Perhaps the reason that office furniture has been lifted from the reasonably grim and stark offices of a few decades ago is that companies and businesses have realized that investing in better quality furniture they can create an office space which results in a much higher level of productivity and efficiency, not to mention the impression that customers and prospects get immediately they enter the office. A good-looking, efficient office can make the mind up of a potential customer not yet sure which supplier to opt for.

To begin with, good quality office space with comfortable, attractive and practical furniture and furnishings is likely to boost staff morale, and this is a significant factor with any successful company. By boosting staff morale, you will not only give them the impetus to work harder and produce a faster turnover of a high standard of work, but also maintain a low staff turnover with the benefits of experience and familiarity with the company that a contented staff provides.

If you have high quality office designer furniture and decor throughout which makes it clear that your company or business values its employees, then this is likely to encourage staff to remain with you, rather than looking for a better job and more comfortable working conditions elsewhere.

Not only that, but with high quality offices you will almost certainly find that you are able to attract and recruit a higher caliber of employee, and this is likely to significantly improve your business. It’s worth bearing in mind the loss you will incur in replacing discontented staff, including the time taken to retrain replacements as well as the advertising cost. Your employees are the life-blood of the company and by ensuring that they feel valued and cared for, with good quality, comfortable and attractive furniture, you will go a long way towards achieving this.

Not only that, but it is also the case that properly designed office furniture takes into account many of the niggling issues and problems which can occur with some of the cheaper, less well planned office furniture alternatives. For example, today it is increasingly likely that most office desks will incorporate a computer, including a monitor, keyboard and mouse. It is equally likely that it will be necessary to have an area for staff members to organize their paperwork, make notes and write letters.

Some of the cheaper, poor quality designed office furniture products can sometimes be little more than planks of wood bolted together, with little consideration of daily practical usage or even of safety. Take the cabling as one common example. In many cases the monitor, keyboard and mouse will have cables which will trail across the desk and down the back. If desks are placed back to back then this can result in unsightly gaps, down which rubbish and dust can fall, increasing the risk of overheating within the computers themselves.

Better quality desks, including office designer furniture, will take this into account and provide ways in which cabling can be minimized, with solutions built in to the desk itself. These can vary from well-placed holes in the desk for cabling to drop through, to built-in trunking. In some cases, cabling can actually drop down the inside of one of the desk’s legs, making it virtually invisible.

This reduces not only the unsightly trailing cables, but reduces the risk of articles being caught on cables, or of having to move desks apart from each other, creating gaps that are perfect for litter, dust and desk items to fall down into.

One of the most important elements of office furniture is the chair, and it is this item which can cause injuries and health problems. They also contribute to employee discomfort and an inability to work to the best of their abilities. Everybody is different, with legs of varying lengths, longer or shorter torsos, different body postures, back shapes, arm lengths, and so forth.

The best chairs to buy are always going to be those which allow for the greatest degree of adaptability and flexibility, including height adjustments, back angle adjustments, lumbar supports and so forth. By being able to adapt the chair to the individual person, it is possible to eliminate, or at least significantly reduce many of the risks inherent in working within an office environment. Much of this is regulated by health and safety law, and risk assessments of the ergonomics of the workstation will likely be necessary. This is a much easier task if the office furniture is designed with this in mind, with adjustments easy to make for each unique individual.

There is also the storage aspect to consider, and again designer office furniture will take the storage needs of a business into account and ensure that suitable facilities are either built into the desk area, or at least allow for the modular way in which office areas tend to be compiled. Above all, well-designed office furniture should be practical for daily use, comfortable for all employees regardless of size or shape, and eliminate as many of the small but irritating problems associated with poorer designs.

Failing to give any one of these four areas enough attention can wreak disaster further down the line, not to mention considerable expense. One of the biggest challenges in creating a new office space or reception area is to try to ensure that whilst plenty of people may be involved in the design and development, this doesn’t result in different ideas conflicting or contrasting with each other in the final result. Having said that, if too few people are involved then it can easily become the case that the entire design is approached from one particular angle and this may not take into account other implications, needs or views.

