Teambuilding

Tips to motivate your team

As the pandemic has brought changes at about work levels, it is imperative that the return-to-work environments has to be accompanied by motivation and leadership from the company that are up to the task. In this sense, maintaining a modern office that creates an inspiring environment and a balanced office design can be key elements that keep up the constant enthusiasm of the employees in order to accomplish the objectives established. Human talent is a very precious commodity. Keeping workers motivated will not only improve their productivity, but will increase their commitment to the company.

To have an attractive office design, a very important element is the space distribution. It is essential that everyone has their own space for individual work. If part of the staff works at home, it is also compulsory to provide them with tools so that they can work at ease.

In addition, in order to facilitate an unforced exchange of ideas and spontaneous information, it’s a good idea to hold spaces for casual encounters. This kind of spaces should relax, be cozy and informal at the same time, with sofas and home ideas. Last but not least, it is also worth highlighting the spaces for teamwork. It would be interesting to separate them from meeting rooms or formal meetings with clients to avoid employees feeling attached. A semicircular design with relocatable furniture would be ideal.

Are you a good leader?

Have you thought about proposing courses or training for your workers? Henry Ford already said it at the beginning of the 20th century: “The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.” Constant training as a review of your job is essential for your professional and personal development.

Employees often seek professional growth. Something that we often overlook is valuing their work. Have the workers reached the objectives, finished a project, proposed a good idea? Let them know. Beyond treating them with respect, make them feel valued to contribute to the aforementioned motivation. Beyond that, the salary should be something reviewable and progressive, linked to the productivity of the worker himself.

Flexibility

As with the idea of ​​space, the schedule is also somewhat that should be customizable. Home and work conciliation is basic. Apart from that, if you trust in the organizational capacity of the employees, why don’t you try giving them the possibility to adapt to the schedule according to their needs? Coordination of schedules, especially when arranging team or client meetings, is essential. You can be more permissive.

And it’s not all about work! Taking your mind off work and growing the bonds between the team is paramount. You can organize activities that break the routine and avoid the idea of ​​creating an only-work environment. How about a paddle tennis tournament? Are we going to a restaurant on Friday? Bet on teambuilding!

Documents necessary for the discharge of electricity and water from a commercial premises

Registering services is one of the points to take into account when acquiring and fitting out a business premises. Although it is not a matter of too much complexity, yes that at the moment of wanting to discharge the electricity and the water it is necessary to anticipate a series of procedures, payments and waiting periods. In this article we explain what are the steps to follow so that we have water and electricity in our commercial premises.

To obtain both the registration of the water service and the change of name, you must go to the company to which the municipality has granted the concession, whether private or public. To process the registration, the title deed or the rental contract, the NIF, the heading of the tax on economic activities, the bank details and the certification of ownership of the account must be presented.

Regarding the electricity supply, we must have the information about the type of installation we have, the maximum power and the one that we will have to hire according to the needs of our business. In the event that the premises already have an electrical installation, the documents to process the name change and that we will present to the distribution company will be the property deed or rental contract, the NIF, the CUPS code -the identifier code of our installation. – and bank details.

In the case of a new premises in which the light must be registered or although it has been disconnected as often happens, it will also be necessary to present the Low Voltage Installation Certificate, known as the electrical bulletin, in which It is proven that the system meets the necessary requirements for the energy supply, the characteristics, the installed power and the maximum allowed power. It is also important to know that when we register the electricity we will have to pay fees for extension, access and down payment rights, which are stipulated by the state. To this payment it will be necessary to add a guarantee deposit corresponding to 50 hours of use of the contracted power. All this will be paid on the first invoice.

What accessories cannot be missing from your office table?

To promote the well-being of the work team of an office, the distribution of the spaces, the decoration and the lighting are important. But the organization of the work tables also helps to have a certain order when carrying out the tasks and also – why not – to give a good image of our company. We must be tolerant with the way that each one wants to organize their table but at the same time demanding to guarantee a minimum order, and to achieve this there are a series of table accessories that will help us.

Although less and less stationery is used, especially paper, the truth is that it is still a predominant resource and therefore we must provide a good organization. The desktop trays or drawers can help us to classify the papers according to the point of the administrative process in which they are, such as projects in progress, correspondence pending to open or meeting notes. The stationery material can be kept in a drawer together with notebooks and personal items, or we can have it in a desktop organizer, everything will depend on the periodicity with which we use it. It is advisable to have on hand what we use the most and the rest we can have in a drawer, especially on tables that do not have much space.

