Spaced-Out: Why a unique office environment motivates your staff

The outside of our Toronto office may look normal, but the inside is anything but!

Your office is your home away from home. You spend over eight hours of your day there, surrounded by your colleagues who, in some strange-but-super-awesome way, become you alternate family. Of course there are the usual deadlines, projects, tasks, and meetings to handle. And yes, there are Dilbert-style cubicles for some of us here in the Toronto offices. But when you come to visit the MultiView Toronto office for the first time, it’s easy to see how the set-up of our workplace wouldn’t be the butt of any Office-Space-esque joke.

Having worked in all different types of offices  – Ontario government offices, not-for-profit communal offices, home offices, and in newsrooms – I found none of them took the same approach that MultiView does when it comes to structuring the workplace. The truth is, the creative use of office space boosts employee morale, increases productivity, and encourages teamwork/collaboration.

Here are some of the reasons why it’s fun to come to work at MultiView, and why our employees – whether in sales or production – are always motivated to keep being fearless in the workplace!

The Sound of Music

One of the first things people notice when stepping out of the elevator and into the MultiView reception area is the music. When I first started working here, part of me was worried that I would be distracted by all the noise. Not long after, though, I realized that the loud music was a great way to stay motivated during the day. Certain songs like Gagnam Style, Kiss, Teach Me How to Dougie, Rum and Redbull, and Whip My Hair became instant joke-ish hits in our content department. We sing along to them, we dance, and we always feel energized to take on the next task. Another great bonus is that employees can request songs they want to hear. And yes, in case you were wondering, we do hear Rebecca Black’s hit song Friday every Friday morning.

Kitchen-Aid

Having a clean office kitchen keeps employees happy. Trust me. Once I worked as an intern at a small publishing company with the smelliest bar fridge in the history of fridges located mere metres from my desk. Every time someone came by to get their lunch bag, or a snack, I had to hold my breath. Not only is our kitchen spotless, making it way less gross to come to work and heat up leftovers, or hang out to watch some TV on break, but our kitchen is also stocked with treats. From goldfish, to M&Ms, canned drinks, to fresh fruit, having something to nosh on mid-afternoon is great.

Award-Winning Christmas Decor at MultiView

Open Wide

The workplace set-up at Mulitiview promotes idea-sharing and teamwork in two ways. Firstly, in the sales department, their open desk layout allows team leads to liaise effectively with their sales team. It’s not uncommon to see meetings taking place in the middle of the desk areas, or huge group celebrations whenever a sale is made. The fast-paced sales environment demands an office layout that allows successes to be shared in an open environment. At MultiView, we’re allowed to draw on our windows with whiteboard markers, and have a basketball hoop in the middle of our sales floor. The second way MultiView gets it right when it comes to office design, is putting the control in our hands. We’re all encouraged to decorate the heck our of desks. My desk is adorned with funny comics, stuffed animals, paper lanterns, fake plants, and glittery trim. And don’t even get me started on the holidays. This past Christmas, two departments faced-off on a bonafide cubicle décor challenge. Our content team won – because of the 60 hand-cut paper snowflakes we hung from the ceiling, the five-foot Christmas trees we put up around our desks, and the fact we wrapped all our cubicles to look like a giant gingerbread house. Oh, and we also had fake snow and Christmas lights. Allowing employees to express their creativity through cubicle décor makes them want to come into work every day, knowing they have “creature comforts” around them!

Picture Perfect

While some offices have those cheesy slogan posters – MultiView decorates the walls with in-house art. That means images from successfulle ad campaigns are used as office artwork. It’s a great conversation starter, especially when our clients come to visit. And of course, why showcase someone else’s art when you can showcase material produced by your own, talented in-house team?

Sweating the small stuff

Another way to show employees you care is thinking of the small things. At MultiView there are always Kleenex boxes in stock, mouthwash and hand cream in the bathrooms, Advil in the first-aid area, and cold beer in the company fridge for after-work celebrations. While things like this may seem minor, keeping tabs on the small details is a great way to again make your employees feel like they’re at home.