Quite clearly the office as designed by an employee who has to sit at a desk all day would look quite different to that designed by the busy administrator or manager who has to deal with the people in the office, and different again to the corporate executives who would like to make sure that the office gives an excellent impression of the business to visiting customers and suppliers. Therefore, what are these particular factors that have to be considered and how is each one important in the overall architectural interior design process? The four design aspects to consider are appearance, comfort, economy and efficiency. Let’s take a look at what each of these means and implies.

The first factor of successful interior design is appearance: an office space must look attractive and inspire those who enter it, in addition to giving an appearance of efficiency without ostentation.  However, too many people assume that appearance is primarily for the benefit of visitors, clients and customers, ignoring the fact that employees have to work within the office, and that to create an attractive and pleasant environment in which employees can work is as  important as the aesthetic appeal, if not more so.

With the right choice of colors, plenty of natural light, space in which to move yet leaving no space wasted, it can be possible to create an office or reception environment which ensures employees work to the best of their ability. It’s also worth accepting the fact that in terms of recruitment and retention an unappealing or unattractive office space can result in a lack of moral and make employees feel undervalued, thereby reducing their work efficiency and a possible high employee turnover. A good architectural design will also maximize on the available natural light, using it to best advantage, but will also take into account the three other aspects of successful design.

The second factor to consider is the comfort of those working within the environment. This covers a multitude of elements, and must take on board not merely the physical comfort of employees, but also the peripheral issues that can be overlooked such as noise and heat, not to mention statutory obligations under the various health and safety regulations governing workstations and ergonomics. Physical comfort is predominantly governed by the choice of furniture, and whilst this will form a part of the remit given to the architect, in many cases the management have a large say in this.

Image need not always be sacrificed for comfort, since there are plenty of excellent designs which manage to combine both. However, far and away the most crucial aspect will be the ergonomical comfort of those who will work in the office space in future. But there are other issues relating to comfort which can be massively influenced by the architectural interior design. This can involve the use of light, with poor designs resulting in either very sharp, bright points of light, strong and distracting reflections in many of the screens or monitors, or dim, highly diffused lighting which makes it hard to see clearly. Ambience is one thing, but working in the dark is quite another.

Similarly, natural light is excellent, but trying to stare into a monitor in which the sun is blossoming brightly from nine to five is not good for the eyesight or for headaches. Heat can also be considered as part of the design, with effective use of space maximizing the comfort of employees whilst keeping lighting and heating bills low.

This forms part of the third major factor – economy. A good office design will help to minimize fuel costs, including heating and lighting, without sacrificing on comfort or appearance. Finally, there is the issue of efficiency. A good architectural interior design should aim to create layouts which maximize efficiency, such as ensuring that key service areas are easily accessible, that the overall shape of the space isn’t so dynamic as to result in a labyrinth of desks and objects.

Often it is simply a case of realizing that the problems exist, whether they have been raised or ignored, and identifying ways in which they can be improved. All too often, it is the small, niggling little issues that can become deeply irritating, yet accepted, and that can cause a genuine decline in performance. If employees are uncomfortable or experience issues within the office environment then it is inevitable that over time they will develop bad habits to overcome the problems, or even suffer as a direct result.

In any case, there will almost certainly be two distinct results, once of which is a general decline in efficiency and productivity, the other being a decline in health and welfare. Both of these problems should cause you concern, and very often all it takes are a few extra dollars to make the difference between a happy productive office and one on which you have to spend too much time and too many dollars. If an employee starts to work less productively, at the rate of a 1% decline per week, then within about a year their productivity will have halved.

If this is multiplied several times, how will this impact on your business? Yet for the sake of a few extra dollars it is often the case that these issues can be rectified or prevented. Even worse, if an employee suffers health problems as a direct result of poorly designed office furniture or a poorly designed layout then the repercussions from this can be significant. Quite apart from having to pay sick leave, it could also cost you a large sum of money in compensation should the injuries or problems be deemed serious, particularly if your office design has taken liberty with health and safety law on workstation ergonomics and employee health issues.

Such problems can include repetitive strain injuries that cost businesses millions of dollars every year. So what are the general problems which people find, and what furniture solutions exist to be able to help overcome or prevent these problems from occurring? In some cases, it is a matter of sourcing office furniture which is of a good quality and a good standard of design and manufacture. In others it is a matter of finding furniture which is fully adjustable (not all people are of the same dimensions!), and there are issues with respect to the siting and arrangement of office furniture to consider.