Pencil holders are elements that are closely linked to office tables. It is not necessary to always have them full of pens of all colors and markers of different thicknesses. But we must have those that we have to have more at hand. For the rest, such as office supplies, we can use the drawer classifiers. And importantly, no matter how much tray and drawers we have, we must be aware that it is useless to accumulate all the papers that we do not need and therefore, a nearby bin will be a good ally to be able to keep only what interests us to work, while that the papers that we no longer need in our day to day can be placed in filing cabinets.

Finally, and although it seems an old-fashioned object, we cannot forget the desktop calendar. No matter how much mobile phone and agenda in the cloud we use, there will always be that moment when while we are talking on the phone or with another member of the team we will have to quickly check a launch date or project end date. Yes, the calendar is also an accessory that cannot be missing from our office table.

Ambient d'oficina

Space: key element to motivate workers

As a general rule, an employee is at his workplace for a third of his day. And it is very different to develop work in a place where it is good rather than in a place where it is not comfortable. After all, a good work environment favors the well-being of the work team and consequently facilitates better productivity.

Among other factors, an office design that places the worker at the center will be key to increasing their motivation. In this post we give you some tips to transform your office into a space where the work team feels completely motivated, a relationship confirmed by organizations such as the World Green Building Council, with a presence in more than 100 countries.

Putting the employee at the center of office design means that office divisions must seek connectivity between team members while respecting individual work. More than walls up to the ceiling, the partitions can be the same furniture, partitions or even plants. We can distinguish three types of space: the person must have an individual work point, where privacy and tranquility are respected; spaces for casual encounters, such as a cafeteria or a rest area; and the space for teamwork, ideally different from the formal meeting room for the client network.

Bright offices are a way to motivate our work team. Light, and even more solar, provides energy, and that is why we recommend conceiving the design of the office with bright spaces from the use of clear or translucent materials such as glass, white wood or partitions. If the premises have windows, we must arrange the work points nearby, and even more so if there are views of a natural environment. You will promote rest and the recovery of concentration.

Correct environmental management will also increase the motivation of the work team. In this case, it has been shown that improving indoor air quality can translate into productivity increases of between 8 and 11%. In addition, thermal well-being can also influence satisfaction with the work environment. Finally, we must bear in mind that the office is the main corporate space of our business and therefore the colors and decoration elements must convey the personality of the company. Not only do we communicate with potential clients and suppliers, but we will also improve our bond with the work team.

Signatura documents

Documents needed on the sale contract of a commercial office

Once the search for a commercial office for our business is finished, it is time to prepare the necessary documentation for the sale and purchase operation. Those are series of procedures that we must do and that culminate in the deed that reflects the acquisition of the commercial office. A lot of rigor is required when checking that everything is correct because some of these documents could reveal details that until then were unknown and that could even stop the operation.

As steps prior to the final deed, we must take into account having requested from the selling party a copy of the notarial deed that shows that they have ownership of the premises and where the data related to the Property Registry appear. In the same Registry they must have provided us with what is known as a simple informational note of the premises, where we will verify that the property is free of debts, liens or any other type of burden. We must also check that all payments are up to date and we will need a copy of the last receipt of the Real Estate Tax (IBI). When we have all these procedures completed, it will be time to approach a notary’s office – by law this procedure can only be done there – to obtain the public deed of the sale of the premises.

At the notary’s office, we can draw up the public deed based on certain information and absolutely essential documents. Once the identity, capacity and legitimacy of the two parties involved have been verified, the notary will need two documents: the cadastral data of the premises and the energy efficiency certificate – it contains information on the characteristics of the premises in reference to energy saving. Regarding taxes and other charges, it is essential to certify that the IBI payment is up to date and that the property is free of community debts or mortgages. If the premises are for rent, we must also certify that the tenant does not have a preference for the acquisition. In addition to the price of the sale and the means of payment, the deed will also include a warning about the tax obligations generated by the premises, such as taxes or municipal capital gains.

Once the public deed of the premises has been made and the inscription made in the Property Registry, the new owner must pay the VAT -if the premises are new- or the Tax on Patrimonial Transmissions and Documented Legal Acts.

How should a car park rental contract be?

Renting a parking, if you are the tenant or the owner, has some legal and procedure responsibilities attached. The first thing we need to take into account is if the car park is included in the house or goes separately. If it’s included, everything will be in the same contract, but if the parking is rented separately, you will have to reach an agreement with some basic clauses and do a different contract.

