Why Should I Use a Personalized Workspace in Project Management Software?

Why Should I Use a Personalized Workspace in Project Management Software?

The workspace within your project management software is the part of the system that you interact with. It’s the dashboard, layout, and features you see and use to navigate the tool. It’s basically everything except the back-office coding and behind-the-scenes operations.

Project management software that supports a personalized workspace means that it allows you to configure the tools, buttons, layouts, and features you interact with to suit your needs and preferences.

The importance of personalization

There’s no doubt that our surroundings can impact the way we think, feel, and work. Less than 50% of U.S. workers report that they feel satisfied with their current work environment. Yet not enough attention is paid to the spaces we work in and the tools we work with every day.

The truth is, we can all be much happier, more productive, and better-focused employees if we put greater thought and effort into how we design our workplace — whether in the office or remotely.

Plenty of studies tell us what experts think the ideal workspace should look like: high ceilings, light blue walls, and probably a lot of plants. But research into the wants and needs of actual employees tells a different story: Work flexibility is rated the second-highest factor in overall employee happiness, behind compensation.

In other words, the tools we work with and how we interact with them rank far above the color of our walls. This may seem like common sense, but sadly, not enough businesses or software providers have been paying attention.

The visibility, flexibility, and security of your everyday work tools should be top of mind when designing and creating an open and productive work environment.

One-size-fits-all workspace solutions are destined to fail because different people work differently. In the end, truly great workspaces need to include a mix of deliberate design, digital flexibility, and the ability to reflect personal preference.

Your project management software workspace should adapt to the needs and preferences of each of your team members and other regular users.

Features that should be personalizable

Three workspace features that should be personalizable are:

• Themes
• Folder structure
• Branding

Themes

Themes functionality allows you to customize your workplace's visual design so you can enjoy looking at the task at hand and focus more on your work.

With theme options, you can choose from different fun and colorful backgrounds that personalize and modernize your workspace to fit your personality or mood.

You can also use personalization to make your theme’s color scheme brighter or darker. For instance, if bright colors hurt your eyes or you prefer something more mellow, you can easily switch to a more neutral color palette.

Spaces

Spaces are a way to group projects and folders in your project management hierarchy. Different teams, projects, and departments can choose to personalize, define, and manage their own workspace layout.

This feature is a building block that gives you more control, security, and visibility into your team or project workspace.

To ensure the structural integrity of your company’s overall hierarchy, you can simply create one overarching company folder structure in one space, and then use tags to link your project or team folders to your team space. This functionality enables you to provide a level of transparency throughout the organization without modifying your teams’ workspace structure.

Branding

Branding is the ability to attach a company’s logo or brand image to your project management software workspace.

Branding your workspace allows you to replace your software’s logo and brand with that of your company or product. This way if customers or vendors are invited to collaborate, they’ll see your branding and not that of the third-party software vendor.

Benefits of a personalized workspace

Happy employees are more valuable than unhappy ones. They spread positivity and encouragement, are more likely to stick around for a long time, have less absenteeism, and be more productive.

Shawn Achor, happiness expert, GoodThink co-founder and CEO, reports, “The greatest competitive advantage in the modern economy is a positive and engaged brain. When we are positive, we show 31% increase in productivity.”

Wrike commissioned Atomik Research to survey full-time employees on what makes them happy at work and how that happiness impacts their productivity and longevity.

This survey included 1,000 respondents from each of the following countries: United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

The findings from the survey shows that three of the main drivers of workplace happiness are:

• Diversity within the workplace
• A sense of inclusion
• A personalized workspace, both physically and digitally in your project management software

It should be no surprise that the more diverse an office space and environment is, the happier the employees. After all, workforces that include diverse backgrounds, experiences, and cultures bring many more fresh perspectives and ideas. Plus, diversity helps establish an environment of learning, growth, and acceptance.

Inclusion and equality are huge factors in happy and healthy workplace culture. People want to feel as if they’re accepted and valued for who they are as unique individuals.

One of the problems with non-personalizable workspaces is that one-size-fits-all solutions can make employees feel like there is an expectation of conformity. Our diverse teams don’t want to feel like you expect them to be cookie-cutter employees. That results in the opposite of inclusion.

Personalization also has a direct connection to employee satisfaction and happiness in the workplace. Studies show that working in a more relaxed and comfortable space improves mood, creativity, and productivity. When employees can customize their workspace in the way that makes them feel most comfortable, it helps them perform at their best.

The bottom line is that having a customizable workspace helps employees feel comfortable enough to express their personalities, be themselves, and feel accepted in the office. This enables them to build stronger connections with others and encourages greater collaboration and creativity across the team.