Is your office designed to impress visitors, or for the comfort and efficiency of your employees? Perhaps a bit of both? Let us have a look at some of the more common problems which people can experience working within an office environment.

One of the most common issues relates to the seating arrangements for employees. Quiet clearly no two employees working within your office will be built the same. Height is just one way to consider people’s needs, but there are so many others. For example, two employees who are both 170 centimeters tall might be considered to have the same basic needs as far as chair and desk height are concerned. Not so!

Overall height can be the same but more often than not, the torso will be shorter or taller in one case, with shorter or longer legs for the other person. Even just a few centimeters can make a massive difference. When these two employees are sitting down, their overall height becomes largely irrelevant. The height at which their head rests is now one of the critical factors. If they need to use a screen or monitor, then it is important that when they sit down they do not have to angle their head up or tilt it down in order to see the screen properly.

Any slight inclination of the head eventually puts a strain on the neck muscles, and if the monitor is too high, then the slight tilting back of the head will put continued compression strain on the back of the neck. The typical result of this is neck pain, stiffness, discomfort and headaches, and over a long period of time can cause very serious injuries. Clearly if an employee is working with a monitor that over time is causing a number of health problems, the relationship between cause and effect may not be easy to identify, and could be attributed to stress or other factors. Yet these little differences can easily cause significant consequences.

In order to safeguard against this relatively simple yet significant injury it is important to make sure that you use furniture solutions to maximize comfort and office ergonomics, such as height adjustable chairs, height and angle adjustable monitors and possibly even height adjustable desks.

Arm length is also a significant factor, but you should have the picture by now.  The vast majority of employers are not experts in this field, yet they act as though they were.  Would you design your own product ion equipment?  Then why design your own office layout, which can be just as important to the success of your company as any other department within the business. It is the one area most frequently ignored, yet one that can make or break your company.

Employee health problems and office furniture design can go hand in hand, and the right office furniture solutions for your business can ensure your continued success.

One of the challenges facing furniture designers over the past two or three decades is the rapid way in which office space has changed. Primarily this has been as a direct result of changes in technology, with each new wave of technical development bringing in a raft of changes and new requirements to most offices.

The offices of the mid to later part of last century were generally ones which included plenty of reasonably sturdy but functional desks, with paperwork comprising the majority of the office business. With computers becoming increasingly important in any modern office environment, this brought new challenges in terms of designing suitable furniture.

However, technology hasn’t stood still, and almost every year there are new products, new technologies and new ways of improving the existing methods. From cumbersome visual display units to smart, light flat screen monitors, from leviathan CPU boxes to snug little mini computers of today, and from trailing network cables to wireless networking, the shape and function of technology has often dictated the way in which office furniture should be designed.

Cheaper furniture doesn’t always provide as much adaptability and flexibility as the better-designed products do, even if you’re not thinking of having bespoke furniture solutions for your office. On many occasions, office managers have ordered desks and computers, only to find that the computers don’t fit into the desk space provided. In other cases, desks have been purchased, but when it comes to upgrading the computers the new machines won’t fit the desks, and so new technological advances have to be shelved, or alternatively the entire office has to be refurbished.

Having furniture solutions which can adapt to the changing shape of technology can make a great deal of difference further down the line. In terms of cabling, modern computers may be capable of using wireless networking to help reduce on some of the existing cables, but there is still likely to be a need for some forms of electrical cabling for a period of time. This can often prove to be a limiting factor in the design of an office layout.

The modern office furniture designer has brought along many new and novel ways of managing the cabling problems facing many businesses. It is clearly not appropriate to have cables arranged haphazardly and not only appear unsightly, but also present a hazard to employees with a significant risk of tripping that could result not only in damage to equipment, but serious injury to office staff.

Not only that, but in some cases cables are simply left to hang down over the back of the desk. Your choice is then either to not have desks back to back, which is limiting, or to have them a couple of inches apart, which provides a trap for dust, litter and small objects to fall into. It doesn’t take much to convert a beautiful looking office space into an untidy and dirty mess that is difficult for staff to clean.

