If you want to design a productive, comfortable and attractive office, you need to think about several different elements which make up the whole.
You need to consider decor, lighting, flooring, ventilation, heating, etc, but you also need to think about office furniture choices and where you’re going to place your office furniture too.
The overall design of an office has a huge effect on morale, which directly links towards productivity. If an office is poorly designed, it is going to be a pretty terrible place to work and you can’t expect your employees to be happy in that situation! As a result, you’ll find more mistakes occurring, stress rising, productivity dipping and as a direct result, profits will drop too.
Choosing where to place your office furniture has a huge effect on whether or not the office is comfortable, safe and productive. This is one of the quickest ways to increase employee productivity - have a quick move around!
If you want to boost your office productivity and the general design, be sure to avoid these office furniture no nos.
Desks Facing Doors Or With Backs to Doors
It’s not a good idea to have desks directly facing a door unless you’re in a reception area. It’s also a very bad idea to have them so that employees have their backs to doors. If a visitor walks into the office and employees have their backs doors, it’s possible that they won’t notice and as a result, the visitor is standing waiting - this isn’t professional. In addition, this means they could see confidential information on a computer screen.
It’s a better option to have desks arranged so that employees are sitting sideways on to doors. This means that you can see when someone walks in, but they’re not going to be too much of a distraction either.
Chairs and Desks Close to Printers
It’s not a good idea to place desks close to printers or other very noisy equipment. This is a huge distraction for the employee and it’s also likely to make them quite uncomfortable because extra heat is often thrown out of large electrical equipment.
If you have central printers, such as large laser printers, have these in an area which isn’t close to desks, or perhaps another room entirely, if this is possible.
Anywhere Glare Could be an Issue
Look at your lighting arrangement and check that you don’t have desks which are directly affected by glare. When artificial lights or window glare hits a screen it can cause headaches and eye strain, whilst also being extremely difficult to work within.
If you cannot do any other but place a desk in a certain area, you can help to reduce glare completely by providing screen hoods. However, if glare is still an issue you will need to move the desk anyway.
Desks Too Close to One Another
It might seem like a very obvious point to make, but trying to cram as many desks into an office as you can is not a good thing. Employees are likely to feel stressed if they have very little personal space and it’s not safe either. The more desks you have in a room, the more chances there are of people banging into them and tripping up. This is a major health and safety hazard.
Ensure that there is plentiful space between office desks and that walkways are clear and adequate at all times.
By ensuring that you place office furniture in a sensible place, you can avoid any problems with health and safety and you can also create an office design which is both functional and comfortable. Of course, you also need to think about storage and in that case, why not work upwards, rather than across? Making use of wall space is a good idea if you have a small office, but don’t go too high with your shelving or overload it.