At fluidconcepts, we’re always thinking of ways to improve the professional workplace. An office needs to be productive, impressive, and representative of your brand. And, to ensure your money is being used wisely, it also has to serve as an effective use of space, a need that must be addressed at the planning stage and all throughout your process.
For a more effective office space, consider incorporating these helpful tips into your workplace:
Create an efficient layout
To get the most out of your office space, it is essential to create a layout that lets you achieve your company goals while providing a safe and comfortable environment for your workers.
Figuring this out requires the answers to a few questions:
- What do you want to accomplish with your office?
- Are you interested in an open office or a private office space?
- How many employees will be working here?
- Will your office serve as a flexible workplace?
Getting your priorities straight will show you what kind of layout your office needs. The next step after that will be to adapt the ideal office of your dreams to the one you actually have. Be practical and start accepting office architectural elements for what they are. For instance, there’s no use pretending that your space is larger than it is.
By balancing your needs with the physicality of your office, you can create an efficient layout that makes full use of its space to achieve your objectives.
Make room for collaboration
Businesses depend on the collaboration of their workers to succeed, so it makes all the more sense that specific resources be prioritized to serve this need.
However, the traditional way of addressing this function is in need of a modern update. In addition to board rooms with expansive meeting tables, your business should set aside space in your layout for smaller meeting areas. Instead of an enclosed space, consider a more casual environment such as a lounge-type setting with sofas.
Collaboration can also be a spontaneous act instead of just a scheduled one. Give your employees the opportunity to run into each other at office “meeting points.” Set aside chairs and tables that allow chance encounters to develop into a full-on brainstorming session. To facilitate this, consider adding fluidconcepts’ Cubic Storage and its pedestal cushions to your office space.
Make room for collaboration, and you’ll be creating a door for opportunity to knock upon.
Incorporate focus spaces
Open concept office spaces have proven to be an extremely popular office trend lately, but they do have drawbacks such as noise and a loss of productivity. Your office can overcome this common problem with focus spaces, a subject that was addressed during fluidconcepts President Byron Leclair’s time as the featured guest on a recent episode of the Industry Insights podcast.
Get the most out of your open concept office by incorporating focus spaces!
Modular workstations
It can be very difficult to create an effective office space when you aren’t able to plan for it. Businesses have the capacity to change overnight, leading to staffing demands that will put a strain on office resources.
To get the most out of your office space, consider equipping your workplace with fluidconcepts’ wide range of modular workstations. Our workstations can accommodate offices of any shape or size, and will adapt as you grow:
- Orbit Round Workstations provide single location access to a user’s work area in a continuous ergonomic circumference.
- OrbitPods workstations come as circular or partial segments that can be linked in snake-like configurations, or as independent pods
- Runway is a modular beam work-system designed to meet the high-capacity power and data delivery needs of high performance workspaces.
Modular workstations are a scalable solution that can optimize the effectiveness of your office.
Keep storage separate from your workspace
Busy offices can be hectic environments, but they don’t have to be messy. That’s the danger if an office plan indiscriminately lumps storage space together with workspace. This will not only negatively impact productivity, but also disappoint any guests you invite to your office.
This issue becomes even more complicated when open office spaces are involved. That’s because open spaces are much more malleable than closed spaces, and will take on whatever qualities you give them—including if you commandeer a workspace for storage purposes, and then promptly forget about doing so.
Is the workspace spillover caused by a lack of storage? fluidconcepts offers a number of workable solutions:
- Use dual-functioning office furniture, such as this decorative room divider that doubles as a storage unit, or this low-rise shelf/padded cushion stool
- Install company lockers in change rooms and dining areas to keep valuables safe
- Make full use of empty corners with this rounded shelf unit