Good furniture designers have introduced strategically situated cable tidies through which the electrical wiring can be fed, hollow legs that allow for cabling, or simply include fitted trunking that blends in with the desk itself. Each of these options helps to improve the overall appearance of the office, increases safety, and permits desks to meet up properly, so maintaining the originally design appearance of the office to staff and visitors.

Increasingly today, there is a greater emphasis on environmental issues that has been extended to office furniture design, with a greater need for products fashioned from materials that are not only natural, but also sourced in ways that are not harmful to the environment. Sustainable forests have become increasingly popular ways of sourcing the materials for office furniture, and the office furniture designers and their customers – you – can rightly claim to be environmentally aware in your choice of office furniture. Could this be one of the factors that could sway potential customers in your favour?

Some of the better furniture designers are integrating some really innovative features into their work. An example of this is the recessed screen, now possible thanks to flat screen technology. This facility allows a monitor to be hidden under the desk, so that at the pull of a lever the monitor is visible, but angled at forty-five degrees under the desk, much more ergonomically suited to the user than the old type of computer screen involving neck strain – recessed screens allow viewing at a more natural reading angle. This also allows the desk to be easily converted to a normal, standard writing configuration when required

This degree of flexibility and adaptability is the hallmark of the successful modern office furniture designer, and paves the way for the offices of the future.

Choosing the physical layout and style of desks and chairs may be one thing, but often there are three areas of an office entirely overlooked, yet extremely important nonetheless. When considering the interior decoration and layout of an office, make sure that you do not overlook the importance and relevance of taking care with the floor, the walls and the ceiling. This might seem a rather obvious statement, and you may be forgiven for querying what part of an office might be left besides the walls, floor and ceiling.

However, the point is that in a wide number of cases it is one or more of these areas that has been forgotten or overlooked, or considered to be of relatively little importance. When deciding which model of photocopier to use, how many desks to order, the type of chair which will be suitable ergonomically and considering any technical considerations such as monitors it is easy to focus on the interior of the room. But office interiors don’t just concern themselves with what is above the floor, below the ceiling or within the walls, but should consider the impact of these areas too.

For example, the floor of the office can make a big difference from the points of view of safety, sound, heating and overall comfort. If your office flooring is wooden, laminate or tiled to provide a hard surface, you may consider that this is wise for a long-term investment, since hard floors of this type generally last better, last longer and are easier to keep clean. While these points are true, there are other matters to consider as well. For example, if you have purchased office chairs which have castors or wheels attached as most invariably do, then a hard floor could cause real problems to your employees.

Chairs on wheels, when combined with a hard floor such as wood or laminate can cause the chair to move with the slightest effort. As your employees sit at their desk, twisting, reaching, stretching and even just typing, they may find their chairs starting to walk in the opposite direction. Continually having to shunt the chair back into position, or stretch or lean further to compensate for this are all bad habits which can cause strain injuries over time.

If you decide that hard floors are definitely preferable, then perhaps consider office solutions which includes mats or small areas of carpeting under the chair, or even caster grips in which the castors rest.

It is also worth bearing in mind the noise factor too. Hard floors tend to cause sound to echo and reverberate throughout the office, whereas carpet and other softer materials absorb sound and help keep the office environment sounding quieter and calmer.

With a  great deal of noise bouncing around the office it can be harder to concentrate, increasing the general feeling of stress and decreasing the overall performance and productivity. It is also worth considering the impact as far as heating is concerned, because softer materials such as carpets and rugs, and even curtains, can help to keep heat within the room, whereas harder floors don’t absorb or retain heat as well, acting more as reflectors, meaning heat tends to be lost more quickly.

A harder floor is almost certainly likely to cause you to have to pay more for heating, and it might be worth considering what the difference will be between an extra cost initially for softer flooring compared to ongoing extra costs for heating. However, carpets and flooring is only one element of the office which tends to be forgotten.

The ceiling is another area, and there are two factors to consider here – both the ceiling fabric itself, and the lighting. Lighting can make a huge difference, and bright fluorescent lights can easily cause headaches, with unnatural lighting reflecting off screens and a constant sub audible buzzing which can result in headaches and irritability. Diffused, softer and more natural lighting is best, and being able to take advantage of natural daylight is the best option of all.

