A truly remarkable office design is much harder to achieve than you might have originally thought. This is a space that needs to be much more than a place where your employees come each day – it is a place where ideas are born, nurtured and implemented to perfection. The design needs to encourage your employees to come to work each day and work to the best of their abilities. To achieve this, your office needs each of these cornerstones:
- Functionality
The first cornerstone that you should focus on is the functionality of your office design. This includes day to day functionality, which is the elements that are essential to your employee’s working lives, and proactive functionality, which goes deeper and creates an environment that cuts down on stresses. Splitting your workplace up in this way can help to ensure that every element is covered. - Motivation
To encourage your employees to come to work, your design needs to be motivational. This can be achieved in a variety of ways – offices around the world experiment with colour, furniture and other decorative elements to see what effects are had. In terms of colour, red is known to quicken the heart rate whilst blue lowers blood pressure. In terms of furniture, it should be as comfortable as possible. - Good Looks
Whilst a good looking office can’t be only good looking if you want it to be effective, it does help. It can help with the motivation of your employees but, most importantly, it can have a dramatic impact on the way that your clients perceive you. Research has suggested that the best looking workplaces are the most successful ones. The design clearly outlines what the business is about and clients get this. - Comfort
Making both employees and clients feel at ease in the office is absolutely crucial to your design. After all, employees who feel on edge and clients who can’t relax during meetings aren’t going to yield the best possible results for your business. Ergonomic furniture is key here, as it will avoid aches, pains and fidgeting. This will also go a long way towards fostering the health of your employees. - Accessibility
This category doesn’t just refer to disabled or delivery access – it actually refers to the layout of your whole office design. This is especially important for larger workplaces with bigger workforce, as the layout needs to be easily navigable and avoid congestion. On a smaller scale, the layout of your employee’s desks is also important – they shouldn’t be placed nearby to toilets or noisy spots.
Whilst it can be difficult to unintentionally make a few mistakes in your office design, it is important to note that it isn’t overly hard to make a truly remarkable one either. All you need to do is familiarise yourself with the cornerstones we have outlined above and ensure that they are incorporated into your workplace in whatever way possible. It can also be extremely beneficial to have a professional design team work on your project.
