What is your ideal workplace? A string of imaginative ideas erupts once this question is thrown on office goers. Today, several companies have started to realize that workplace design directly affects the productivity of their employees. On World Productivity Day, churning out an optimum level of performance has become a requisite, every office going person deems as a necessity. But how can you achieve that level, take that every person has a different mindset and way of achieving the goals? For example a designer would need a creative, pop-office vibe to allow his/her creative juices to flow through; similarly, you might see a corporate person needing a furnished office with the right technical support to complete the tasks and meet the delegates.
The crux here is that everybody needs a different workplace to achieve the greatness of productivity. To find out what kind of workplace you need for your productivity, you need to determine your workplace personality type. To make things easier, we’ve laid out the John Hollands’ Theory of Career Choice which identifies 6 different workplace types for 6 different personalities.
First, take a brief look at the 6 different workplace personalities’ types:
- The Helpers – Every office has their own set of social animals that like taking part in group discussions and enjoy activities that involve associating & guiding others, such as mentoring or guiding on a project. They are highly friendly, good at offering support, and most of your team members can easily trust them.
- The Sellers – Office goals cannot be achieved, if not for its sales people. The sellers are semi-social, and more into leadership, promotion-driven activities which ultimately leads to selling. Finding a seller who isn’t energetic, ambitious, or competitive is a tough bet.
- The Organizers – Though conventional in nature, the organizers enjoy working with data; just so because they are good with numbers and technology. The IT guys and the people from the tech. team mostly form this criterion. They are highly organized, work in an orderly manner, and are precise with their results.
- The Doers – Highly realistic in nature, the doers tend to achieve what they seek. They like working with tools and machines and can be trusted with finishing a task. Most of the doers that you’ll find at workplaces belong to the operations department. They also do not deter from any physical or mechanical task.
- The Thinkers – A little investigative in nature, the thinkers are the people behind the stage. They like digging deep and researching to find the best solutions. People who belong to this personality type rely heavily on information, as it is an essential means for them to be analytical and have an intellectual approach to a situation.
- The Imaginative – This personality type mostly consists of people who are involved in creative tasks like art, design, or writing. They like to work where their thoughts are welcomed and avoid activities that involve repetition. You can expect highly original output from their arsenal of thoughts. So, these were the 6 different personality types that you will find in every Indian office.
Let’s find out the ideal workplaces that are needed for the maximum productivity:
Most of the Indian MNCs prefer a cubicle layout in their workplaces. An office in IT parks and business district consists of offices that have a cubicle setup. This type of layout provides a semi-private area for workers with the use of medium to high walls. Technically, an average cubicle size of about 90 sq.ft. , which is about half the size of a typical executive office.
Who should be working here? The cubicle setup works perfectly for the people belonging to the Thinkers, Organizers, and Sellers personality types who need ownership and privacy on their work while not spending the available workspace. While this is an ideal workplace for them, it also brings down the cross-communication between them and people from other departments. However, the noise level and distractions are non-avoiding situations.
Next; the open office layout. This is a modern setup which is highly used by co-working spaces all over the country. Under this setup, employee seats are arranged in a large, open space sans any walls or cubicles so that there is a free-flow of ideas, networking and interaction among employees.
Who should be working here? The open office layout is meant for the helpers, sellers, and doers personality types. There might be a little less privacy, and not everybody can adjust to it as there can be constant noise and interruptions.
The cellular office setup works best for organizers, sellers, and artists personality types. Here, the traditional workspace is separated into smaller private offices so that the person can be work in peace with or without sharing the space with one more individual. It is a great option whether you have delegates to meet or an important deadline to meet – the privacy works wonderfully. If you go with the people’s choice, more than 70% of office-going community gives a nod to the cellular office setup when it comes to satisfying work environment. However, several people argue that it is not the most efficient use of space, and working behind closed doors can result in less collaboration.
Remote working is another setup that has emerged out as a great option for digital nomads and travelling professionals. This increasingly popular work setup allows employees to work remotely either full or part-time. People who use coworking spaces in Gurgaon, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and more are not new to the concept of remote working; and in fact, 50% of members have actually held jobs throw remote working.
This could be a great workplace scenario for Doers, Artists and Helpers; ones who don’t need to show up every day at work but can provide results from a remote location. The remote office setup is a helping hand for enterprises looking to cut down manpower costs; providing greater flexibility and efficiency at work. On the downside, isolation, no teamwork & interaction can lead to lesser productivity.
(The emergence of co-working spaces have come out as a great option for freelancers.)
Co-working spaces are another fantastic workplace options many are seeking today for enhanced productivity. These shared office environments where people can rent a workspace suiting to their needs with access to amenities like printers, scanners, meeting rooms, cafeteria, lounge & play areas, etc. works incredibly well for freelancers or young startup.
The popularity of coworking spaces globally has doubled in the past year, and it tends to grow in the same fashion in the following years. Co-working spaces are again a great option for Artists, Sellers, and Organizers, as it gives a chance to meet and network with a wide range of professionals. With a flexible co-working plan, everyone can find a workspace meeting their requirements.
Productivity surely cannot be determined by the seat where you work from. Although, workplace design is a crucial factor in deciding who churns out what. Today, companies like Google and Facebook are even experimenting with workplace options like hot-desking (i.e. an assigned seating setup) and moveable desks (e.g. standing desks). These hybrid workplaces are becoming the future of offices suiting a wide range of personalities.
It is now your time to improve your workplace!