How The Colour Of The Office And The Office Furniture Can Impact Productivity

April 13th, 2017

A lot of people might be sceptical of the idea that the colour of the office and the office furniture that fills it, will have any psychological effects on the employees at all, much less on their productivity. Since different office colours can have an impact on the colour of the furniture, this means that in practice, the colour of the office furniture will probably matter just as much.

For the people who design the offices, this sort of revelation might make them feel creatively trapped or creatively inspired.

Simple Ways of Increasing Office Productivity

Overall, this is the sort of thing that should allow people to feel encouraged. The fact that it might actually be possible to increase the productivity levels of office workers with a simple coat of paint should be celebrated. Employers will often spend an enormous amount of money trying to make their employees feel more productive. Some of them will contribute stock offerings to their employees.

Others will organise all sorts of corporate and company events. Most of these different measures are going to cost a company a lot of money, especially compared to a few coats of paint. Choosing one set of office furniture rather than another set will truly make all the difference in the world at a lot of offices.

Choosing The Right Colours For Your Office And Office Furniture

The Worst Office Colours

When most people think of office colours, they will tend to think of the colours white, gray, and beige. It’s a shame that these neutral shades are so common in offices throughout the world. They are all highly correlated with feelings of despondency and moroseness in office workers.

There is a lot of debate about whether different groups of people are going to have different reactions to colors. This certainly seems to be the case. Different colors mean different things in different cultures, for instance. However, for a lot of workers in the West in particular, colours such as beige, gray, and white seem to be colors that do not promote happiness and productivity in the least.

Many male Western workers are similarly unproductive when they are in orange or purple offices. It’s uncertain why this is the case, and why it seems that women don’t mind these colors as much. However, it’s possible that there are plenty of women who don’t like them either. Many people in the office, one way or another, are not going to respond positively to purple, orange, white, beige, or gray walls.

It stands to reason that a lot of the office furniture that has a similar hue, will be just as problematic. An ergonomic chair can benefit workers, there is no doubt about that. However, if that chair is gray, beige, or white, which is common, the chair might be just as much of a problem as the similarly coloured walls.

The Best Office Colours

It is true that a lot of people like the colour green and blue. These are the shades that people would have seen most often in the ancestral environment. Both of these colours have been viewed positively in most cultures as a result. Green office walls will seem welcoming. In fact they might be able to help workers feel more relaxed and energised at the same time. It is literally exhausting to look at certain colours. This is not an issue with green. People might not deplete their energy reserves as quickly with green, making it one of the best colours for an office.

Many people feel calm as a result of being in a blue office. They might also be more likely to work and to see certain tasks through to the end. Blue is also a colour that most people like. Few people will object to a blue office, whether they are design professionals or the employees themselves. Blue also goes with almost all other colours with regards to office furniture, in fact, black office furniture tends to work really well with blue office walls.

Red is certainly a colour that might energise a lot of people. However, this might be a better colour for the office furniture than the actual office walls. People might end up staring at the walls more than their work. They might also end up with a sort of distracted disposition as a result of the red. Red is a good way to highlight certain things, but it might not be the best colour in its own right for the office walls.

Yellow is a colour that a lot of creative people like. Many people also really like light-coloured office walls. They might not be happy about giving up all of their white walls just because there is a possible correlation between white walls and almost anything negative. Getting yellow walls instead can work very well as a sort of compromise. People can still have their light and stylish walls. However, they will have a colour that tends to make people feel happier, and that will generally make people more excited to work. Yellow looks great with darker-coloured office furniture as well. It should be easy for people to find something that will match their yellow walls.

Some choices for office walls might be controversial. Few people would want pink office walls, in spite of the fact that there is some evidence that pink might even be able to calm down criminals. Still, adding pink tones to the walls and to the office might be able to at least help without drawing too much attention to itself.

A lot of people want to make improvements to the office that go beyond just adding an ergonomic office chair. Changing the colour of an office, or choosing something different when the time presents itself to remodel, can really allow employees to change effortlessly in terms of their work performance. Many people will love the colours of the office. They will also demonstrate their love of the new office in a lot of subtle ways, involving their work performance.