfortably at your computer, you’ll need light and, rather than get the glare of the sun on your screen, situate your desk to have light helping rather than hindering you. Purchase an angle-poise lamp which, with its flexible stem, you can get that light going exactly where you want it to. Fix the lamp in a position where you’re not looking directly into the light and then use the flexible stem to get the light to do its job. Now doesn’t that feel better?
I have an aversion to blue. I could never work in an environment that boasted that colour. For me, I would need yellow and maybe russet, as these autumnal colours make me feel good. I could enhance my office environment by adding a couple of feng shui paintings which include these colours and maybe purchase my own sunny ergonomic office chair, again making me feel very good indeed.
If I’m working long hours, I’m going to get little chance to enjoy the outdoors, so I might think of bringing nature to me in the form of plants. Remember how humans and plants complement each other, one wanting oxygen and throwing out carbon dioxide (humans) and the other doing the reverse. Rather than my office space becoming a little stuffy in those hot months, I’ll have the fragrance of the plants and could also make use of an air purifier to make everything just perfect.
If all of these personal yet minimal adjustments make me feel good, I can’t see the boss complaining. Can you?