In the first case which the garage is rented with the house, the rent will be regulated by the Urban Renting Law (Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos – LAU) and the same regulations of the contract. In fact, the operation will be done as an attached document of the contract of the house. In this document it can be detailed the amount of money destined to the house and the one destined to the parking separately or the total quantity. Referring to the situation, the garage can be in the same building or in a different one. The most important is that both properties have to be from the same lessor and that can be linked to the current house.

When talking about a car park that is rented apart from the house, an exclusive contract should be agreed for this and should include clauses like the price, timing and deposit, apart from aspects related to the rules on how to use the garage. The given price in the contract can include -if it has been previously informed to the tenant- the proportional part of community expenses and the immovable property tax (Impuesto de Bienes Inmuebles – IBI). At the same time, you can reach an agreement to make the price vary depending on the IPC. Referring to the duration, in case it is not established in the contract, it will be understood that is the same as the payment period -usually monthly- and that there is no need to notify previously before when cancelling the contract. Regarding the security deposit, it is usually given to cover the remote control of the door and will be given back when the contract finishes.

When talking about taxes, you must take into account that in the first case scenario there are no taxes charged to the car park rental, in the second case, the price is subject to VAT (IVA). Even if it is a contract between individuals, the VAT tax is required and the owner of the property will have to register in the tax office as a withholder and discharge quarterly. Finally, the contract can include clauses referring to the subletting prohibition, the responsibility on the damage or robberies that can be caused on the vehicle or the maintenance and cleansing of the car park space.

Some tips to organize your office correctly

These last years there has been a trend to have open offices, with the essential separations and large communal areas to boost relationships, creativity and, so that, improve productivity. Wide tables and shared areas have been the keynote to organize offices. However, the pandemic situation that we are living since 2020 has generated some changes in this trend. On one hand, because lots of offices are half empty because some people are working from home. On the other hand, because offices have been adapted to match health measures for people while they are at work. This means to return to the parceling of lots of work spaces and to reduce the contact between employees. Anyway, to make everyone feel safe and sound we need to think about a good organization of the office. In this article we are going to review some tips to get our workplace organized and have a good image of our business.

First of all, in the office area we should only have those things that we really need. Starting with stationery material and books, decorative objects, old devices or unneeded documentation. We have to get rid of everything disposable. If we are not used to this technique, it will be difficult at first, but it’s only a practice matter. Once this cleaning is done, we will have gained space automatically, both in the work space and in drawers, cupboards and shelves. Before we fill them up again, we need to think about the most optimal way to place all the things we are keeping. We can organize by type and it is also important to put the things we use the most in an accessible place.

Second tip. Ask the team to apply the same method to their tables: above the table only the essential things and the rest of things should be kept in the drawers. In the occidental culture an organized table it is a symbol of professionality. Weekly routines like cleaning the table of papers and materials that we are not using can help to maintain this organization.

The next recommendation that we are going to do in order to organize the office is to upload files to the cloud (documents, records and archives). In addition of saving paper, it will also mean less filing cabinets and shelves. However, we should avoid using cloud servers as containers where everything can be put. Having a good documentary system will be basic to locate what we need every time. Finally, it is worth it to set out a reorganization of the workspace and depending on the tasks that need to be developed. The people of the team that have the same functions should be located in the same area and have a quick and effective verbal contact.

What is the cadastral value of a flat?

Every house –either rustic or urban- apart from the market value that marks the price of trade, has a cadastral value. We can’t ignore that number, because is the focus of almost all the taxes that are associated to the house. The cadastral value is established without taking into account all the variables of the market, and it is the reference, for example, to calculate taxes such as the Land Tax (IBI in Spanish) or the Spanish tax on property transfers (ITP).

The cadastral value is given to every property from a reference dates and remains in the land registry, an administrative state registry that gathers -apart from the cadastral value- some relevant information about the house, such as the location, distribution or the name of the owner. This is a public registry and anyone can consult, although if we have the property we can access to the complete information, while if we don’t own the property, the details that we will obtain will be partial. All houses and apartments must be in the land registry by law and the owners will be given a code of 20 digits and letters -known as cadastral reference- that allows to identify and distinguish the house quickly.

