How does office design affect productivity?
The design of your office can affect the productivity of your workforce. The thing is that your employees need to feel comfortable at work in order to be productive. They need space to do their own thing, but also spaces for collaboration. If you can create an office space that works for your staff, you will see them flourish and their productivity grow.
Here are a couple of points to consider when it comes to designing your office space:
Ergonomics
Ergo-what? Ergonomics is about arranging work spaces to fit the people who use them. This ranges from simple things like making sure a chair is at the right height, to major changes like the height and positioning of furniture and partitioning walls. You might not notice immediately if your furniture is not set up well - but with daily use you could notice things like aches and pains from poor posture, stretching to reach things and so on. Craning your neck to speak to a colleague on the other side of a badly positioned partition will soon take its toll!
Privacy
Open plan offices can be great for communication and collaboration, but it’s also important to bear in mind that there will be times that people need privacy. That could be for work that requires concentration and focus, or for an important phone call. A lack of privacy and quiet surroundings can mean that people find it hard to focus on important topics, and details or instructions are misheard. A well designed office partition can create sections of your office where people can have privacy where needed, without feeling that they are shut away from the rest of the team.
Use of space
A few well-placed partitions can actually make your office seem like it has more space. Shoving twenty desks randomly into a large space might seem like a good idea, but an office space that has not been planned out with a random arrangement of desks and furniture can become cluttered and counterproductive; people spend more time weaving between desks to get to their own space than actually working. Partitioning your space into key areas can create specific spaces for items such as printers and storage units, allowing for desks to sit in well organised groups. Each person can take control of their own area, organising it for their own requirements and tastes.
Access to natural light
Fluorescent lighting is great, but nothing beats natural light for helping to keep us alert and productive. With glazed partitions you can preserve access to natural light for more people. A solid partition can sometimes create dingy corner areas if designed badly, but you can use glazed partitions to ensure any natural light coming in a window is utilised as much as possible. According to Forbes, having a view of the world outside can increase work performance by up to 16%.
An open plan office with some careful partitioning can help your team to be more productive and happier in their work. Get in touch today to see how we could help you.
