When it comes to office layouts, people don’t seem to think it makes much of a difference. The reality of the situation is that the way your office is designed will play a huge role in the productivity of your employees and the amount of work that they are able to get done each day. There are many statistics and reports out there to back up this information. So what should you do with your office to increase efficiency? Here are some office planning and layout tips from the pros.
Go for Open Layout
NPS Townsville Office Furniture advise that one of the biggest things that slow employees down and discourages work ethic are cubicles and enclosed spaces. While it might sound productive to keep each person in a private area, this makes them feel trapped and almost imprisoned. Getting rid of those walls will go a long way towards making your employees work better. How can you go about creating an open concept?
Creating a plan for this might be difficult, especially if your office is full of clutter. In the case that you are struggling, you can turn to professionals to help come up with a plan. They will create many office fitouts for you and give you the ability to influence every step of the way. You can create your own ideas, and they will have the power to sit down and get it done. Your office will be opened up before you know it, and your employee morale will be higher than ever.
Change the Furniture
Are the chairs that you have in the office comfortable for sitting? If the chairs are rigid and do not provide any support, your employees will have a hard time staying engaged in their work for a long period of time. Don’t be afraid to throw away all the old chairs and replace them with new ones. While this will end up costing money, your employees will be grateful for the change, and their increase in efficiency will easily pay off the money that you spent to make them comfortable.
A Break Room
While we want our employees to work and be efficient, we have to understand that they are human and will not be able to slave away all day without any breaks. It is important that you have a room in the office dedicated to allowing them to relax and escape all of their work. It will allow them to refresh themselves mentally and speak with their friends and coworkers.
When they finally return back to work, they will be energized and ready to get right back into things. It might sound counterintuitive to provide a space where your employees will not work, but research has shown that it creates a much better and healthier work environment.
Lighting
When it comes to lighting in an office, most people go with the long tubes. While they get the job done, these bright lights are known to cause headaches in the office and also can warm the place up. Get creative and start looking into other methods of lighting, such as lamps or lights that hang from the ceilings. Straying away from generic solutions will help create a unique place with variety. In a work environment, this variety is greatly appreciated by all workers.
Speak With Your Employees
Finally, one of the best things that you can do when planning to change the office layout is to speak with your employees. As they will be the ones working in this environment every day, you should take the time to get their opinion and see what they would like from the space. It doesn’t matter what you do to space if they don’t like it.
Take a week to speak to them, or send an email across the office asking for feedback. Take into consideration what they are saying and change your plans accordingly. This will not only make the office a more welcoming space, but they will feel important knowing that their opinion matters and that they were listened to.
These are all important office planning and layout tips that you should look into when you redesign the office. Communication during things like this is one of the most important things. You need to be able to speak with the professionals who are helping you with the setup while also speaking to your employees and getting their feedback and what they want. After all is said and done, you should have an office that is modernized and conducive to work in. Company production will go up, and you will see some nice profits come in. How do you plan on laying out your office?