But as with hard floors, hard ceilings also tend to increase noise ambience and increase heating costs, so perhaps a lowered ceiling, with softer tiles would be a possible solution to consider. Remember, office interiors doesn’t just mean desks and chairs, consider the office space itself, including walls, floors and ceilings, for overall employee comfort and productivity.

In terms of what is meant by an organically developing office, most office spaces tend to develop over time. There could be a number of factors which are responsible for this development. Expanding the business and taking on more staff is an obvious reason why an office space might develop, and with extra staff inevitably comes the need for extra desk areas, chairs and so forth.

Another reason why office areas tend to adapt and expand is through storage. Although many businesses try to retain as much data on computer and digital media as possible, it is inevitable that we still retain a great deal of documentation in paper form, and along with letterheads, leaflets, promotional materials, reference materials, training documents and so forth it can often become necessary to expand an existing office space.

If the office layout hasn’t been thought through carefully with expanding storage needs in mind, then it can either become the case that the existing storage facilities become over crammed with paper, making it harder to locate important information. Either this, or documentation becomes dropped in a variety of drawers and boxes, making it incredibly difficult to keep track of where everything is. This also brings into question any degree of responsibility for the data, since it can be harder to update the information, store it securely in compliance with legislation, or destroy it once it is no longer relevant.

Another cause of the tendency for office areas to develop and expand organically is the increased use of technology and the development of the technological solutions themselves. From computers which are replaced with newer models to monitors replaced with flat panels, printers, faxes and photocopiers, the technology can adapt and change very rapidly. If your business needs to stay at the top and remain competitive, then it will probably be important for you to take advantage of new technological options and capabilities.

What you do not want to find happening is that you are limited in your choice of technology and digital solutions as a direct result of poor layouts and bad office designing, with desk furniture and office layouts which cannot adapt adequately to new demands.

This is exactly what happened when offices tried to migrate from older bubble jet, inkjet or dot matrix printers to the newer, faster and more professional laser printer. Because of the huge area needed for the laser printer, in many cases it was necessary to dedicate an entire office desk to this one printer. This meant losing a member of staff, perhaps only potentially, but nonetheless it had to be considered which was more useful – a member of staff or a printer.

You do not want to find yourself having to make choices based on limitations. Rather, your choices should be based on what is best for the business. An office layout which allows for development, adaptability and expansion is one which can embrace the undeniable organic nature of most office areas, and provide you with a much greater freedom of choice for the future.

Modular desks are extremely popular, providing the opportunity to create good-looking office spaces quickly, with desks making good use of the space, without creating a crowded appearance. But if you are buying desks based solely upon the number of staff you currently employ, or the number of computers they are using, then be careful not to purchase modular desking or unusual shapes if there is any possibility that you will need to expand or adapt the office in future, since this could result in you having to reduce the quality of the overall appearance by breaking up modules.

If you are starting your layout designs for your office workspace from scratch, then this provides you with a valuable opportunity to give serious consideration to power sockets and network points. All too often offices have to be designed around where the power supplies and network terminals are currently sited, whereas placing the outlets convenient for your layout is a significantly better option.

Plan out your office, and then think about ways in which it could expand in the future, and plan right from the start to provide the option to expand in the future without having to become limited by electrical sockets, network points or existing technological solutions. A good office layout should be designed for the future office, not just the one you’re building in the present.

Since those who work within the offices once they have been finished will greatly affect the profitability and performance of the business, the office needs to be designed in a way which helps them to work to the best of their ability. Factors to consider do not just include how many desks you can squeeze into a building space, but must take into consideration other factors which can affect mood and performance.

Certainly, the number of desks within an office space will make a big difference. If you try to squeeze too many desks into a room or building space then the workers will feel hemmed in and crowded. This can make them feel uncomfortable and stressed, reducing performance.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that in some cases the noise from a neighboring worker on the phone could disturb or interrupt another worker sitting next to them, reducing their ability to concentrate and work effectively. Distribution of noise is a factor easily forgotten or ignored, but one certainly worth considering if you have the chance to do your office planning from scratch.

Although putting too many desks into an office space can prove negative, the same can also be said for trying to put too few desks into the same office area. If an office area is large, and the desks spread out, this doesn’t equate to an improvement in conditions and performance. Instead, there will be two resulting factors: the first is a general feeling of separation and emptiness. This can actually cause employees to feel distant from their colleagues, and can reduce well being and performance.

