With significant changes taking place in the film industry and workers demanding better conditions and pay, it’s never been more important to offer office employees a comfortable and empowering office environment. Studios and production companies now more than ever have to look at what they offer their staff, especially where there are pay considerations and the overall working environment to factor in.

Less productive employees will produce less work and ultimately this will impact film productions in the long-term. There are several ways in which working conditions can be improved so that production staff and office workers feel more empowered.

Below is a guide for film productions companies seeking to improve employee welfare at the office.

Creating the ideal office layout

For production companies with offices, the overall layout has to be considered in order to improve the working relationship between different departments and employees.

Be sure to work with an interior designer where possible to get the most out of existing spaces. This way you can be sure that your employees will be satisfied with how the office looks long term.

A great design for your layout is the foundation on which you can build to make your office space as comfortable as possible for your employees. This is why it’s a good idea to make the investment into specialists who can ensure that office spaces are optimized.

Comfortable seating arrangement

It is essential to make sure that you have comfortable seating arrangements for your staff. Your employees will not do their best work if they are lacking some of the basics.

It will be difficult for them to focus if their level of discomfort compounds over time, which ultimately becomes a cost to the business due to inefficiencies. The best way to prevent it from happening is to make sure that you provide ergonomic chairs for your employees.

This is something that you should consider as a long-term investment for higher productivity. A business can save a lot of money through this type of thinking.

Invest in standing desks

It’s also a good idea to invest in standing desks for your employees that are spending considerable time in the office. The truth is that no one should have to sit all day long as this ultimately creates health imbalances.

It is bad for your health in general and it can affect your employees’ posture to be sitting for prolonged periods, and especially when desks are not optimized for height.

This is why employees will take time off and report having back and neck pain. Using standing desks is one way in which you can alleviate this problem.

Be sure to buy standing desks that can convert to accommodate sitting if necessary. Your employees can switch between sitting and standing throughout the day to keep themselves free from the most common issues which can have a negative impact on morale and office working.

Consider the temperature

The temperature of your office is also something that you need to take into consideration if you want to make your employees comfortable. Your office should not be too warm or too cold. You should attempt to strike a balance, depending on where your offices are located.

Try to consider employee preferences when selecting a temperature for the building. Another thing you can do to make sure your office is at the right temperature is to choose the right type of commercial roofing.

You could consider using aluminum decking for your roof as it evenly distributes heat across the roof to cool down your office space. You can view all the aluminum decking options available to consider the most efficient way of reducing the impact of heat and its associated costs.

Select the right colors

It’s also important that you select the right colors for your office space as well. You want to make sure that you are selecting calm colors and that will make your employees feel comfortable throughout the day.

Some colors can give off a lot of high energy and you want to make sure to consider their use and implications for staff wellbeing. You can check a chart of the color wheel to find the colors that have the most calming effect. Each color has a psychological impact and this is often overlooked.

Bring nature in

Another thing you should consider doing is bringing in a little bit of nature. Of course, you need to make sure that some of your workers are not allergic to the type of plants that you want to bring in.

However, you can find common ground if you search hard enough. Bringing plants into the environment will help to brighten the mood. A little bit of nature inside the office can have a big impact. Some species of plants can also detoxify air and help to either remove dampness or increase humidity of the office space, depending on where you’re based.

Let the light in

You should consider letting in as much light as possible. Letting in the light will make your employees feel more relaxed. Light can have a positive and calming effect on a person’s overall mood.

You should make sure that you have large windows so that your employees can enjoy the sunlight whenever possible. Another thing you can do is to put skylights into your building. This way no matter what time of the year it is your employees will enjoy lots of light.

Consider the type of lighting that you are using in your office as well. You want to make sure that it is not too bright or too dark in your office when you need to use artificial lighting.

If you find that the office is a bit noisy then you should try using acoustic lighting as well. It will absorb some of the noise that you will hear coming from inside the office. This will help to make things a lot more comfortable.

Have great technology

You should always ensure that your workers have the latest and best technology in the office. The better the technology that they have to work with the faster and more efficient their output will be. It will also make them more confident in doing their best on the job.

Always ensure that their equipment is of a high standard as well. You do not always have to buy the latest equipment but getting LED monitors that don’t flicker and laptops that don’t overheat, ultimately improves efficiency.

You should always make sure that the current equipment that they are using is easy to work with and that they are trained to use it properly from the beginning.

Create a break room

You must create a space in your office where your employees feel that they can relax and unwind.

This area should be a calming and comforting environment that they can retreat to if they come in early, want somewhere to go on their lunch break, or if someone is not feeling well.

Your break room should have a comfortable sofa, desk, chairs, and also a large enough TV in case your workers want to watch the news or a game while they are relaxing. A refrigerator could also be placed in this room as well.

You can take an inventory of your workers to ask them what they would like to see in the room as well.

Great telephone system

You must have good communication systems in place for your employees. They will need to communicate with each other and your clients, suppliers and various external film production members as well.

All of this communication cannot take place if you do not have proper phone systems in place. Aside from a good phone system, you should also make sure that other forms of communication systems are used effectively.

For example, you can use collaboration tools such as office boards to keep ideas that employees have organized. Try using whiteboards as well, you can use these in meetings and also use them to write down reminders for your staff.

You can also use them to write motivational quotes as well to keep your employees in a good mental space.

Make sure you have bulletin boards available as well in your office. You can use these to communicate messages.

With all the methods of technology currently available to assist with communication, it can be difficult to remember that these traditional forms of communication also work well.

Storage space

When it comes to making employees comfortable in the office you may not be thinking that storage will play a big part in this. However, this is not the case. The type of storage you have and the amount that you have can make a huge impact on you.

The way you store items and use the space is critical, especially for production houses and companies supplying equipment. For this reason, you should look into revamping your office layout if things are not optimal at the moment. Make sure that employees can manage their responsibilities and work efficiently with storage space considered.

You should also make sure that they have space to navigate around any furnishings and storage items such as file cabinets, cameras and more. If you have regular changes in working hours for office based employees and staff that are more mobile, it’s important to allocate processes to minimize disruptions when these changeovers occur.

Create a great office culture

You must create an exceptional office culture for your employees. Part of taking care of your employees is ensuring that they have a great office space in which they feel comfortable in and are empowered to do their best work – regardless of what their role is.

As you can see, there are many ways in which you can make your office as comfortable as possible for your employees and improve productivity. It may take a few adjustments but you can create the ideal working environment.

When you make things comfortable it shows your employees that you care and ultimately makes them more productive and inspired. This will see you retaining quality staff for a longer period of time especially in an era of ultra low unemployment – keeping your best people is vital. In the long run it can save you money since recruitment drives and losing great talent is very costly. Take care of your employees, no matter what role they are in.