As a fitting finale for our April series on beautifying the office, ProProfs.com provides this timely office design quiz. Fortunately, we got almost every answer right on the first try—we’ve been studying hard! There were some very telling tidbits of information and a few surprises tucked away in this quick true/false test. Here are some facts the answer key revealed (based on results from a variety of different studies).

• More than 8 out of 10 employees agree that their work environment has a big impact on their level of motivation. 7 out of 10 personalize their workspace in some way.
• Employees consistently rank privacy as the most important aspect of their workplace—even more important than lighting and temperature control.
• Workers in offices with fewer enclosures (open offices with no or low cubicle walls) report more fatigue and other physical complaints. Employees leave their workstations more often and have lower productivity when there are no panels.

Employees Want a Room with a View

The issues caused by lack of privacy in open office plans are no surprise. We’ve already blogged about most of these studies here at OBEX. However, we did learn something new:

“People decorate windowless rooms with twice as many natural scenes and objects, compared to people inside rooms with windows.”

That’s very interesting! It’s probably one reason why screensavers and motivational posters showing gorgeous outdoor scenes are so popular in the cubicle world. Employees shut away from exterior views crave a more beautiful environment.

Do we have a solution that fills this need? Absolutely. At OBEX, we have the ability to print polycarbonate panels with any type of nature scene you can imagine. Employees might really enjoy:

• Mountains capped with snow
• Seascapes and sandy beaches
• Fields of flowers
• Leaves or grass covered in dew
• Forest pathways
• Skies dotted with white clouds

You could turn your office environment into a walk-through gallery with nature scenes on panels gracing each workstation. This solution might be ideal for interior office spaces where most employees simply aren’t fortunate enough to have a seat by the window.