Columnist

Seven simple office design tips from the experts

Improve your office with these seven design tips.

In order to get the best performance from your employees you need to give them the best possible space to work in – FACT!

Updating the design of your workplace is easy when you know how, and London based interior design experts, Peldon Rose, have shared these 7 simple tips to help you get started:

1) Add Light and Colour

One of the easiest ways to modernise an office and help employees to feel happy and be productive in it is to incorporate light and colour into the design.

Natural light reduces eye strain and headaches and is a source of Vitamin D which is vital for healthy immune systems. Installing mirrors and removing solid walls or partitions or replacing them with glass will instantly boost the amount of daylight in your office.

Once it’s lighter, make it brighter by adding colour. Different colours have been shown to influencedifferent behaviours; yellow is associated with feelings of well-being and productivity, blue is thought to aid clear thinking and collaboration while green is said to be calming.

Adding colour needn’t mean a complete overhaul of your interior décor, simply add splashes here and there with artwork, accessories or furniture.

2) Keep it Clean and Tidy

It may seem obvious but often, personnel with a busy work schedule prioritise their tasks over keeping a work area clean and tidy. However, cluttered desktops or walkways make a workplace feel chaotic and disorganised.

Try incorporating a ten minute clean-up session into the end of each working day so that when employees arrive the next morning, the office and everything in it is organised and ready for them to settle down to business.

3) Quiet Areas

Regardless of whether office personnel work in creative, technical, entry-level or leadership roles, everyone will have particular tasks that require concentration.

Offices, especially those which are open plan can be noisy, distracting places to work in but this can be remedied by creating quiet areas for busy minds to retreat to.

London based digital advertising agency, Essence, recognise the importance of a varied work environment and factored quiet as well as social spaces into the design of their new Soho offices so that personnel can find a suitable area to focus, relax or collaborate on projects in.

4) Clear Branding

The branding your organisation uses to establish and promote its products or services should feature just as prominently in the office as it does online or on the high street.

Branding in the office gently reminds employees what your company stands for and that they play an important role in it. Its presence can help unite personnel who have very different roles and maintain focus on your organisation’s aims and objectives so that they underpin everyone’s approach to getting the job done.

In the offices of CityWest Homes, company colours and artwork which emphasise the organisation’s purpose are used sparingly throughout the interior to unite different workspaces and personnel, and create a professional image.

5) Room Temperature

Something as simple as the temperature in a workspace can have a big impact on employee comfort and productivity.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recommends that office temperatures are maintained at 13-16ËšC, however each individual has their own preference so to ensure that everyone is comfortable, make mobile heaters and fans or even blankets available to your employees.

6) Sound and Smell

The sensory elements of an environment can influence behaviour and the workplace is no exception. Studies show that plants in the workplace can make employees more “physically, cognitively, andemotionally involved in their work“ and increase productivity by as much as 15%.

Different aromas can even help with specific tasks. Peppermint is associated with clear, alert, thinking, floral scents increase concentration while vanilla is thought to relieve stress and anxiety.

Complement the aromatic and visual cues of plants by letting employees contribute songs to an office playlist or by providing headphones for them to listen to music individually.

7) Help Employees Feel at Home

Although each of these changes will make the office a more pleasant space to work in, ultimately, to get the best from your employees you need to make them feel at home.

Encouraging your staff to personalise their workspace with accessories and photographs is a simple but effective way of instilling in them a sense of ownership over their work area and the responsibilities that need to be fulfilled within it.

To take it a stage further, place comfortable sofas in break rooms, provide secure bike storage facilities or install showers so that staff can freshen up after the commute or lunchtime gym session.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Peldon Rose .