When it comes to creating a happy, healthy and productive workspace, office design is one of the most important (yet still widely underestimated) factors. Great space planning and superior interior design provides an incredibly valuable boost for employees’ morale and productivity, at the same time as enhancing the aesthetics of your workspace, strengthening corporate identity and creating a lasting impression on visiting clients.
If you’re planning an office refurb, it’s the perfect time to focus on some of the following tried and tested tips for successful office design…
Focus on ergonomics…
It can’t be stressed enough how important it is that your employees are comfortable while they work. To ensure this, it’s essential that your office furniture is wholly ergonomic. Ergonomics concerns the science of comfort and in a nutshell, it’s vital for a happy and efficient workforce that everything your employees use all day — chairs, desks, keyboards, monitors, and phones — are ergonomically friendly. This includes reception furniture, breakout furniture and meeting room design. Make the effort during the office planning stage and your employees, shareholders and customers will thank you for it.
Focus on light and space…
The presence of natural light reduces eye fatigue and headaches and has a positive effect on employee mood and productivity. However, it’s often sadly overlooked when offices are being designed. If at all possible when planning your space, optimise the amount of available natural light by removing interior walls. For private offices, you might want to consider using glass walls in their place. To avoid eye strain, you can supplement natural light with artificial white light that’s been specially designed to stimulate and activate office environments.
Employees also benefit hugely from space, including what’s known as “circulation space”, which allows them the freedom to move around the office without squeezing past furniture or constantly bumping into one another.
Make space for privacy…
Although collaboration is key in most modern offices, everyone has the need for privacy from time to time and having dedicated spaces where employees can work in isolation is essential. One office design trend that’s emerged in recent years has placed the emphasis on flexible working arrangements, incorporating semi-private booths or acoustic panels so that employees can choose how and where they want to work.
Focus on play as well as work…
Having a sense of fun built into your office design can do wonders for morale, so if you can create some space that encourages spontaneous interaction and a sense of playfulness, all the better. Alongside a welcoming breakout area with a variety of refreshments and a canteen, you should also consider (if you can afford the space) creating a games room, a reading room and a green area with air-purifying plants. You could also encourage your employees to personalise their own work areas, making more of a home from home workspace rather than a place devoted completely to work.
If you’re planning an office refurb and would like some further guidance on how to get the best out of your new design, give us a call today at Flow Office Furniture & Interiors.