Factors influencing workplace design

A well-defined task makes the work interesting and satisfying for the employee. The result is higher performance and productivity. If a task does not seem compelling or interesting and leads to employee dissatisfaction, it means that the task needs to be redesigned based on employee feedback.

Broadly speaking, the various factors that impact the design of a workplace can be divided into three areas. They are:

• Organizational factors
• Environmental factors
• Behavioral factors

Organizational factors

Organizational factors that affect the design of work include the nature or characteristics of the work, work flow, organizational procedures, and ergonomics.

Type of work: There are different elements of a job, and job design is required to classify different tasks into a job or a coherent group of jobs. The various tasks can be planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, etc. that need to be considered while designing a workplace.

Ergonomics: Ergonomics aims to design workplaces to take into account the physical abilities and individual characteristics of employees to ensure efficiency and productivity.

Workflow: The type of products and services often determines the sequence of work processes. A balance is required between the different product or service processes, which is ensured by the workplace design.

Culture: Organizational culture determines the way tasks are performed in the workplace. Practices are methods or standards established for carrying out a specific task. These practices often impact workplace design, especially when the practices are inconsistent with union interests.

Environmental factors

Environmental factors have a significant influence on workplace design. These factors include both internal and external factors. These include factors such as employees' skills and abilities, their availability and their socio-economic and cultural perspectives.

Availability and skills of employees: The skills, abilities and time availability of employees play a decisive role in the design of workplaces. The above factors of the employees who will actually perform the work are taken into account. Designing a workplace that is more demanding and beyond employees' abilities leads to lower productivity and employee satisfaction.

Socioeconomic and cultural expectations: Workplaces today are more employee-centric than process-centric. They are therefore designed with employees in mind. In addition, the educational level of employees is increasing. They now demand jobs that match their passions and skills and that they can perform best.

Behavioral factors

Behavioral factors or human factors refer to the human needs that must be satisfied to ensure productivity in the workplace. These include elements such as autonomy, diversity, feedback, etc. Some of them are briefly explained below:

Independence: Employees should work in an open and not fearful environment. This promotes creativity and independence and leads to greater efficiency.

Return message: Feedback should be an integral part of the work. Every employee should receive appropriate feedback about their work performance.

Variety: Repetitive tasks often make work monotonous and lead to boredom. A workplace should offer enough variety and variety to keep it interesting throughout the day. When designing a workplace, attention should be paid to variety and variety.

Use of skills and abilities: Workplaces should be employee-focused rather than process-focused. While due consideration must be given to the latter, workplaces should be designed in such a way that a worker can make full use of his or her abilities and carry out the work effectively.