Why would employees want to come to your office? They’re happy — and productive — working from home.

77% of remote workers find working from home makes them more productive. 74% say the option to work remotely makes them more likely to stay with a company. But not all workplace leaders agree. 85% believe that having a team that is at least partially remote is the new normal in a post-COVID world.

Designing an environment that your team can’t experience at home is a great incentive to bring folks back to the office. Creating a hygge vibe in your workplace can be a creative way to bolster team morale, mental health, productivity, and general happiness.

Designing an environment that your team can’t experience at home is a great incentive to bring folks back to the office.

More than that, it positions your office as a place to be, and it shifts your company culture toward a hospitality-first focus.

What is Hygge?

A defining characteristic of Danish culture that has rapidly gained popularity and appeal in the west, hygge is the purposeful curation of a feeling of coziness. A sense of comfort and conviviality that instills feelings of contentment and wellbeing.

It’s why we love a cozy fireside and a mug of steaming cocoa in a snowstorm.

In the wake of the pandemic, it’s easy to see how this notion has gained even greater popularity.

“I have to recognize that the office and the workplace compete against the convenience of working from home.” — Peter Van Emburgh, SVP, Global Head of Real Estate at CBRE

Hygge as a productivity booster

Comfort has long been recognized as a factor in productivity among workers. Many employers who were adamantly anti-remote work before COVID are forced to acknowledge the productivity-enhancing benefits of allowing people to work in their own space and change their policies.

The focus has moved to how we work, not just where and when we do our work. Imagine harnessing the power of working from home in the office.

It may not be that complicated to do so. For most people, simply having control over their comfort is key to ensuring a productive working environment. Creating an enjoyable environment creates opportunities for better experiences.

“If we redefine the workplace to how we work, not where we work, then we really provide ourselves an opportunity to think creatively and intelligently about ways to engage employees and change the employee experience for where they want to be.”

Nathan Manuel, Workplace Experience at PagerDuty

Productivity thrives at home because we are in complete control of that domain. We can choose the temperature, whether to curl up on a bean bag chair or sit at a desk. We decide if we will wrap ourselves in blankets while we type or get down to business in nothing but our pajamas.

Introducing a few creature comforts and that sense of contented coziness in your workspace is an easy way to bridge the gap between office work and home comfort.

Embracing hygge and a more wellbeing-focused approach to space, in general, is not only good for morale and encouraging people to come into the office, but it’s also great for team productivity and, ultimately, profitability.

Another Scandinavian concept, arbejdsglæde, which translates to ‘happiness at work,’ tells us precisely what we should strive for — happy workers. When employees have job satisfaction, it’s better for them, better for the team, and better for the business. Greater productivity, higher levels of creativity, lower staff turnover, and a culture that attracts top talent are just some advantages of satisfied workers.

Here are a few simple but highly effective ways of introducing hygge into your workspace and ensuring arbejdsglæde.

The outdoors, indoors

Hygge is rooted in the natural world. Nature-inspired interior design elements like terrariums, driftwood furniture or art, and even living versions of your company logo are a great way of bringing the soothing elements of nature into the workspace.

Water features

Another way to infuse your working area with natural elements is to introduce water. Whether a fountain, a rain display, or a tropical aquarium, a water feature brings a soothing natural element into your surroundings.

Warm lighting

Ditching the harsh fluorescent lightbulbs and opting for softer lighting options is ideal — the color of lighting can heavily impact our circadian rhythm.

Softer, warmer lighting improves focus and work performance, as well as enhances wellbeing and happiness.

Go for antique desk lamps, look for ways of maximizing natural light, and try to incorporate candlelight or firelight (safety permitting).

Tip: Solar-powered faux candles add a quirky, eco-friendly, safety-first option.

Snacks

If you have a kitchen, keep it well stocked with healthy grazing foods like fruit, trail mix, granola, yogurts, as well as sweeter treats for those who love processed sugar.

Twitter’s Real Estate & Workplace team incorporated snacks into a successful well-being (not to mention marketing) campaign that gains great engagement and showcases their company culture:

Hey Tweeps! #SnackFest is still happening! Go signup & snack your 💙 out! Supplies are limited so hurry! 🤘🍪🍿🍬 pic.twitter.com/46p0fN53Su

— Twitter REW (@TwitterREW) August 9, 2021

‍

Cozy work areas

Creating workspaces designed to be more like a living room is a great way to promote a hygge vibe at work. Think cuddle chairs, blankets, quirky beverage stations, and a break from the formal desk-based assigned seating we’re all so accustomed to.

Design based on what your employees want and prefer

Your vision of an idyllic, hospitality-driven workplace may not align with your employees. Knowing what spaces your employees use and don’t use is an integral part of building a better workplace experience.

Qualitative data (surveys, for example) are useful. However, in the end, your employees vote with their feet. Measuring their behavior while in your space gives you the insights you need to make smarter space decisions. Real-time occupancy data, like Density’s, will help you design a space according to how your team most likes to work and what creature comforts will help them achieve arbejdsglæde.

As workplace leaders navigate the changing world of work, many have tried to “future-proof” their businesses. But the future of work is impossible to predict.

The best path toward a sustainable, profitable future is to focus on employees. Employees are a company’s greatest asset, and their time, skills, and experience are the foundation of a business’s growth.

Workplace experience, sometimes called WX, is the modern strategy for improving employee performance and reducing expenses. It involves designing a work environment that fosters productivity, providing appropriate technology solutions, and creating a culture that prizes employee well-being as much as profits. 

When those three areas are in balance, employee satisfaction improves significantly. Satisfied employees reduce turnover rates, increase productivity, improve the customer experience, and much more. 

In this post, we’ll look at why workplace experience is so important now, and how you can use it to create a positive environment for employees.

