Designing office spaces to engage your employees is critically important. Businesses that have engaged employees have a competitive advantage over companies that struggle to boost morale.
Imagine your office as a hub where your team is comfortable, equipped and energized. Today’s office can be designed for both full-time in-office staff and those choosing remote locations.
Here are a few quick tips:
Toss out what’s drab, plan for a maximum amount of light and use quality furnishings that promote well-being.
Take a fresh look at your space with these office inspiration ideas and tips.
Consider Clarity and Color When Designing Office Spaces
Say no to clutter by using sleek designs and workstations with plenty of work and personal storage spaces.
Create well-defined spaces for team meetings, personal work areas, and inviting break areas and allow plenty of natural light to flow through the space while using colors to freshen the spirit and liven the mind.
Color influences our impression of the surrounding environment. That’s why nature is often so pleasing with vibrant greens, blue skies dotted with white clouds and sunsets painted with pastel colors. Even gray skies can have appeal.
Bring a cohesive sense of color into the office.
Photo: National Mabel Seating
Care
Employee well-being and safety has taken on new dimensions. Look at the changes. In years past, office wellness programs encouraged employees to exercise and get their blood pressure checked. Ergonomics was another part of office wellness, making sure workers were properly supported at their workstations with ergonomic chairs and height adjustable desks.
Then employees were encouraged to physically move at work: get up from their desks at regular intervals and get the blood flowing by walking and stretching.
In 2020, Covid stay-at-home orders brought a whole new focus on health. As companies have returned to the office environment, social distancing became the watchword.
Now it’s important to instill a healthy confidence in employees. Use covid office essentials for the workplace like desk and counter shields, freestanding panels, and space dividers. Use ergonomic chairs and height-adjustable desks to promote good posture and reduce stress
Your employees will know that you’re investing in their physical well-being.
But overall health is more than physical—it’s pleasant surroundings that lift the spirit.
Photo: Scale 1:1 Hot Spot Table
Comfort
A comfortable office environment keeps stress low so people can have the support needed to focus on their work. If your office has a contemporary design, then use colors that blend well together. Blue and yellow create a “vibrant yet welcoming atmosphere” as noted on The Upbeat Contemporary Office.
Give employees a range of motion, meaning, let them work from places that work the best for them. That may be at their assigned workstation for a few hours and then in a common area with comfortable seating.
Comfort goes a long way in making an office a welcoming space to work and sparking imagination.
Creativity
Your business, in principle, is similar to every other business: you exist to solve a problem for your customers, help them meet their goals, or achieve a special dream and milestone in their lives.
Remember when designing office spaces though, that how you go about your operations can differ considerably from your competitors. The way your team creates solutions requires creativity and innovation. Plan and design the office to support the creative problem-solving skills that your team brings to the marketplace.
Today’s furnishings allow you to take what was once mundane, like cubicles, and make them a welcome tool.
Enjoy making each office space come alive with its defined purpose.
Photo: Stylex Yoom Lounge Sofa
Collaboration
An office space that’s filled with positive energy enhances collaboration.
You know the setting well. People filter in for team meetings, have a dialogue, share ideas constructively, listen politely and arrive at a consensus where they take action together. Then they return to their remote locations.
Okay, slam the brakes on the fantasy.
The reality is that collaborating can be a necessary but messy business.
Just because you’re working together doesn’t mean that all parties agree with the direction that the ideas are flowing. Bringing different perspectives together can lead to disagreement because that’s a natural part of arriving at solutions.
Healthy teams learn how to work through those disagreements while respecting each other’s input.
Your office setting should support collaboration and the need to talk through tough issues.
Make sure to define areas when designing office spaces, such as where gatherings take place and make the atmosphere conducive to a discussion that flows. You can have different defined meeting spaces even if the office isn’t large and sprawling. Use the latest in architectural walls for meeting spaces where heavy discussion is needed, and have a separate space that’s more of a lounge vibe for a less stressful atmosphere.
Use quality ergonomic chairs to support each person’s movements. Provide tables that are sleek, yet offer places for taking notes and setting up laptops without getting in the way.
Getting Started in Designing Office Spaces
Leadership sets the tone for a positive culture and the tone of communication that happens between departments and individuals. Planning your office well is part of the culture that you establish.
The team at 2010 Office Furniture is ready to guide you in making and implementing a plan.
Read Also: Ways to Make the Workplace More Kind and Caring
Main Photo: Stylex
Resources & Special Thanks to Respective Product Manufacturers: OFS, National, Scale 1:1 & Stylex