Office Furnishings and Ideas for Keeping Your Employees’ Energy Levels and Moral High

When considering office furnishings, let’s first remember a few things.

Energy to power office buildings and personal energy for employees are both essential so we don’t come to a grinding halt.

Where does the energy in the office come from? That may seem obvious when the electricity is on. How about your windows?

A British start-up named Water Filled Glass is doing just that—using water-filled glass to heat and cool buildings. Their window technology uses a thin layer of water between glass panes that absorbs heat from sunlight or other sources like heat leaving a room.

The warm water pumps through pipes to cooler areas of the building or is directed into thermal storage.

It’s an innovative solution that turns everyday materials we’re familiar with and turns them into sustainable energy.

How about your people? Humans are more complex than glass.

It’s always important to design and plan your office to energize your team and reduce fatigue factors that result in conditions like brain fog or absenteeism.

Energy for your office building is important, as is energy for your company’s employees.

What will energize your team? Another way of looking at the same issue is using resources to keep your employees engaged in their work.

Start with Ergonomics

You know what happens when you have office furnishings such as a wobbly desk or a chair that doesn’t fit quite right and hurts your lower back? You’re distracted and you expend extra energy trying to stay comfortable and overcome your physical obstacles.

Ergonomics benefit workers because the equipment and surroundings are fitted to their needs and people can work more efficiently instead of expending excess energy.


Photo: Loftwall Rooms Wall System

Assess your work environment and see how the right types of quality ergonomic chairs and workstations will serve your team.


Photo: Friant Amenity Task Seating

An ergonomic chair is one that lets the user sit comfortably without strain on the elbows or knees and provides needed lower back support. A good chair will also shift easily with the user’s movements so the body isn’t confined or working against the chair.

Photo: Humanscale Diffrient Smart Chair
A good example is the Humanscale Diffrient Smart Chair that’s easy to use and adjust, including a weight-sensitive, mechanism-free recline.


Photo: SitOnIt Seating Focus Chair

The SitOnIt Seating Focus Chair has wide seat cushions and padded arms that “provides a new standard to ergonomics.”


Photo: Nucraft Alev Table

Workstations are essential and fit in any office setting.

Want a sleek and unencumbered look? The ODS Artiv Desk has a minimalistic appearance and fits into any style office, including the style known as the Scandinavian office. The ODS Artiv Desk is designed for excellent wire management. Wires are routed along the structure below the desktops using wire trays that are hooked to the aluminum beam.

Ergonomics also includes details like lighting and sound.

Maximize Sunlight

Sunlight is a big deal because getting enough of it helps people stay alert during the day so they sleep more deeply at night. Get as much light flowing through the office as possible by using translucent dividers in place of solid walls. If natural light is limited, or if your office is on a middle floor, then use the more efficient LED ergonomic lighting solutions instead of fluorescent.

Reduce eye strain with LED lights. They convert up to 95 percent of their energy and only about 5 percent is considered “wasted.” The lifespan of LED lighting can be more than double the lifespan of fluorescent lights and LED doesn’t contain potentially harmful gasses.

Looking for lighting solutions?

The best task lighting solutions are ones that direct the right amount of light where you need it most so you don’t have to squint.


Photo: Workrite Fundamentals 2 Desktop Lighting

The Humanscale Horizon 2.0 Desktop Light and the Workrite Fundamentals 2 Desktop Light are glare free and are made for long life spans.

Channel Sound

Sound is a major disrupter for people trying to concentrate and it’s one of the most common criticisms of the open office floor plans. Walls of private offices were taken down so workers could collaborate. But the problem was neighboring conversations and chatter from private phone calls and keyboards clicking away irritated employees trying to concentrate.

Earbuds and headphones were used to block out the outside world and people who were in close proximity became strangers to each other.


Photo: Loftwall Arbor Wall Panel

Accessories like sound panels and green walls help absorb sound waves. But another strategy is letting workers do their work in semi-private areas if they want or settle in lounge areas for informal meetings.

Promote Mobility

Using modular lounge furniture is a way of promoting mobility. Stretches at desks and getting up every 90 minutes to 2 hours for quick walks keeps blood circulating and is a natural way to keep a person’s energy levels up.

Why?

As WebMD explains, “Oxygen-rich blood surges through your body to your heart, muscles, and brain.” Blood provides the nutrition a body needs.

Here’s an idea. Make sure people stay hydrated. It’s another way to keep their energy up. Encourage them to get up regularly and take a long stroll to the breakroom to get water so they don’t get thirsty.

Office Furnishings for an Energy Boost

Well-planned office spaces that have the right furnishings take deliberate planning. Consult with 2010 Office Furniture on developing a space that’s right for you, whether you’re refreshing an existing office space or designing one that’s entirely new.

2010 Office Furniture’s clients are among the most distinguished corporations, universities, and small businesses in Los Angeles County, Orange County and the Inland Empire.

Contact the team at 2010 Office and share your project needs.

