Four Tips for Designing a Better Office Atmosphere

There are many reasons for wanting to update the look of your business offices. You may have had the same design for several years and it is beginning to look dated, or you are trying to rebrand you company and want a design reflecting those changes. If you want to choose a new design for your offices, here are some tips you can use to do so:

Changing Office Designs

When you change the design of your offices, you can also change the energy of those working in the offices. Studies show that improving an office’s design can help boost productivity because it can motivate people to work. People who work in office environments spend most, if not all, of their time at their desks, and adding stimuli to the office decor can help improve their productivity.

Consider the Business Industry

When updating your office, you will have many choices to make and those choices can reflect on your business. You should consider the type of industry your company is in when making choices about furnishings, paint colours and the overall office design. A company that designs toys shouldn’t look like accountants or lawyers work there and vice versa.

If you are in a creative industry, then your office should reflect that and provide the stimuli that your employees need to be creative. To help stimulate creativity, many companies allow their employees to dress casually and offer a more laid-back office atmosphere. Employees may have areas where they can play video games, brainstorm with their co-workers on a project or work off excess energy when they are having a hard time coming up with ideas.

For more analytic industries, such as accounting or law, the new office design can still stimulate your employees and foster an atmosphere that reflects your company’s business. The furnishings and lighting can make your employees more comfortable, which will help them work more efficiently and, in turn, be more productive. When choosing a new office design, your choices should reflect the industry that your business is in.

Create a Healthy Atmosphere

Since your employees spend most of their days at their desks working, it is imperative you create a comfortable, healthy atmosphere for them. By making your employees more comfortable, you will help increase their productivity, which will also benefit your company. Changing artificial lighting for natural light, buying ergonomic furniture and including plant life in the design can reduce absenteeism because your employees will work in a healthier atmosphere.

By purchasing ergonomic desks and chairs, you can help prevent work injuries like back strain and carpal tunnel that not only lead to absenteeism, but an increase in medical claims. Reducing the use of fluorescent lighting and letting more natural light into the office will help reduce eye strain and headaches. Adding plants to your office will help stimulate the production of oxygen, which allows for better breathing and can help your employees feel less fatigued.

Having an office design that reduces work injuries and illnesses will not only show your employees how much you value them, but will save you thousands of pounds annually on medical claims. In addition, you can also increase productivity because there will be fewer absences and people will feel better, which helps them get more work done. Designing a healthier office environment will quickly pay dividends for your company.

Consider Employees’ Work

When deciding on the layout of the office and deciding on new furnishings, consider the type of work your employees do. While open office concepts are popular, if some employees work with sensitive information or have clients come to the office, they may need more privacy. Your office design may be a mixture of an open concept with private offices so certain employees have the privacy they need to conduct their work.

Along with the furnishings, you also have to consider the acoustics when you have Saracen Interiors design a concept for your offices. You can use fabrics and seating arrangements to help dampen or reduce background sounds that may carry across cubicles or across a room if some employees speak louder than others. This can cause sensitive information to be inadvertently shared with employees who do not need to know it, or it can disrupt telephone conversations.

For management staff, you still need them to be accessible to their staff, but they will need privacy to conduct their work. If they don’t want offices with walls, then consider a raised seating area to make it easy to find them and adding private conference areas for management to hold staff meetings or to conduct evaluations. If the space has high enough ceilings, the designer could create a mezzanine level for management to be able to oversee their staff, but give them the privacy they need.

Create a Less Cluttered Environment

Reducing the clutter in your offices will not only make them look and be cleaner, but it will also help to reduce stress. Piles of folders, full inboxes and messy desks can cause some employees to feel stressed. By providing shelves, keeping electronic instead of paper records and setting a policy that limits the amount of personal items on employee desks, you can reduce the clutter in your offices and help reduce the stress some employees may feel.

Stress can cause illnesses and long-term health problems, so when you reduce clutter in your office, you will also be helping to create a healthier work atmosphere, reducing absenteeism and helping employees to be more productive. Converting your files from paper to electronic records will also help preserve them for longer and reduce paper waste—and you can get rid of files that are outdated and are no longer needed.

Using these tips can help you update your offices and create a better atmosphere for your employees. It will also help to create a more productive environment by reducing absenteeism and medical costs for your company. A new office design is an investment in your company and your staff.

Offeez Sit stand desks are a relatively new concept in the workplace. They offer many benefits to people who use them such as increased productivity, improved posture, and better health.