Your office space is a part of your total brand identity in more ways than one. First of all, its layout and operational efficiency may affect the way your staff handles its day-to-day tasks. Second, by making it pleasant, warm, and inviting, you’re actually increasing your talent retention rate, as well as your talent appeal during the hiring process.
Overall, there’s quite a bit that a luxurious office design can do for your brand and your overall brand identity but it’s important that you approach this as systemically as possible. Here are a couple of things to watch out for.
Optimal layout.
Every workstation needs to have a certain amount of personal space. Here, you need to balance between privacy and efficiency. By trying to squeeze too many desks in the area, you will make it hard for people to traverse the office, increase the likelihood of tactile distraction (moving the chair so someone can walk past them), etc. At the same time, you want to use the entirety of your office space.
In this day and age, you can always choose to move a part of your staff and have them work from home. This will give you more options. Now, you want the place to look busy, which is why keeping it partially empty won’t do the trick either. So, make sure that the distribution of desks and personal space is adequate. One of the biggest decisions you’ll face here is to go with either open office design or pick the old-school route and reintroduce cubicles.
Emphasis on health.
Workstations alone can affect the efficiency of your staff members quite drastically. The height of the desk and the position at which they look at the screen affects their eyesight, while the chairs affect their posture. The type of keyboard used is also something worth considering while acquiring hardware like laptops for your office. In time, if ignored for long enough, this could lead to chronic lower back pain. Preventing all these medical issues is not just your ethical obligation but also in your best interest from a pragmatic standpoint. Less pain means better focus, fewer sick days, etc.
You should also be able to feel the luxury in the office through other senses and temperature and air quality are perfect examples of this concept. Tending to all of these matters will paint a picture of you as an entrepreneur who cares deeply about the health and comfort of their employees. Positive word of mouth will spread and this will boost both your company image and any subsequent hiring projects.
Comfort alongside efficiency.
One of the biggest challenges you will have when designing your office is finding a way to design it for both luxury and operational efficiency. For instance, your kitchen area needs to have all the necessary appliances (microwave, coffee machine, etc.) and by going for luxury, you’ll show your staff just how much you appreciate them. Now, one of the things that a lot of people struggle with is the use of the toilet in the workplace.
The problem is not always strictly psychological but might be logistical, as well. Looking for suitable fixtures from vendors like Bidets Online and installing a smart toilet seat in the office bathroom might make all the difference in the world. The best thing about these smart seats is that they don’t require additional space (like a bidet would) and it provides new features to your bathroom. From the standpoint of brand identity, you will be seen as someone who is willing to commit to making their staff (and visitors) feel like they’re staying at home (or in a luxurious hotel).
Keeping it clean.
Clean office space will help people organize and allow them to focus on the task at hand. There are some studies that indicate that there’s a direct correlation between a messy work environment and one’s inability to focus. It poses as a visual distraction even in this day and age where the majority of work is done digitally and one’s productivity doesn’t depend on their ability to find physical documents under a pile on their desk.
For this reason, the area needs to be kept clean but this is as much of a design issue as it is a matter of maintenance. A minimalist office is easier to clean and there are quite a few ways to keep the office space both minimalist and elegant at the same time. For you as a brand, this creates an opportunity to be seen as efficient and vigilant. Any photos of the office taken and displayed online (on social media or your ‘About Us’ page) will be more impactful.
Choose stimulating color.
It is well-proven that different colors in the office space may have a drastic impact on the productivity of those exposed to them. This is something worth keeping in mind when picking the color for the office space. Now, seeing as how different colors create different effects, what you may want is to choose different nuances for different areas of the place. This is somewhat more difficult in an open office but still manageable.
For instance, red is aggressive and stimulating that increases the pulse and makes you more energetic. This makes it great for your sales team. Then, there’s blue which helps your concentration. Yellow is often described as an emotional color that radiates positivity, which makes it ideal for creatives. Naturally, green brings balance. Depending on what you believe the department in question needs the most at the moment, you can organize the color scheme of the office or office area.
In conclusion.
Designing your office in a specific way is one of the best/simplest ways to display some of your corporate values. Sure, saying that you stand for X, Y, and Z is one thing but actually showing this in action is something else entirely. Office design can provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate the way in which you achieve efficiency. It also creates a chance for you to show how you treat your staff. The word gets around and you need to seize this opportunity.
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