Read Also: Create an Office Wellness Plan for Optimal Thinking
Main Photo: ERG International Carlton Stools
Resources & Special Thanks to Respective Product Manufacturers: ERG International, Friant, Humanscale, Loftwall, Nucraft, SitOnIt Seating and Workrite

Designing a Healthy Office

Designing a Healthy Office

Designing a healthy office is important in fostering an environment where morale is high and people are productive. Employees are motivated to work as a team and focused on their tasks, instead of how to handle their aches and pains.

But what is a healthy office setting and how do you achieve a place where people are comfortable and productive?

Let’s start with the basics, like how you sit and do your work.

Ergonomics

Ergonomics in designing a healthy office refer to the equipment designed to help people accomplish their tasks in a way that creates minimal stress on the body. Today’s height-adjustable desks and ergonomic chairs allow users to sit with proper posture so their eyes are focused on the screen at the right level while at the same time the joints in their bodies endure as little stress as possible.


Photo: OFS Impulse G2 Private Office

The strain on the wrists, elbows, knees and lower back is greatly reduced.

Ergonomic chairs come in an array of colors and shapes. But you should always look for quality lumbar support that adjusts easily to body weight and movement.

Since office workers sit for hours per day, a quality chair promotes physical health. But so does getting up at regular intervals.

Ergonomics applies to other areas, too, like talking on a cell phone.

Promote the use of speaker phone or the use of headphones to avoid cradling the phone on the neck and shoulders for prolonged periods. Tilting the head too much toward a computer screen or to one side of a shoulder gradually causes misalignment.

Designing a Healthy Office with Movement

Movement is key in design a healthy office. Humans are built to be active and if we remain sedentary for hours on end, then our bodies and minds are going to pay a price. After a couple of hours working at a desk, encourage your team to get up and move for about 10 minutes to 15 minutes.

This can be taking a brisk walk down a hallway, getting a drink of water, or taking a laptop and continuing to work at a lounge area.

Height-adjustable desks can be useful to promote movement as well since they make it easy to go from sitting to standing.


Photo: Humanscale eFloat Standing Desk

However, the main reason to get up and move around the office isn’t to burn calories but help the blood circulate. Don’t overlook this aspect of having a healthy workforce.

When blood is flowing well through the body, it also means that it’s circulating in the head, and that reduces foggy brain syndrome. And a clear head increases productivity.

An article in Harvard Health, “More movement, better memory,” notes that the center of learning and memory in our brain is the hippocampus. It’s located in the medial temporal lobe, a region that benefits from exercise.

Participants in the study were an average of 65 years old and enrolled in an aerobics class for 20 weeks. There was no change in the body mass index, but researchers “found that those who exercised showed a greater ability to rearrange and reconfigure nerve connections in their brain. This allowed them to better learn and retain information, and then logically apply that information in a new situation.”

Movement is healthy.

Indoor Air Quality

If you’re concerned about the smoggy air outside, then you’ll want to clean your indoor air. According to estimates published on Allwork.space, we spend about 90% of our time indoors where offices with poor ventilation will have air that is two to five times more toxic than outside.

  • Regularly clean the vents used for your heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system
  • Open windows occasionally to boost indoor air flow
  • Rebalance or adjust HVAC systems to increase total airflow to occupied spaces when possible

You can also bring nature inside and use indoor plants. They do their part in cleaning pollutants and freshening the air, and definitely help in designing a healthy office.


Photo: OFS Yelly and Kasura Seating

Light and Color

Designing a healthy office means creating an environment that’s good for both our physical health and mental well-being. There’s even a discipline known as chromotherapy, based on findings that color and colored lights can help treat both our physical and mental health.

Colors have their own traits:

  • Blue signifies the intellect
  • Red impacts courage and strength
  • Yellow is an emotional color that represents creativity
  • Green is for harmony, representing nature and balance
  • Orange creates a sense of comfort because it blends the physicality of red and the emotional trait of yellow

In addition to colors, natural light is a proven mood booster.

Assess how you use colors in your work environment. Where can you maximize the flow of natural light? Are there barriers in the way of windows?

Using cubicles and clear modular walls in place of solid walls or other barriers can brighten the office space.


Photo: OFS Skara and Saven Rocker Seating

Now get some inspiration for how your office can look—make it more modern and bright, or tone it down and give it an industrial look. You can even make it appear homey and warm with a resimercial approach.


Photo: Source International Lore Lounge

Morale

The goal of planning office space and creating an upbeat look is to boost morale and guide your team in working at their best levels. This is good for the company’s bottom line, but it also leads to professional satisfaction for team members and keeps them engaged with your brand.

We’re Here to Help you in Designing a Healthy Office

The team at 2010 Office Furniture has more than 50 years of experience equipping Southern California’s leading corporations, centers of higher education, and small-to-medium sized businesses.

Contact us and share your space planning and office furnishing needs. We’ll be glad to share solutions.

Read Also: Energize Your Office with Movement
Main Photo: Humanscale Ergonomics
Resources & Special Thanks to Respective Product Manufacturers: Humanscale, Source International & OFS