Over the last few years, and the last two in particular, I’ve thought a lot about what makes for a good working environment. As a freelance you experience quite a few different office setups and cultures and it’s a subject that I’m really interested in.
We’re often left at the mercy of the company that hire us. Whether employed as freelance or permanent there is only so much we can do to influence the way an office looks or is structured, or the desk that we’ve been given. But most of us, if asked, would quite easily be able to describe our perfect office setup. What we like and what we don’t like, what inspires us, makes us productive and how it should look and feel. And then there are things like how some prefer to work with music and others don’t. How some don’t mind if people can see their screen and others find it makes it harder to concentrate. Normally we accept what we are given and make the best of it but even so, most of us have the occasional day when we’d rather stay at home or do something completely different than going to work. Yet we go in to the office as normal because we have to, but those days are most likely not our most productive or satisfactory ones.
At times it’s due to the task at hand not being the most exciting or challenging. Other times it’s the environment that we’re in that is affecting us negatively, or something completely non work related that sucks the inspiration out of us, making it hard to focus and concentrate. What ever it is when we don’t find the inspiration or motivation minutes seems to be taking hours and the day is as long as a week. We’re really not feeling it and nor are we performing our best and we know it. Things don’t flow as easily as they normally do. We find ourselves getting stuck on tasks we usually complete in no time and instead of getting things done we’re staring at the screen just waiting for the day to be over.
When we have days like that the best things to do is often something completely different. Of course most of us can’t just take the day off so instead it’s about finding other ways that can get the inspiration and motivation back. Desks aren’t always where we’re at our most creative and sometimes getting back on track can be as easy as a change of scenery or doing something completely different for a while. However, though it’s improving it’s not commonly widespread to support this kind of flexibility. Resource allocations on projects are often day or even hour specific and as a result you often have to keep on working on the task where you’re getting no where. And it’s the exception rather than the norm that people say “I’ll head out for a bit but I’m on my phone” and instead they remain at their desk, staring at the screen.
In my view companies still have a long way to go until offices and office cultures are arranged in such a way that they actually stimulate and get the best out of people, no matter what mood we are in. So many places are still restrictive when it comes to where you work and when. They ask that you be in at a certain time and stay until a certain hour without paying any attention to who you are as a person and what works best for you. And there is a lack of trust when it comes to allowing people to work from home or out of the office. I should clarify that this is not something that I’ve noted particularly with the places where I’ve worked. Rather it’s something that’s increasingly on my mind as it’s becoming more important to me.
If there is one thing I’d like to see happen in the workplace it’s a shift towards a more open and flexible way in terms of when and where we do the tasks we’ve been given. A shift that focuses on the individual in the workplace and don’t treat everyone the same. We’re not the same. What we all have in common however, is that we are all hired because someone have decided that they believe in us and find us the best person for the job. Someone has said that they trust us enough to pay us regularly and to invite us to be part of the team. Yet, when it comes to us carrying out our work the tendency is towards supervising rather than freedom under responsibility. And that, that makes no sense.
If we are having a bad day there is no point keeping at it. Sure it will get the job done eventually but probably not to the same level had we been more inspired when we’d carried out our work. Leaving the office for a bit, perhaps hitting the gym for an hour, working on something completely different, or even taking the morning/ afternoon off and doing it later on might be the better option. 9am -5/6pm is not a given time for our creativity. Nor is a desk and it’s in the best interest of both the individual and the company to have a working environment that facilitates and inspires us as much as possible. Not one that counts hours or keeps track of where we are.
Tomorrow – Day 322 | That magical time of the year
Images: www.flickr.com/photos/hiromy/545177590
