How Can I Transform Our Office Space to Boost Morale and Professionalism? Seeking Advice!

Dear Seniors,

I am working for an IT company as an HR Executive for the past four years. Initially, I was primarily focused on recruitment, but later, out of my own interest, I started working on post-recruitment activities. Nowadays, I am also involved in administration activities since I recently joined this company. To start, I would like to improve the appearance of our company, as it currently looks quite dull with only PCs, chairs, cupboards, and wires everywhere. I also want to introduce some new elements as part of our administration activities that would be beneficial to everyone.

Our company is relatively small with 30 employees. I am planning to redecorate our office to give it a more professional and appealing look for all our employees. I want to surprise everyone with these changes and would appreciate your suggestions. Here are a few ideas that I have in mind:

- Placing money plants in all the corners of our office.
- Alternatively, setting up a fish tank in the main hall where it is visible to everyone.
- Providing colorful pen stands on every desk, each containing a pen, pencil, and eraser.
- Adding beautiful flower vases around the office, either with plastic or real flowers.
- Giving each employee a cute tea cup, allowing them to have tea in their own cups instead of paper cups.
- Providing nice water bottles to each employee so they can have water at their desks instead of making multiple trips to the water area throughout the day.
- Supplying table mats for their lunches to prevent spills on the table.

Thanks and Regards,
Babu

You have all the ideas ready with you. What are you waiting for? Just check your budget! One suggestion: the idea of a fish tank sounds great, but it is difficult to maintain in offices. All the best!

Thank you for your response. I just shared my ideas. I am seeking more ideas and suggestions from all of you because I am new to this kind of administrative activity. Hoping to receive more responses from seniors.

Regards,
Babu

Yes, Babu, you have all the beautiful things in your mind itself. In fact, while reading your post, I was thinking of interior changes, but you got it right away with less money. I believe a good fish tank will add 100% beauty and life to the office. It needs to be taken care of every week, meaning you have to give a contract for cleaning the tank and taking care of the fishes. You can also place ancient or nature paintings, waterfalling showpieces, etc. Different colored pinboards at every desk, etc.

Dear Mr. Babu,

Thank you for your message. I am suggesting a few ideas at random:

- Try hanging motivational posters in the workplace. They should be catchy and meaningful.
- Install motivating screensavers on every computer with different themes.
- If you do not have one already, consider installing a soft music gadget.

I will follow up with more details shortly.

Regards,
AVS

Greetings,

Your list includes almost everything that can be done. Here's my suggestion: Keep a board for a collage to be made by the team on the last Friday of every month. The topic for the collage can be anything, right from team goals to vision boards, pictures of team members with their best achievements so far, to current affairs. This can be left until the next month's last Friday. This would allow the team to bond in a very different way and add to the cohesive feeling in the office environment.

A friend of mine who manages his workers in a plant near Chennai tried this idea in a manufacturing setup with collages from the newspaper. The wall that held this huge collage is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in a factory. Photography was prohibited on that premises; hence, I couldn't click one.

We had done it repeatedly in our office. It did work. Be careful to select the topic. Wish you all the best!

Regards,
(Cite Contribution)

Like prajaktarade mentioned, you have all the ideas ready with you. What are you waiting for? Just check your budget!

I like Cite Contribution's suggestion. It could be worth considering in your setup. If it works in a large manufacturing setup, it should do wonders in your small setup for the general bonding of the employees.

I am not sure if your office is an enclosed place (meaning fully air-conditioned, with all the windows closed throughout). If it is, plants will be a very good step, mainly from the environmental aspects. Plants breathe in CO2 and exhale oxygen during the daytime (and vice versa during the nights). So, it adds to the general health of the employees, ensuring the atmosphere is still fresh inside.

Regards,
TS

Dear Babu,

Office Decoration Ideas

First, you can paint your office with colors you prefer or in contrast with the computer partitions. If there is space available between the partitions, consider placing some artificial plants or hangings. If your partitions are detachable, you can create a cell approach and designate cells. Appoint a cell leader and set up smaller whiteboards for creating awareness and enhancing joy in work. Use the boards for activities like appreciation, birthdays, etc.

Thank you.

When I mentioned plants, what I meant was 'natural' plants—not 'artificial' plants. They needn't necessarily be Money Plants—they could be any potted plants too. In a way, money plants may not be practical—since they are creepers—but, if you have the space, they could be OK.

Regards,
TS

Dear Babu,

What you are trying to attempt is a good one. Congratulations. Along with the budget, you have to look after the manpower required to fulfill this task successfully. For example, if you want to replace good tea cups with paper cups, you have to allocate a person to wash them and safeguard them, providing the exact number of cups required. In the same way, you have to think for each action you are going to take.

With regards,
K. Nizammuddin

Hello Babu, the ideas that you and many others have listed are all great. You can bring a little more creativity and fun to it while also saving costs. For example, you can have a small contest in your office where all employees are given some time to add creativity and fun to their workspaces. You can give them options such as:

- Choosing 2-3 colors
- Using waste material to create some workspace utility (for example, using old/corrupt CDs, painting them with a golden or silver spray – you can easily get spray paint bottles, a cheaper option than painting entire walls – and making shelves of those CDs by placing them on a painted waste cardboard taken out of a shoebox). Trust me, people are usually more creative than we assume them to be, so let your people unleash their creative side. 

The idea is to make this more participative, and your people will love you/the organization even more. Hope it helps.

Bests! Maansi

Maansi seems to have given a very good idea—it could make the whole effort a 'collective' effort rather than just 'your' effort. So any maintenance after the implementation phase is through would also be collective—not just 'your' problem anymore; it would be everyone's problem.

Regards,
TS