There has been a great deal of debate on how to improve employee productivity over the last few decades. Many different theories have been put forward in terms of work hours, office layout, and career paths, as well as rewards and recognition. In recent times, the importance of workplace design has gained a lot of traction, with businesses investing in new layouts, furniture, and different ways of doing things.
An important consideration when looking at workplace design is the color scheme. So, read on to discover how office color affects workplace productivity and employee well-being.
Why Is Office Color Important?
Gray and white offices come across as clinical and can be quite uninviting on a cold winter’s day. In fact, they can leave your employees feeling miserable virtually every Monday when they stroll back into a drab office. This may sound like an exaggeration, but the color of the office furniture and walls can have a massive impact on your employee’s mood and levels of productivity.
Color plays a massive role in our existence. Just think about how people react to a bright blue sky versus a gray overcast one. How about the amount of time we spend looking at different color combinations for an outfit or for decorating our homes? Every culture has colors that resemble power, joy, sadness, and death, among others. Just thinking about these things reinforces how color can have a massive impact on employee productivity and motivation.
What Colors Help?
It depends on the type of work you need your staff to be doing. Many of the tech companies of California have opted for quirky designs and a mishmash of colors, designed to lend a playful air to the workplace and to inspire creativity.
Generally, you should aim for a color scheme that feels welcoming and relaxing, but also has a vibrancy that inspires creativity and collaboration. The last thing you want is to go for a color that drives your employees to distraction or results in them taking a long nap at their desks.
Blue and Green: If you want your employees to feel calm and composed, you can’t go far wrong with blues and greens. Blue and green combine well with other colors and generally work well in environments where communication is vital.
Yellow: When creativity is the name of the game, yellow is the color you should go for. Warmer shades have a vibrancy that can increase energy levels and mood. Yellow works well as an accent in meeting rooms, corridors, or waiting areas. Just make sure you don’t go overboard with yellows because it can have the opposite effect and leave employees feeling a little overwhelmed.
Red: Red works in much the same way as yellow, in that it can add energy and boost creativity. It can help improve the mood of your employees, which will have a knock-on effect on their productivity levels.
