9th Jan 2020
A is for an Agile Way of Working
It’s the start of a new year! And on our mission to help people thrive by creating workspaces that look after wellbeing first, let us introduce our A-Z of Workplace Wellbeing. Our first installment talks about what it means for your business to have an agile way of working.
Essentially, our A-Z is how it sounds. Every 2 weeks we’ll be releasing a blog on an aspect of wellbeing, stuffed full with useful advice on how to create a healthy working environment for your team.
We’ll be calling upon a couple of experts along the way to give you the most up to date advice. So we hope you’ll enjoy learning a few things from them too! So, without further ado…
A is for Agile
Companies that adopt an agile working culture look to embrace maximum flexibility and minimal restraints. They empower people to work when and how they feel is best through a mixture of clever office design and relevant tech, giving teams the tools they need to work efficiently.
But agile working encompasses more than that, which you can read about in our blog What is Agile Working?
It can be massively beneficial from both a wellbeing and financial perspective, as it empowers people to work when and how they feel is best. We’ve also put together some tangible tips in this blog on agile working practices.
Now you’re clued up on what agile working could mean for your organisation, let’s talk about why it’s good for your peoples’ wellbeing.
Flexibility
Working in an agile way often means having flexibility to work when and where you prefer to. This self-determination allows more freedom than being restricted to one environment for doing every task. Not to mention the fact that the environment might not be equipped for every task.
If a person’s job allows it, giving the flexibility of choosing working hours within a given timeframe, or offering several workspace options can create a more enjoyable, efficient and productive work experience.
It doesn’t suit everyone but offering the choice gives your people more autonomy, and the opportunity to thrive.
Increased productivity
As we’ve already mentioned, agile working can promote productivity. And who doesn’t want a productive team? Alongside wellbeing, it’s a factor at the core of agile culture and, for obvious reasons, can significantly improve ROI for companies.
Research by talent management firm, BSP World, found that 67% of ‘agile businesses’ reported a significant boost in their productivity. In some cases, it was increased by up to 20% – definitely not to be sniffed at!
Talent attraction and retention
If a person works in a stimulating environment suited to their needs, feels empowered to choose the way they work best and is smashing their work because of it, they’re probably going to be less likely to look for a job elsewhere. Right?
Obviously, there are lots of other factors that affect when and why people change jobs. But you get the picture we’re trying to create here.
Create an environment and culture that caters to employee needs in life and at work, and you’re going to create a more enjoyable place to work. Less time and money can be spent on the hiring process, and efforts can instead be focused on enhancing the wellbeing of current employees.
Innovation and creativity
Creativity is a notoriously hard thing to foster. If you’re not feeling it, you’re just not feeling it. It can be very frustrating! But moving to a different work environment can help to relieve this frustration.
Being in a new setting can encourage new trains of thought, which can help with finding new and creative approaches to the same problem.
This is why providing a variety of spaces for people can be so good for wellbeing. There’s nothing more effective than empowering someone to do their job to the best of their ability. And no better feeling than being empowered to do so.
Smarter workspace utilisation
Embracing agile requires careful consideration of how your space is best used, as well as creating a culture that embraces this way of working.
This might mean creating spaces for tasks in your office that didn’t previously have dedicated space. Or changing the way your people choose how, when and where they work.
The good news is that tech makes this easier than ever before as the same space can be equipped for different uses, and people can connect from practically anywhere.
For example, we find that most offices have some under-used desk space of some sort. But tech, furniture and acoustics can often be used to transform these redundant areas to provide new and valuable workspace. So, it’s always worth taking a look at how you’re actually using the spaces in your workplace and if they can change to benefit people more than they currently do.
Go agile
Our team of experienced designers love creating agile workspaces that look after wellbeing by enabling people to work to the best of their ability.
To see what we could do for you, drop us a quick email to hello@blueprintinteriors.co.uk or book a free workplace assessment using the form below.
And if you’d like to learn more about agile working, a few of our other articles might interest you: