The look and feel of a workplace has a significant impact on an individual’s day and a company as a whole. While designs can (and indeed should) vary from office to office, some features are beneficial to any workplace. Lilli Hender, from workplace experts Office Genie, discusses the key office design elements every business should consider adopting.  

An effective way to approach an office redesign is by thinking of the different tasks that go on in the day and creating or adapting spaces to suit them. Sometimes referred to as ‘workplace zoning’, this strategy enables a single office to contain multiple working environments. Introducing the three following areas can be great for boosting productivity, workplace wellbeing and team spirit:

Sit-stand area

When sitting for long periods of time can negatively affect your health in a variety of ways, it makes sense for businesses to implement strategies to tackle this. Sit-stand desks (or simply standing desks) are becoming an increasingly-popular solution.

They help break up the time spent at a desk and are particularly helpful for short tasks. Adding a bank of these desks to an unused area or the back of the office means they won’t have to impact every day working habits but a health-friendly alternative is available.  

Break out space

A relatively new addition to the office as we know it, breakout spaces provide employees with a relaxed area distinct from their desk and formal meeting rooms. They usually consist of a comfortable seating area with a surface on which to rest your laptop (or latte).

Breakout spaces can be used at lunch time and they’re a great location to take company calls and hold informal meetings. Comfy chairs and sofas can also give the workplace a homelier, more welcoming feel.

Communal kitchen

Good working relationships help you feel content in your job and happy to go to work, therefore anything that can be done to facilitate this is a good idea. The kitchen should be an area in which people socialise and unwind with their colleagues during their lunch break.

To prevent people from feeling isolated, larger tables can help to encourage larger group conversations. That said, people also like their own space so you need a big enough kitchen to enable people to make tea and prepare and eat their food without inconveniencing others.

The best of the rest

Outside of workplace zoning, there are a few factors that it can also be useful to take into account:

• Colour: Various studies and colour psychologists have found employees respond well to yellow, blue, red, and green. A splash of colour helps to brighten up a space and lift people’s moods.
• Branding: The workplace is ultimately a reflection of the company occupying it so make it as personalised as possible. Reinforce positive company values and proudly display your logo and your work.  
• Plants: Both aesthetically pleasing and profoundly useful, plants will cleanse the air and help to prevent the feeling of being cooped up inside.

Designing or re-designing an office is a big project so the more support you have onboard, the better. Getting staff involved can also be a great way to engage them with the company.

Overall, if you place wellbeing, practicality and productivity at the core of your focus, you’ll end up with an office that suits not only your workplace needs but your wants too.