Practicing yoga to relieve stress at work
I’ve been reading a lot about offices of the future, and how in companies such as Apple, they are already here. People are saying that communal tables are replacing desks and ping-pong tables are the new water coolers. This type of office space set up might work well for certain industries but not all.
I can see where creative fields such as social media and advertising could benefit from communal tables where writers are bouncing ideas off of each other. In actuality, a lot of businesses have already been doing this for years. If you take Madman – which was based on real Madison Avenue firms in 60’s – as an example, there was the creative lounge, which served as office space where people came together and bounced ideas off of one another. But, then they went back to their offices and executed their ideas, and I think it is just as important for creative people to learn to work alone.
Separate offices started giving way to cubicles in the 90’s and now a lot of places just have open spaces with desks. I prefer this. Having barriers such as offices or cubicles can lead to people surfing the net and not doing their work. Yet, I make exceptions for employees who deal with confidential information such as legal or financial matters. My office has a glass wall so that people know I am approachable and I can see what is going on yet I also have privacy.
When my company moved locations in 2014, because we actually needed more office space, the most important consideration was maximizing workflow. Shipping clearly has to be near the freight for incoming shipments, and as orders are frequently sent for tailoring (prior to shipping) and for embroidery, both these areas are close to our shipping. Our cutters are also near tailoring stations so they can make necessary adjustments.
For us, every inch of space has to be utilized for work. In general, though, I think that if you want to create a space for employees to release the tension of work, it should be more calming like a massage chair or yoga, rather than a ping-pong table. But, that also relates more to the type of work my employees have to do. They need to be focused, work alone and be very productive. I have noticed team activities tend to rile people up, and it could make it harder for employees to refocus once it is time to go back to work.
Work should be enjoyable but at the end of the day, it is about productivity. Different destressers work for different types of businesses. And given the price per square foot in NYC, we all have to mindful about what is most effective and efficient for our teams.
