5 Critical Office Layout Considerations
Your employees’ productivity, your company’s image and your bottom line all depend on your ability to achieve the correct office layout. These five fundamental office layout principles will help ensure you get it right, regardless of the square footage you’re working with, without making costly mistakes that would be hard to correct at a later date.
1) Flexibility
Building walls may be a short-sighted decision. If your company anticipates growth during your lease period, your options for adding additional office space become more limited if you construct walls during a build out. Utilizing a cubical system may be a better decision as they can be reconfigured to meet your company’s changing needs.
2) Lighting
It’s unlikely that it’s possible for every office to have a window with natural lighting, but you should strive to allow adequate ambient light for each employee. While task lighting is important to prevent eye strain and allow employees to focus on the work at hand, external light sources help add to employees’ overall sense of happiness and value to the company. These types of light sources can come from windows, skylights, low wall panels and even windowed wall panels. Light reflections on computer monitors should be avoided by the positioning of the workstation in relation to light sources and, if necessary, anti-glare monitor screens.
3) Placement
Consider how your employees will need to interact with each other before you plan your divisions of work spaces. A data entry department may be well-served with small private work spaces that allow employees to concentrate on the tasks at hand without interruption. Conversely, a marketing department may be better served with a more open office layout with a common area that encourages a free-flow of ideas and interactions between employees and managers.
Boundaries are essential to give employees a sense of security and privacy, but shouldn’t be so stringent that they discourage interaction with co-workers or prevent any necessary supervision.
4) Appearance
Coordinated color schemes, and quality materials, whether new or remanufactured, will help give your company a more professional appearance. If customers or clients visit your office, an open and inviting entry way with an appropriately furnished waiting area should reflect the personality of your company.
5) Noise
The expected level of noise between individual employees, work teams, equipment and meeting areas should be considered as you plan the layout of your office. Take care to separate employees who are often on phone calls from those who require a quite area to concentrate. Break rooms or coffee / water cooler areas should be open enough to accommodate camaraderie but should be separated from workers so as to not be disruptive.
ROSI Office Systems, with locations in Houston, San Antonio and Austin, Texas, can help you plan your office layout to ensure your employees are able to perform their duties with comfort and utility while you maximize your budget. Contact us today and we’ll help take you through a needs analysis process and then provide you with a proposal for best-in-class office furniture, accessories and design solutions.