At the same time, it can also greatly increase your heating costs. Clearly for employees to feel comfortable and work to a good standard they need to feel physically comfortable, and this includes the temperature. With a certain number of employees and a matching quantity of furniture within an office space, heating will be optimal.

However, if you try to cram too many people and too much furniture into a room, the heating costs will be replaced by very expensive air conditioning costs, and if you put too few desks and people into a space, your costs for heating will rise dramatically. Bear these factors in mind when carrying out your office planning and try to determine the optimum number of desks and employees for a particular office space.

The same is true when designing an office area from scratch:  determine the number of office employees, then design the space needed for them from that number. Don’t think you are being kind by providing lots of space, since you will simply be designing inefficiency and dissatisfaction into your business. Most employers make this mistake, and while professional advice is worth its weight in gold on all aspects of office design, it is the one part of a business left to amateurs.

It is also important to take into consideration the logistics involved in a typical working day with employees moving about the office. Although for much of the time they may be sitting at their own desks, it’s important to take into consideration where the toilets or refreshment facilities are, or will be, and how this might impact on the productivity of those working within the office.

Having a desk situated right by the door so that every few minutes people are walking past, going to breaks or returning from them, could reduce the productivity of the person working in that place. Not only will they be distracted, but there could also be regular drafts and noise.

Have you taken into account other facilities such as the photocopier and printers? These can often be quite noisy, and give off a significant amount of heat. If you place these right near a radiator or other heat source, or even close to a window which is likely to let in a good deal of sunlight, then this could spell real problems. If these items become too hot then they could malfunction and break down, costing quite a large sum of money to repair or replace.

Your office planning should take into account the heat sources, both fixed and natural, and place such items further away. This will also help to offset any heating costs, since they will act themselves as heaters in a way, and if positioned further away from the normal heat sources, may help to offset your costs slightly. It’s also worth bearing in mind that where you place such items can also affect productivity.

You do not want to have to have people walking all over the office, trailing past many desks and taking long walks just to fetch pieces of paper or take copies. However, at the same time you don’t want to have noisy, heat generating products situated right next to a desk area because this could result in an uncomfortable environment from the heat, and certainly a noisy or disruptive one. In fact, such items are best located in a small room set aside for the purpose – certainly photocopiers if they are used frequently, though it can be awkward with printers unless networked.

Office planning needs to take into account so many factors, and it is far more than simply working out how many desks will fit into an area and the best way to lay them out. From heat sources to light sources, toilet areas to heating considerations, there’s a great opportunity to get it right if you plan carefully and professionally, well in advance.

Yet there are relatively simple things which can be done to improve office workstation design, and the good news is that not all of the solutions cost money. In some cases it will be important to spend a little extra on order to reap a better level of productivity from your employees, but in some cases it is simply a case of considering all possible factors, and looking around at the influencing features of the office environment and deciding how best the office can be designed and compiled into a single cohesive solution.

After all, if your office is a major hub within your business then it will be important to make sure that those working within such an office environment are able to do so efficiently and safely, and that there should be no causes for a decrease in potential workload or activity.

The morale and general well-being of employees is often deemed to be something which is largely out of the hands of the business, and often blamed on either mood swings, home or finance problems or clashes with others in the workplace. Even employees can sometimes be hard pressed to put a finger on why they may not be having a great day or working as hard they could. Yet all too often it is the design of the office, and the office workstation in particular, which is to blame in part.

Most office workstations these days have a computer of some kind, and clearly it will be of significant importance to make sure that any prolonged use of the computer has been thought through carefully, with the workstation itself, the chair, and the technology all working fluidly together as a solution which maximizes comfort and productivity for the employee.

It will certainly be highly advisable to make sure that the chair provided for your employees has a number of basic adjustments, such as height, tilt, lumbar support and of course a back rest. Arm rests aren’t always necessary, and usually serve relatively little benefit as far as ergonomics are concerned. To be able to raise or lower the chair in order to make sure that the employee’s eyes are level with the monitor is essential, as any tilting of the head can easily result in strain or compression injuries over time, These can be very painful, resulting in twinges or headaches which will undoubtedly result in reduced workflow at the very least.

