Any office design guide will outline how important it is that the functionality of your workplace should be at the fore of every design decision throughout the entire process. This shouldn’t be hard to believe. After all, your company needs to maintain an efficient work process, and the layout of your office, as well as the furniture you choose for it, can have an enormous knock-on effect.
It’s easy to get lost in the details.
One thing that you should try to remember is how fun the process can be: A new office fit-out isn’t just a tremendous opportunity to refine the performance of your operation, it’s always a way to express your company’s personality, produce new and innovative ideas, and to create a comfortable lifestyle that will attract talented employees for years to come.
Because it’s important to balance each of these factors, we’ve put together a comprehensive office design guide to help you nail down what’s needed when it’s time to tackle your office fit-out.
Office Design Guide
1. Know exactly what your workforce need
If you’re revamping an old office, you already know how untidy they can become.
Storage cabinets get stuffed full of files you no longer need. Computer desks become cramped with multiple monitors and hard drives that haven’t been turned on in years. That’s not even taking the rest of the building into account.
Our first piece of advice in handling all of this is to start a list: Write down what you need and what you don’t. Most importantly, be ruthless about it. It’s the first point in our office design guide, so know we’re serious when we say: If you pare down your storage and seating requirements to the bare minimum, you’ll be able to create an office space that encourages you to stay clutter free well into the future.
2. Office design guide tip: Listen to your staff
No matter what you intend to accomplish, the people who will have the clearest idea of what can make your office a better place to work are the people who go there every day.
Your staff are a critical part of what makes your business a success, so when you’re planning your new design, they will likely say a lot of things that you should listen to. On a basic level, it will help keep them involved and productive, but they will also have some clear ideas on how a particular office layout will make their jobs easier.
Remember, in some ways the people who work for you will offer more important advice than any office design guide, so make sure that you take their opinions into consideration.
3. Don’t forget about rest and relaxation
There’s a lot more to creating a modern office than rearranging your desks and getting some fancy chairs. Believe it or not, the space outside of your work area is just as important to productivity as the main part of your operation.
If you’ve ever read an office design guide before, you’ve probably heard the term, breakout zones.
These are areas where your staff can sit and relax, brainstorm ideas, or even meet clients in a less formal environment. You might think that meeting rooms can service much the same function, but you’d be surprised how much of a difference a comfortable casual area can make. By having the option to have a ‘refresh area’ within the workplace, you can establish a friendly work culture and encourage true creativity.
4. Make sure to express your brand
Your brand is more than just a logo.
It’s expressed in the way your employees deal customers, with each other, and in the presentation of all your in-house and public material. When you begin to understand this, the design of your office is just as much of a consideration.
Take your office redesign as a chance to further define your brand. In the way you choose to move ahead, you’ll find that it will help to guide what your business is about over the next few years, and help clients and new employees to figure out what exactly your company is all about.
5. Approach your fit out with an energy efficient mindset
Any office design guide will tell you the benefits of tackling your project with energy efficiency in mind.
Running a business is expensive. When you’re looking to cut costs, you might be inclined to go for some of the larger overhead fees that you find yourself paying. Rent. Supplies. Catering. With all of the expenses incurred, you can easily overlook some of the standard costs like heating and electricity because they seem like a monthly payment that you just can’t avoid.
A new office is a fantastic opportunity to make substantial savings on your energy bills. If there was a money saving section in our office design guide, we could sum it up in one line: Proper insulation, energy efficient light bulbs and other electronic equipment… over a period of years, it can make such a difference that your office redesign might end up paying for itself.
6. Plan ahead for your office makeover
You can’t shut down your operation for the sake of an office fit out. You also don’t want to have heavy construction taking place right next to your office door. The good news is that all of this can be avoided if you make sure to plan the change well ahead of time.
Yes, there will be some major logistics involved. And add to that the random elements you can’t predict. But when you work with a professional office design team, you’ll be able to limit these as much as possible, and ensure that your office workdays continue smoothly over the course of your office fit.
Our teams are always happy to talk about our office design guide and work out how to implement your new fit out, so make sure to give us a call or send a message when you’re ready to get the project started.