Triangle Pest Control's original workspace was a 2,000-square-foot garage housing 25 people -- the technicians who did the bug control work, as well as all the sales and support staffers. It was hard for employees to handle phone calls when everyone sat so close together.
"We were all crammed in," says Triangle spokeswoman Laura Simis. Then the company, based in Holly Springs, North Carolina, expanded into the space next door. Turnoveramong the support and sales staff fell by 45 percent in one year.
An uncomfortable workplace, whether due to space, noise or aesthetics, can be a drag on morale and make it harder for people to work. And the kinds of workspace amenities that Silicon Valley has become famous for -- big open areas, gyms, video games and nap spaces -- are beyond the reach of most small businesses. But many find that if they ask staffers what they want, there are ways to make their space cheerful and inspiring.
The three-story building that the Phelps Agency moved out of in 2016 inhibited the creativity of the advertising and marketing company, CEO Ed Chambliss says. A staircase linked the first and second floors of the building in Santa Monica, but local codes prohibited stairs between floors two and three. Third-floor staffers felt abandoned.
"They didn't feel like they were part of the group," Chambliss says. And for lower-floor staffers, it was "out of sight, out of mind" about their upper-floor colleagues.