However, in designing the office workstation itself, have you also considered where you will locate it? There are a number of factors so often ignored or overlooked. Primarily this tends to be because those people designing or planning the office space do so standing up, walking around and looking at the office workstations from angles which are quite different from those which the employee is likely to use.

One such example is placing a workstation in such a way that the employee has their back to the window. How could this be an issue? For two main reasons – firstly the bright sun coming in is almost certainly likely to reflect off the screen. If the workstation has been built to a standard arrangement then the monitor will be on top of the desk, facing the window and reflecting the outside of the office. By forcing the employee to squint against the light, and subconsciously flick focus between the distant reflections and the text on the screen much closer you will be certain to encourage eyestrain and headaches which will reduce productivity.

There is also the fact that the sun may well cause a surge in heat, making the employee feel physically uncomfortable too. So how about switching the workstation to face the window? This then has the problem of causing the employee to look at a screen which is almost silhouetted by the bright light behind. This will also cause eyestrain and headaches.

The best idea is to angle workstations so that there is no direct light either behind or in front of the desk, providing the employees with a screen that is easy to read, positioned at the correct height and has no bright light sources nearby to cause any eye strain or distraction. The office workstation should be designed and positioned from the employee’s point of view, not just the designer’s or the manager’s. Make your office workstation a hub, and not a hole, and allow your employees to work effectively and efficiently without damaging themselves or your business.

So what are the factors which should be taken into consideration when planning office space or reception areas within your business? The easiest way to consider these is to decide who is going to use the space, and what is needed by those who have a responsibility for it or involvement with it.

Almost certainly one of the first groups of people to spring to mind will be those people who will work within the space themselves each day. The employees of the company have to be kept in mind when planning any part of a business, and the reception or office area is no different in this respect.  All too frequently, this is not the case, with overall appeal and business image taking priority over functionality and practicality.

However, if a space is poorly designed from the employees’ perspective, then this can lead to a number of difficulties. If the space is uninviting, garish, too poorly lit or simply drab and clinical then employees may well feel dejected and undervalued. This can in turn lead to lower productivity, high staff turnover and difficulties when it comes to recruitment.

By investing in your employees, making it clear from the start that they form a major part of the space planning project, then this is likely to help boost working and commitment levels. In some cases, businesses have found that by investing considerable time, effort and money into developing highly attractive and interesting working environments they have been able to use this as part of their recruitment program.

This in turn can result in attracting more capable, committed and qualified people, which will in turn lead to increased productivity within your business.  It is perfectly possibly to combine appeal and effective corporate branding with functionality and a respect for the needs of employees. However, it is not only the needs of employees that have to be considered in many office environments, but also the needs of the company in influencing and impressing visitors and potential customers.

Not all office space will be subject to the scrutiny of visitors, but many will, and it has to be accepted that this could be a significant factor in space planning. However, here again it is possible to satisfy what should not necessarily be conflicting requirements. Office space that looks attractive and efficient to visitors will also offer an ambient working environment for employees, and the needs of the projection of corporate branding need not be at odds with the needs of office staff.

These needs will vary from business to business, and the type of industry involved, as well as the corporate brand image you wish to portray, and will affect the space planning concepts from the very start. If your business is dynamic and young, and wishing to portray an energetic, vibrant image then it will be necessary to consider the effective use of space, lighting, color, designer furniture and the overall standard of decor.

Clearly, muted pastels, creams, browns and beige colors will do little to encourage a vibrant sense of energy. Yet, slapping lurid citrus colors everywhere is likely either to blind your customers as they enter the office, or make your employees feel quite nauseous within the first day of working there.

The planning of an office space can take into consideration the shapes of walls and furniture, with sweeping arcs and curves suggesting fluid, easy transactions and business methods, generating a restful and calm appearance. On the other hand, sharp corners and minimalistic designs can indicate a sharper image, more vibrant and active.

However, it is often the combination of factors which will decide the end result, with colors, shapes, general architecture and lighting all adding to the final result, but it is important to have a clear idea of what impression you wish to give to help direct each element of the design.

