Dream office: what is it?

On Habré there were a lot of articles about efficiency ( personal and team ). And this question does not disappear anywhere, because the tasks that modern people have to solve are more and more, and the time to solve them is less and less (about where our time goes , there were also many posts). One of the components affecting labor efficiency is undoubtedly the workspace.

At the workplace in the office, many of us spend about a third of our lives - 8-9 hours a day. Some "lucky" reach 10-12 hours. And very few of the specialists can, without a twinge, call their workplace ideal. Of course, people's requirements for the workplace are determined not only by personal tastes, but also by the characteristics of the profession. And today we would like to touch on the topic of an ideal workplace from the point of view of IT-specialists.

At the end of July, the Mail.Ru Group and HeadHunter did a little research. We interviewed 691 IT specialists and found out what is most important for them in the office space.




It’s no secret that a convenient workplace can significantly increase the labor efficiency of both a particular employee and the team as a whole. The employees of the IT sphere are characterized by intense mental activity (thanks, Cap!). And despite the pronounced "technicality", it is often impossible to solve the tasks in IT without a creative approach. All this determines the special requirements for the organization of the workplace, which will favorably affect the intensity of mental activity and increase creativity.

Evaluating the effectiveness of IT professionals is often difficult. This is not a production in which employee efficiency can usually be estimated by the amount of finished products. Simple quantitative-temporal estimates often cannot be applied to the result of the work of the same programmer or web designer. That is why the organization of jobs in the field of IT needs a special approach.

Sleep

The brain is the main tool of the IT pro. The quantitative and qualitative result of the employee’s work depends on whether the brain has had enough rest during the night, whether it has received a sufficient amount of glucose and vitamins necessary for its work. The need for a full sleep of sufficient duration is known to all not only from books, but also from our own experience. Of course, the concept of “sufficiency” is individual for each person, but in the general case, the rule of thumb can be applied: how much time is spent on work, the same amount of time must be spent on sleep . This is due to the physiological characteristics of the work of our brain.

Alas, reality few people allow to observe this rule in life. In addition, the brain is designed in such a way that not only the duration, but also the number of sleep sessions per day is important for it. It is with this that daytime sleepiness is associated with 13-15 hours. Scientists have long confirmed the need for a break for daytime sleep, which allows you to restore working capacity and vitality. Even just a break in a quiet room with a dim light, where you can relax, close your eyes and escape from the bustle of the office, calls, plans and colleagues, can help restore strength, clear your head and cheer up.

This is confirmed by the experts we interviewed, 52% of whom would like to have a recreation area in their office with a sofa or even a bed where you can take a nap, and 33% would be happy with a massage chair.

Traffic

Blood plays a critical role in the functioning of the brain. It supplies glucose and oxygen, and even a slight decrease in their quantity instantly affects the brain.
The increase in oxygen concentration in the blood by the effect on the brain can be compared with the increase in the octane number in gasoline. You can saturate the blood with oxygen using physical activity in the form of aerobic exercises, for example, running or swimming. In addition, sport is a good rest after intense mental activity. It is significant that all of the above was reflected in the preferences of the IT specialists we interviewed: 56% would not refuse a gym in the office, 34% would be happy with the pool.

Food

We have repeatedly noted above the importance of glucose for the full functioning of the brain. However, this issue is not limited to the mere presence of chocolate and cookies in the office. Yes, and living all day on sweets alone is not only harmful (after all, one day the time will come when employees will need to change their chair to a wider one), but anyone will quickly get tired. The need for food lies at the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid; on an empty stomach, he doesn’t think too much about anything at all, not just high. Therefore, the most unanimous experts we interviewed showed in their desire to have a kitchen with free food in the office - 66% of respondents. Of course, this does not mean that it’s enough to fill the back room with boxes of doshirak.

By the way, Steve Jobs in the office of Pixar studio made a whole bar with sweets - Pixar's Cereal Bar (in which there are more than 100 names of different sweets), about which they even shot a short film .

Emotions

The influence of a person’s emotional state on his work activity is understated by many employers and by the employees themselves. Another feature of the work of our brain is a drop in its performance during emotional outbursts. Moreover, the "sign" of emotion does not matter. However, on the whole, the duration of such bursts is short, so emotion that depresses a person’s thinking is much more important, such as fear. Alas, modern life is far from measured, and all sorts of fears somehow penetrate the life of every person: we are afraid for our health and the health of loved ones, we are afraid to remain without a livelihood, we are afraid of the bosses, price increases, gopniks in the yard, darkness and millions other things. Fight fears and negative emotions that not only interfere with our work, but also poison our life in general, in a variety of ways. As applied to the IT office, these are various ways of relaxing and generating positive emotions. For example, 44% of our respondents would like to have a shower room in the office, 27% gave preference to computer and board games.

Reality

In addition to recreation, food and sports, the IT experts interviewed by us highlighted such important points as ergonomic chairs, the latest computer equipment and accessories, peripherals that meet the latest market trends and, of course, are licensed and meet the needs of the most fastidious IT specialist.

In addition to obtaining information about the preferences of IT-specialists, we also decided to find out how their current jobs correspond to the “dream office”. Alas, today only 8% of IT-specialists can boast of such a complete set. The majority (63%) say that the workplace may not be equipped with the latest technology, but in principle they have everything they need. Significant discomfort is experienced by 28% of respondents who claim that the workspace is organized inefficiently: some lack the necessary second monitor, others give errors due to the use of unlicensed programs by the company, and someone complains about a low-power computer, the capabilities of which are for efficient work is clearly not enough. Only 7% of those surveyed reported

To some, the wishes presented above may seem unfounded. However, most of the above will be true for the vast majority of office workers. And we can’t say that IT specialists are whimsical. Despite the impressive wish list, 37% of IT professionals claim that they do not need a tidy office - they would be quite comfortable with an ordinary, but comfortable and cozy. Nevertheless, 27% would not give up a high-tech office space, 24% - from a Zen-style office, and 10% see their own apartment or house as an ideal place to work.



The survey was conducted by the HeadHunter Research Service July 15–30, 2013 among 691 IT specialists.

In conclusion, I would like to ask you to tear yourself away from the monitor and look around (if you are at the workplace) and answer the question, are you satisfied with your workplace and would like to change something in it?

We hope that this post will allow you to “audit” your workplace and, who knows, maybe the reason that you did not meet the deadline is the banal lack of a shower room? :)