Offices have always had to be versatile spaces. Sales and customer service teams have different requirements to marketing and public relations teams, for instance – and offices have been laid out to reflect this for decades now. What is new, though, is an increasing appetite for flexible, adaptable working environments. Working from home became the norm during the Covid-19 pandemic and looks set to remain popular, further complicating things for office designers. But amidst all this change, it can be easy to lose sight of what matters most in an office. Let’s take it back to basics and examine the essence of what an office has to do.
Doing the heavy lifting
First, a look at the ‘function’ side of things. To maximise productivity, it’s imperative that your office makes sense for everyone that uses it. Every company is different and each team will work differently, so your office should be laid out with this in mind: there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.
Aside from the obvious things like incorporating adequate storage in all the right places, your entire team needs to feel comfortable and at ease while they’re working; placing departments that require peace and quiet next to those that are always on the phone should be avoided. Laying out your office correctly and avoiding this kind of situation can have lasting effects on productivity and employee wellbeing.
It’s important to remember that offices needn’t be totally uniform and consistent throughout. It often makes sense to implement more collaboration and meeting space in certain areas of the office than in others, for example.
Looking the part
Every company is unique, so every office should be too. Utilising natural and artificial lighting combined with an appealing colour palette, stylish furniture and a spacious layout can elevate your office from mundane to memorable, and it doesn’t have to come at the expense of practicality.
An attractive office space is bound to improve employee wellbeing – and happy employees can only be a good thing for your business. Visitors and potential new team members will be impressed too, helping you attract the top talent you need to take your company to the next level.
We spend so much of our time at work, so the importance of a good-looking office can’t be overstated – but it also has to be practical. That’s where our team of office space planners can help.
Office interior design company
No matter the size of your business or the sector you’re in, here at Plann:d we can design and re-fit your office so that it’s as easy on the eye as it is on the brain! Get in touch with us to learn more about what we do and how we could help you.
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