An important factor to most businesses, particularly right now, is that of cost.  Large office spaces with high ceilings, glass walls and open areas can look good, but when it comes to heating, they can prove to be very costly. Similarly, creating more intimate smaller spaces with lowered ceilings might reduce heating costs, but cut out a good deal of natural light. Not only does natural light contribute to a high degree of employee well-being and productivity, but it significantly less costly than the daytime use of artificial lighting.  It also projects a better image to visitors and potential customers who may themselves be environmentally aware.

This introduces another element, all too often ignored, which is the environment. Today, not only is there a responsibility for all business to try to reduce their carbon footprint, but there is a great amount of kudos available to those businesses that can show such a commitment. Many deals have been signed or rejected as a result of one party’s impression of the other’s environmental policy.

Think about the type of woods used, and from where they are sourced, as well as maximizing natural energies such as daylight and solar heat. Space planning can achieve satisfaction and success across all of these different fields, but it will be important to give them careful consideration from the very start.

Your brand image is everything, and you want that to be backed up by a good first impression of the lay-out and apparent efficiency of your office. Not ostentatious to the point of being vulgar, and not so expensive-looking as to give the impression of profligacy. Potential customers like neither of these things.  You must try to make sure that the physical impression you give represents the ideals and image which your company is trying to give: that it reflects your brand image.

If your company is dynamic, positive, forward thinking and vibrant, then the decor and general surroundings need to show that vibrancy, and appear dynamic.  How this is achieved will depend largely on the space that you have available for your reception office area, and in some cases this might be fairly small, limiting you in many ways. Having said that, large spaces can create just as many challenges, and can project a false image of your company as sacrificing space and resources to your reception area where it might be more profitably be expended elsewhere.

Another point worth making is the fact that, although it is easy to imagine ways in which your business can portray a vibrant image or a calming environment, you will need to convey the impression that you care about your clients. Simple things can help to improve the chances of giving this impression, but it takes careful thinking to get it right.

For example, as customers walk into your reception office, is the receptionist sitting behind a large desk presenting something of a barricade, with pens chained to the desk and hard plastic chairs available, making it quite clear that they cost a great deal less than the leather upholstered, padded armchair that the receptionist is enjoying?

An open reception area, with a receptionist slightly angled or to one side can reduce any impression of confrontation, and by having a comfortable lounge or seating area for customers, you can help to improve their perception of you as a company. Don’t forget that for many potential customers, the receptionist and the space in which he or she works is their first introduction to your company.

Have you considered taking the opportunity to provide reading material or promotional literature, and including some coffee tables of other occasional tables with promotional products or literature on you are providing the ideal opportunity for customers to enter your reception office, feel comfortable and at ease, and enjoy taking on board some of your products or services in a more relaxed and open way.

Along with the furniture and reading material comes with the training of the receptionist and an offer of drinks when they are seated. Make them not only comfortable, but also feel as though they are valuable to you.  You can also take this opportunity to impress your environmental policies upon your visitors.
Increasingly today, people are aware of ways in which businesses and retail outlets use energy in poor ways, and it is not only business managers who are aware of what is meant by a carbon footprint.

You might have included a number of large open windows in your office design, but as a result of poor planning have to cover them with blinds to prevent the dazzle of bright sunshine on display screens and the like. You then have to power up several dozen powerful halogen lamps to light the office:  what message is this conveying to your visitors about your environmental integrity or awareness?

Instead, take the opportunity to design your reception area to maximize light, but minimize reflections on screens, maximize sunlight, thus minimizing on heating, maximizing on natural materials, but minimizing on their implicit carbon footprint. Using local materials rather than those shipped from overseas is a good start. It should then be possible to make these points known to visiting clients and customers through the incidental distribution of promotional products and services in the seating area.

Another point to consider is maintenance, and clearly it will be important to make sure that the reception area can be kept clean and tidy fairly easily, since this will likely be the busiest part of the office area, with people walking in from outside, doors constantly opening, with the potential for scuffs, dirt, litter and dust.

For this reason, take care to plan your reception office area in such a way that it doesn’t create problems, such as carpeting right up to the front door, coffee machines placed on pale colored carpets, and myriad ledges for the purpose of collecting dust.  If you bear in mind your first impression, your maintenance costs and work, as well as your impact on the environment, then the lasting impression is likely to be as positive as it deserves.