At Future Fitouts, we want to share our biggest office design for productivity tips with you to help boost motivation and productivity at your workplace.
7 Office Design for Productivity Tips to Incorporate in Your Next Fitout
Office Furniture
Do you have ergonomically designed chairs in your office?
Ergonomic chairs can do wonders for your posture and are the most comfortable seating options around for anyone working at a computer all day. Poorly designed office chairs can actually do harm to your back, especially if you have to sit in the chair for extended periods of time.
According to Spine Health, the ideal ergonomic office chairs should have adjustable seat height, reasonable width and depth for comfortable support and most importantly, lower back support that suits the inward curve of their lower back.
When sitting at an office desk, follow these simple ergonomic checks to ensure you’re perfectly positioned to work comfortably:
- Rest your feet flat on the floor or on a footrest.
- Position your monitor below or at eye level.
- Position the chair so it’s slightly reclined to minimise pressure on your spine.
When furniture is chosen and installed in your office fitout, the comfort of the user should always be in mind. When you’re comfortably seated at your office desk, you’re far more likely to be focused and productive.
Lighting
Lighting is often overlooked in an office design, but it’s something that can really have an effect on the mood and productivity of an office. Too many bright lights can cause:
- Headaches
- Irritability
- Eyestrain
- Fatigue
Not having enough light can also drop the mood at your workplace.
You can turn these problems into solutions by simply changing your lighting!
Positioning Lights – In your office design, all lights should be evenly spaced apart, providing an even spread of brightness across the entire office.
Type of Bulbs – When choosing the best type of light bulb, halogen lights are ideal for offices as this bright white light mimics the look of natural daylight. Fluorescent bulbs are also commonly found in offices and are another worthwhile choice.
Bulb Brightness – When choosing the brightness of your bulbs, House Logic recommends selecting a bulb with 3,000 – 6,000 lumens to produce the ideal amount of brightness for your office.
Natural Light – We also recommend opening up blinds or curtains to let natural light in where possible.
Simplicity
Great design can transform any bland office into a creative and inspiring hub, however, there is such a thing as ‘too much design’ where colours and patterns clash. A neon feature wall or a vibrant three toned carpet, for example, can often be too much to take in and have an adverse impact on productivity. In fact, poor design features can act as a distraction rather than an enhancement.
Same goes for adding too many ‘things’ to your space. It is hard to focus and stay productive with excessive colours, patterns and items around to distract you.
They say a cluttered space reflects a cluttered mind, so go back to basics and keep your look clean and simple while also being stylish and classy.
Getting the balance right to create a beautiful yet simplistic design that enhances productivity can be achieved! Choose your colours wisely, cut back on clutter and your employees will thrive.
Colours
Colour is proven to affect our moods and how our brain functions, and you can take advantage of this by choosing the right colour for your office walls.
This infographic from Entrepreneur.com offers a great insight into how each colour impacts on productivity levels. Use this as a guide to evoke the mood you’re after in your workplace.
And remember our tip about simplicity – Don’t overdo it with colour. Use it tactfully and tastefully to evoke the right mood without overwhelming the space.
Layout
If you work in a medium to large firm with multiple departments, it really helps to divide up your space so each department has an area to call their own.
When like-minded employees who share the same goals, tasks and clients are in the same environment together, it boosts productivity in the workplace. This can be done by putting up dividers or creating whole new rooms.
Simply improving the flow of your office with departments, rooms and thoroughfares laid out in the most logical and efficient way possible will also reduce frustrations and improve the function of the whole office immensely.
Noise Reduction
One of the biggest distractions and drains on productivity is noise. With so many people working in a space at once, there’s always bound to be noise. There are many ways to handle this.
You could consider sound absorption wall panels so that sounds can’t be heard between rooms and offices.
If you have an open office plan, simple partitions and wall dividers can do wonders for acoustics and reduce sound levels a great deal for minimal effort.
You could also re-design your office to allocate specific tasks or departments to their own rooms. Some tasks or jobs may require more discussion and noise than others. These workers should be allocated to their own area, while others who need a quiet environment to stay focused can work in peace.
Nature
We all need to take our eyes off the computer screen every once and a while at work, but rather than look at a blank wall, studies show that we should be looking at nature instead to improve our productivity, happiness and stress levels.
For this reason, every workplace should break up that blank office space with a bit of nature. Whether that be having larger windows to view the outside world every once in a while, or indoor plants to bring a bit of the outdoors indoors, being around the natural environment reduces stress and boosts productivity.
Looking Transformative Office Design for Productivity? Future Fitouts Can Help!
It can be hard to envision how a new design can be implemented in your office to boost productivity. That’s why our team at Future Fitouts are here to help! We can develop the ultimate fitout design with you to meet your productivity goals.
If you would like to learn more about office design for productivity and want to work with office fitout professionals who are just as enthusiastic about transforming your office as you are, call our team at Future Futouts on 1300 368 461 or get in touch with us online today.
Updated 19/01/2021