So, you’re a business owner and looking forward to doing something new for your workplace in 2025. That’s understandable. This year has been stressful for a lot of companies and perhaps you feel like your team could do with some benefits.
Everyone remembers the COVID-19 days of remote work, and even in 2024, more than 22.8% of American employees worked from home. Predictions also show that onsite employees will drop by 3.1% by 2028.
If you’re someone who loves the idea of having on-site employees, it may be time to make the workplace more attractive. In this article, let’s look at three amazing upgrades you can make that will breathe some new life into your team and workplace.
1. A Customer Check-in System
One of the most frustrating aspects for a business is categorizing and using customer data, especially over time. Sure, it’s not too much of a problem when you’re a small business, but it can quickly become too much when you scale up.
If you don’t currently use a software system, your team ends up relying on something like Excel spreadsheets. Don’t get us wrong; we believe you can do some real magic on Excel, but it’s much easier when you have a dedicated customer check-in system.
As Greetly rightly elaborates, it’s no longer enough to just record customer names. Businesses today need to collect a host of customer data for marketing as well as for compliance. This is especially true in certain industries like e-commerce or real estate. Investing in a check-in system is an upgrade that your team is going to love. Here’s why.
For one, it drastically reduces their time spent on administrative work. Check-in systems often have a host of additional features, such as the sending of automated messages and instantly organizing tons of data. Often, that kind of automation is more than enough to allow your workers to use their time more productively, elsewhere.
2. Replacing Outdated Furniture with More Ergonomic Options
Most business owners only realize how important this aspect is until they deal with frequently absent employees. The fact is that employees who sit for extended periods are at a high risk of back pain, spinal injuries, and a host of other health issues. When you combine this with budget office furniture that’s often purchased as an afterthought, it’s not a great experience for employees.
Based on a systematic review of over 41 studies, Americans spend anywhere from 8 – 9 hours a day sitting at work. In addition, 63% of office workers experienced extreme physical discomfort. When you invest in ergonomic furniture, not only do you ensure they stay healthy, but you also ensure work gets done faster.
They’re going to take fewer breaks and won’t need to frequently stand and walk around to stretch. As a result, they also end up having the energy to sit through multiple daily meetings if you’re someone who likes doing that.
Look, we’re not saying that you need to break the bank and invest in Herman Miller chairs for everyone. You can find sensible options that aren’t as expensive that will still be healthier for your employee’s backs. Of course, we can’t talk about health without food, which brings us to our next point.
3. A Well-Stocked Snack Lounge
This one offers a dual benefit for your employees as well as for anyone who visits your business. The 2023 Food for Work report by ezCater found that 80% of employees felt like office snacks improved teamwork.
If a snack lounge is something you want to explore, you have a couple of approaches you can take. The first one is the most straightforward. You designate a spot in the office and create some sort of system where employees can either purchase or redeem snacks through tokens.
Naturally, you would need to stock it with pre-bought items like granola bars, chips, and energy drinks. A coffee machine would be a no-brainer as well. The only downside with this option is that it can be a little underwhelming in terms of choice after a while. This is why the second option, which involves hiring a caterer of some sort, can be a huge upgrade.
Hiring caterers is what many larger businesses and organizations do, and the upside is that the menu becomes far more interesting. If your business sees lots of daily customers who choose to have lunch, you could even charge them a premium fee. That extra margin can also help subsidize the cost for team members. You could even offer them a free lunch, which is one powerful incentive.
To summarize, a lot of entrepreneurs tend to overlook the welfare of their employees since they see business as a game of endlessly scaling upward. However, the biggest companies out there understand that the heart of their operations is the talent that drives them. As such, making one or more of the workplace upgrades we’ve discussed above can be well worth the investment.