What is workplace experience?

Workplace experience is a human-centered strategy for creating optimal work environments that support employees’ productivity, performance, and well-being. Several factors come together to create the workplace experience. 

Company culture, technology solutions, and office design all play key roles in developing the overall experience your employees have in their work environments. The ultimate goal of workplace experience is to improve a range of business outcomes including increased revenue, better recruitment and retention, and lower real estate costs.  

Why is workplace experience so important now?

The world of work has changed considerably since the pandemic. While workplace experience has always been important, it’s now essential to business success. The list below identifies key changes that make workplace experience more important now than ever before. 

1. The definition of the workplace has changed

The workplace was once a set office where employees came in to work five days a week for eight hours a day. Now, for many companies, schedules are flexible and the workplace includes the traditional office as well as the places remote and hybrid employees choose to work. To maintain a cohesive company culture and an equitable work environment, workplace experience must be top of mind for business leaders. 

The expanded work ecosystem presents many new opportunities for improving workplace experience. New technologies that can support virtual communications and collaborations can help employees feel connected and engaged no matter where they are. 

Smartly designed office spaces and stipends for home offices can create work environments where employees feel comfortable and do their best work.

2. The workplace must now accommodate multiple ways of working

The traditional office, with its assigned seating and limited collaborative spaces, is a thing of the past. Today’s workplace must accommodate both collaborative and focused work to ensure all team members have access to a work environment that supports their productivity. 

It’s easy for companies that have embraced hybrid work to assume that employees will use the office for collaboration and do focused work at home, but it’s not that simple. Not all employees have a suitable home environment for doing their best work. Whether it’s family distractions or a lack of space, these employees still need an in-office solution where they can complete heads-down work. 

The modern office must balance the needs of these two types of work. For collaborative spaces, this may include features such as technology-enabled conference rooms, reconfigurable furniture and layouts, and comfortable spaces to accommodate both large and small groups. For focused work, employees need privacy, limited distractions, and a space that can be “theirs” for a few hours.  

3. Recruitment is more difficult due to increased remote opportunities

Remote work has created global employment opportunities that didn’t exist before, and employees are spoiled for choice. To be competitive, companies have to find new ways to attract talent. Perfecting your workplace experience is one of the best ways to show employees that you understand their needs and will support their performance and wellbeing. 

Features such as a hybrid work policy, a comfortable work environment that accommodates various work styles, and modern technology solutions make a big difference to employees. If an employee is considering a remote opportunity from halfway across the world and your company has a local office, an excellent workplace experience can tip the balance in your favor. 

What are some benefits of having a good workplace experience?

Recruit the best talent

In the past, a worker’s job search was limited to their local area. This meant less competition to recruit the best talent, leading to less emphasis on an excellent workplace experience as a recruitment tool. Now that remote work is the norm, employees have seemingly limitless job opportunities. Companies must optimize every possible recruitment tool, and workplace experience is one of the best places to start. 

Improve employee retention

Employee turnover is a significant expense for businesses. Gallop reports that “the cost of replacing an individual employee is one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary — and that’s a conservative estimate.” 

Improving the workplace experience can eliminate this enormous and unnecessary expense by creating a positive environment that meets employee needs.

Increase employee engagement and productivity

Employee output has a direct impact on a company’s bottom line. The more engaged and productive employees are, the more accelerated business growth will be. A consciously designed workplace experience can foster this productivity, improving everything from the customer experience to the level of product innovation.

How can you create a great workplace experience?

Build a company culture that puts people first

Over 30% of workers say they’ve quit a job within 90 days because of bad work culture. A company culture that prioritizes transparency, equity, and a people-first attitude is the foundation of a great workplace experience and the key to improving retention. 

A healthy culture is the first step toward a great workplace experience, and it helps employees feel engaged and invested in the company’s mission. Make sure workers feel empowered to ask questions and voice concerns to all levels of management. Cultivate an environment of gratitude for your employees’ contributions and empathy for their personal well-being results.

Design functional, comfortable workspaces

Office spaces must strike a balance between functional and comfortable. Understanding how employees use your workplace is key to pinpointing design decisions that will perform well. 

Utilization data collected from technology solutions such as building sensors can provide the unbiased information you need to design the best possible office for your employees.  

“When people do things like employee engagement surveys, they give us these really polite responses because they don’t want to offend anybody, but something changes when action speaks,” says Nathan Manuel of PagerDuty. “So when we have data, that’s based on what the actual behaviors of people are, not based on what they say. It really changes the game,” 

Despite the politeness bias of employee utilization feedback, it is needed for creating effective workplaces for remote and hybrid employees. Let employees inform you of what they need to create an appropriate workspace for themselves, whether that’s an ergonomic desk chair for a home office or a pass to a coworking space. This ensures you maintain an equitable experience between in-office and remote employees, which is essential for a great workplace experience.

Provide modern workplace technology

Technology is an essential aspect of workplace experience, but some businesses have been slow to embrace new technologies. Today’s workforce is accustomed to the speed, convenience, and seamless experiences technology brings to their personal lives, and they expect this same level of technology in the workplace. Slow and outdated machines or software create unnecessary obstacles to employee productivity.

In a 2020 survey, Statista respondents indicated that these are some of the top technologies that allow employees to work more effectively:

• Collaboration devices that recognize the user by automatically pairing with personal devices
• Wireless screen sharing
• Digital signage that displays alerts about availability, company news, and technology capabilities
• Digital office navigation assistance (e.g., help finding meeting rooms)
• Voice-controlled meeting assistant for touchless controls

To create a positive employee experience, explore the new devices and software available that can help make work faster, easier, or more accurate. The right mix of technology can revolutionize your employees’ productivity as well as their workplace experiences.