Build Your Business with a Central Staircase
Overcome barriers between your company’s departments through the simple inclusion of an open floor design and a custom built, centrally located staircase that connects every floor.
Employers understand that the nature of the workplace is evolving from a series of segmented departments with regulated interactions to a mobile, fluid system that involves constant interactions on all levels. This constant interaction is vital in order to encourage higher collaboration, communication, and overall teamwork. This fluidity comes to be, partly, through superior technology to handle workflows and cross-departmental meetings that are either in-person or virtual.
However, to really get to the crux of encouraging strong collaboration, employers can’t overlook simple, non-technological options available to them. The best non-technology options are simply 1) having a more open workspace, and 2) installing a central staircase that connects each floor in your office building so all departments are not only connected by communication technologies, but literally/physically connected by a central stair that promotes higher traffic between floors, and therefore, departments.
Enhance the “Life” in Your Office
Part of the value behind an open concept in an office space is that it allows both employees and clients anywhere in the building to see the “life” of your company. By minimizing walls and opening up any means of transport between areas, both on the same and different floors, it only takes a glance around the building from any one point to see just how active your company really is and to get a feel for how employees interact with one another and clients. You actually see your company’s pulse.
A single staircase built on a scale grand enough to connect all floors also creates a great central hub. To really see just where all the action of departments interacting with each other lies, you only have to look at the staircase to see who is strengthening relations. Aside from giving a feel for the “flow” of the company’s workforce, a stair like this also provides a memorable sight that leaves a lasting impression.
From a managerial standpoint, this sort of transparency not only increases interdepartmental collaboration and more productive workflow, it also decreases departmental “silos” so to speak. Data moves more freely between departments because people move more freely between departments.
Encourage Collaborative, “Agile” Work Environments
“Agile” work environments are about encouraging flexibility and multi-functionality of a space (and therefore the mind) to therefore encourage a more productive and creative work environment. To achieve flexibility, a workspace must offer greater mobility. That means an easily accessible staircase.
Employees will be agile in their work patterns if provided the means of moving between departments. And if it’s easier for employees to see just how often coworkers take advantage of a central stair placed in an open plan, they’ll feel more motivated to keep up with their coworkers to keep pace with production.
Create Better Inter-Office Relations
One key strategy an employer can use in addition to installing a central staircase is to install workplace amenities on different floors. If you have a café, office gym, lounge, or even something as basic as a breakroom, make sure your floorplan places all of these on different floors. This will further encourage employees to use the stair to go up and down when they wish to use these amenities, which further encourages the likelihood of employees from different departments running into each other at these different amenities. Such encounters will lead to each employee having a broader range of workplace friends and relations outside of their home department. People knowing individuals from other departments heightens communication and efficiency.
This strategic placing of amenities on different floors applies to more work related facilities as well. Don’t have just one floor with all of your smartboard-equipped boardrooms. Spread these office tools/facilities out so employees have to move and venture into other departments to access them.
Attract Quality Employees
To gain more quality employees willing to establish a long-lasting relationship with your company, it’s important to establish your company as a premier place for hungry employees to build a successful career. Transparency accomplishes this. As do first impressions. If an interviewee walks into your office building and sees a central staircase that promotes productivity and encourages movement between departments, they’ll immediately feel that yours is a place to work that’s like few others in a very good way. They’ll know that the transparency of your space means their efforts will be seen and that the mobility between departments means that their chances to learn about the industry are good.
Not only will you stand out to potential new employees as a superior place to work and grow, your central staircase will also attract the right kind of employees. Namely, the kind of employees that want to participate in an open, transparent work environment with high levels of collaboration, communication, and overall interaction. So a central stair helps generate productivity and attract new employees that will be eager to add to that productivity.
Discover how Paragon Stairs can help transform your office space’s work flow and level by installing on of our stairs today.
