While the offices of the past used to consist of tight, separate cubicles, the modern offices are increasingly embracing a wider and more open office design where there are no borders between employees. These open plan workspaces allow for more communication between co-workers which is a great way to boost team spirit and inject some fun into the typical workday. With that being said, if you want to create an open plan office that increases productivity and employee satisfaction, here are some tips to help you.
Create Separate Zones with Furniture Instead of Walls
While keeping the space open should be your biggest aim, if it's not properly organised into separate zones, it can feel overwhelming and cluttered. To help your employees make better sense of the space, try to use a variety of commercial office furniture to denote different areas of the workspace. For instance, a large couch turned with its back to the desks can help separate the space for lounging from the space of working. You can also use bookshelves to separate different teams, thus providing each team with more privacy. Bookshelves can also add a bit of soundproofing which can help workers concentrate better.
Set Up a Common Area for Breaks and Meetings
Since an open space can become loud and distracting when people are eating or having phone calls on their desks, it's important to have a separate room for breaks. Outfit the room with super long tables, which you can find at a business selling commercial office furniture, and comfy chairs. Besides for breaks, it would be a nice practice if you use the same room to have quick meetings over coffee or a snack. Instead of having a long and stressful talk at the end of the month, you can discuss the progress of work throughout the week.
Invest in Ergonomic Desks and Chairs
In order for your employees to stay happy and productive, they need to be healthy and pain-free. And since sitting throughout the day isn't exactly healthy and can lead to all sorts of issues like back and neck pain, it's important to counter its effects with the ergonomically designed commercial office furniture. A great solution to the problem of prolonged sitting can be a sit-stand desk. This type of desk has a unique mechanism which allows you to adjust its height throughout the day. So, you can raise it whenever you want to stand up and spread your legs without having to leave the task at hand.
However, workers are still encouraged to sit as standing for long periods of time is also not recommended. So, to help prevent back and neck pain associated with sitting, make sure to provide your employees with ergonomic chairs. This is an important tip to remember for every kind of office, whether open space or traditional.
