Creating the right mix for your office environment

What you furnish an office with is what really counts in today’s workspaces. It’s no longer how much desks you can squeeze into a space so that you can fit as much people in as possible like in the typical office environment seen in the 1950s. In the last decade there has been a major shift towards creating more comfortable spaces and more variance of space within the office.

Retaining staff, keeping productivity high and creating that happy hardworking ethic within a firm are all problems facing management teams. Part of the answer to these challenges is down to what type of office furniture and space variance is being adopted within the workspace. Varying your office space means that the ‘old school’ feel of limitation disappears as there is an environment for every mood.

How do you create these better spaces?

Having good quiet space, meeting space, team working space and breakout space will create the answer to a thriving, productive and happy workspace.

• Quiet space is important in any space as at any time in the day there are dozens of people wanting to get their heads down and work undistracted. With this space you need to be careful in choosing good acoustics, correctly coloured furniture and in a secluded part of the office. Regarding your office furniture within the space you should be looking for pods, task lighting and a quality operator chair to ensure that maximum work is achieved.
• Team working space is a fun environment requiring bright colours, open seating and collaborative systems like low seating and white boards integrated into your meeting tables. This is the space for your office art and your wacky office furniture. Team space is all about working together to achieve a common goal whether it is for marketing or sales or operations. You need to have these styles of furniture and the correct colour coding to ensure that the best ideas are born in that area.
• Meeting spaces haven’t changed much, the introduction of video conferencing and other technology has meant that the office furniture has been adapted to ensure the best possible environments for a formal meeting can be implemented. A good cantilever, leather or fabric upholstered chair and a large meeting table can create a very attractive space and with the introduction of good lighting and acoustics the board rooms and meeting spaces are complete.
• Your regular working space cannot be ignored as this is where the majority of your work, phone calling and noise happens. Your desking must be uniform and screen systems are a must, ceiling hung acoustic rafts are a relatively new idea that successfully helps dampen the buzz and clatter of day to day work life meaning phone calls can go undisturbed. Your worker’s seating is very important. It is well worth the investment in proper task chairs that have quality ergonomic design. Ergonomically orientated office furniture is vital in a space that is seeking to increase productivity and staff satisfaction as a comfortable worker is less likely to fidget and complain and is more likely to sit there and work.
• Break out space is really the cherry at the top of the cake but sadly is often forgotten or misplaced so that it sinks into the icing or falls of the cake and forgotten. It is important to invest in a comfortable and vibrant environment that people can spend downtime and socialise in comfortably. Lunch time is important for employees as it is private time where they can talk to their families and spend a little time on them. You need a variance of bench tables for eating, a good coffee machine, soft seating and high coffee tables to ensure that there is enough options for staff to choose the correct downtime space for their mood.

If you get this mix of office furniture Glasgow right in your environment and at the same time consider other aspects of working for example your industry and what is relevant and whether you are seeking to implement a more agile working approach then you could finish up with a working environment that is fully up to date or even forward thinking. This would ultimately result in your space becoming more productive and your staff becoming a better team with a better attitude.