The valuation criteria depend on the city council where the house is located, and they normally take into account the value of the land and of the construction. The land value is obtained from different parameters, for example the length and number of façades. To value the construction there are some aspects taken into account, such as the antiquity or the conservation status. The town halls do the cadastral assessment of the houses simultaneously and must request to the Treasury Department (Ministerio de Hacienda in Spanish) a permit to do it. The regulation establishes that there must be a gap of minimum 5 years from one revision to another.

If we own the place, we should have in mind the cadastral value, because it is the basis to calculate different taxes, for example Personal income tax (IRPF in Spanish) or the above mentioned IBI and ITP. The capital gains tax, which is a tax on the difference of value of a house, it is also calculated from the cadastral value between the purchase and sale of a flat. Usually this value raises every time the city council revises them, so more often than not you will have to pay the capital gains.

Music in the office? Here you have some tips

The presence of music doesn’t surprise in some commercial establishments. In fact, it isn’t weird to enter into a clothes shop or a perfumery and walk through their shelves following the rhythm of the hits that come from the background music, that in most cases is in a high volume. In all these situations, music is a part of the experience chosen for the brand to be lived by the consumers. Even if in the entertainment and the shopping industry is a usual thing to do, it isn’t as well seen or accepted in an office. Waiting rooms apart, it isn’t frequent in an office that the sound of keyboards and conversations gets mixed with the environmental music. With all that, it has been proved that music contributes to the wellbeing of the worker and, therefore, it has a positive effect on productivity.

A British bank proved that when its employees were listening to cheerful music, the efficiency increased in a 12%, while a report made in Canada revealed that during the weeks that workers listened to music, they were a 20% faster. This relation between music and their emotional estate is not something casual. The melodic sounds help us to segregate dopamine, a neurotransmitter generated in the brain which gives us a pleasant feeling, that is translated in a better mood and self-esteem. Now we can totally understand the music sounding in lots of shops as a factor that benefits our inclination to buy something.

The office isn’t an exception. We just need to be conscious about the zones and moments we don’t want to have music and the ones we want to have it, that, definitely, must be environmental and doesn’t invite to dance. Each and every moment needs its own song. If what we want to do is to enliven the work atmosphere, boosting productivity and getting a good work environment, the best thing to do is to have a good environmental music and with a low volume. This will be valid for all the spaces of the office except those areas where an absolute concentration is needed. In those spaces where people aren’t dealing with customers face-to-face, we can authorize the usage of headphones if they don’t interfere with work. Listening to music helps to block inputs that can damage concentration, because the person gets focused on the music and doesn’t pay attention to other distractions.

Finally, we need to remember that not everyone reacts the same way while listening to music, and that not everyone gets a positive effect from it in terms of productivity. In addition, it seems that age has some influence in the performance of the worker that listens to music. In this case, younger employees are the ones boosting their performance and also the ones that listen to music during more time.

 

How can we soundproof our commercial office?

The acoustic impact is one of the aspects we need to take into consideration when we want to rent our business premises or if we are looking a commercial office to set our professional activity. Each autonomous community and especially every city council has their own regulation when talking about acoustic matters and that sets the maximum levels of noise -decibels- allowed in each commercial office, depending on location and time zone, for example. As a general aspect, the local regulation divide cities in three different areas according to the allowed decibels: sanitary area, residential or industrial.

Therefore, on one hand we have the ordinance and on the other hand we will need a study made by a specialized company and that will draw a prediction of the noise that will be generated, which is known as the acoustic impact. This report will detect the soundproof level needed from the finishings of the place and will locate the leakage points of the noise.

Thanks to the report of acoustic impact, we will discover if it is really necessary or not to take action to soundproof the space. And pay attention to this because in a lot of communities and municipalities it is required a certification which proves the commercial office meets all the acoustic criteria asked in the regulations before giving the activity licence, with the corresponding fine if you don’t have that document. It is necessary to put aside part of the budget for this, both to ask for the report and to do possible actions. In the market, there are different options to soundproof a business premises. The type of construction or the orientation, if, for example, will have concerts or other performances or if it is close to a hospital, are factors that will help us to decide one or another option. The most common actions to be taken in these situations are related to walls and roof, walls, windows or other elements such as floors, stairs, pillars and downspout. The materials used to soundproof the place are also assorted, for example polyurethane foam, cellulose or rock wool. Other useful solutions are the ceilings, accompanied with acoustic absorption plaques.

If we own the commercial office, we need to have in mind that if we soundproof it will be revaluated and will increase its appraisal regarding other business premises in the same area that aren’t soundproof. In addition, we will be able to rent it faster than if we haven’t taken action soundproofing it.