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Category: Millennium Storage and Interiors (page 13 of 17)

How important Is The Office Environment To Your Staff?

With competition for the best staff heating up in some sectors, it can be a mistake for SME business owners to ignore the office environment and expect staff to sit on broken chairs and work on shabby desks.

So much so that when old office furniture was replaced, a study the British Council of Offices found that output increased by 23% which in business terms can mean the difference between success and failure.

Yet many company bosses fail to see the impact shabby offices have on staff morale. Lack of natural light, dark rooms and draughts can really begin to demotivate staff overtime particularly if they are required to spend the best part of their lives in these environments.

Worse still many staff can end up depressed and demotivated and this can end up having a knock-on effect to other members of staff. 40% of people consider the availability of natural light the most important factor when it comes to the office environment.

Lack of natural light can sometimes be compensated for with good lighting, however if that lighting is also poor then staff are twice as likely to feel depressed and three times more likely to feel that it impacts on their productivity.

Drones Set To Power A Warehouse Boom

April 11, 2017 / admin / 0 Comments

Drones may be a relatively new technology but they are about to become the next stage in a retail revolution that is transforming not only the way we shop but also the how goods are stored and distributed.

Amazon drones are already grabbing the headlines and ecommerce stores which were once simply a complement to established high street chains are now available to anyone who wants to set upo an online shop.

Yet even with drones and the internet doing a lot of the work, there is still the basic need to store those products and the simple warehouse is set to become a big draw for investors who sense that the returns in this sector are set to boom.

While drone technology is yet to become commonplace with issues such as the amount of drones that might be flying around at any given time, it is clear where things are heading. Drones are capable of dropping off an order less than 20 minutes after a button is clicked on a website.

The amount of infrastructure required to meet the demand for this type of service will spark a scramble for available warehouse space.

According to the latest figures, online shopping now accounts for 15% of all UK sales. Worldwide, ecommerce transactions are set to hit $4trn dollars by 2020.

Should Workplace Design Reflect Your Branding?

March 26, 2017 / admin / 0 Comments

How many workplaces do you know that have interior spaces that reflect their branding?

Depending on how many you will have seen the answer is probably not many. Workplaces that reflect company branding are hard to find in most business sectors unless they appreciate just how important branding is to company culture as well as perceptions from the outside.

If you business is branding then there is a good chance you already appreciate how everything present in a business from its philosophy and culture to its furniture should reflect the brand.

It also shouldn’t be forgotten, that when customers and clients arrive at your workplace, their perception of your business can be greatly influenced by what they are seeing around them for the first time.

As everyone knows first impressions are important. If an office has a nice contemporary design that reflects the branding and colours of the business, then this will make those clients and customers feel more secure about doing business with your company.

For staff too, it’s important for them to buy into company culture and the work environment should encourage this by creating a clear sense of identity. Simply spreading a few brochures on meeting and coffee tables is not enough to make those employees feel part of an organisation that is going places.

Ditch the Beach Huts And Straw Bales, Employees Prefer Better Technology!

March 13, 2017 / admin / 0 Comments

When it comes to office furniture removals, there is a growing trend towards useless items like slides, and other non-essential gimmicky furniture and apparatus into storage as businesses slowly realise that staff consider them secondary to better technological facilities to make work easier.

Many businesses have decided to jump onto bandwagon with all manner of playful additions to the office to the extent that it is unusual to enter decent sized city centre office without seeing areas to play pool, table tennis or both.

While there is nothing wrong with adding these sorts of elements into offices, they shouldn’t be added at the expense of more essential office items such as technological equipment. At least if you’re a business owner who wants to keep staff happy.

A recent study found that 79% of workers view reliable technology as more important than how the office looks. The survey appears to show that typical workers would rather see investment in things that make their jobs easier so that they can be more productive.

If you are an office owner considering ping pong tables, hammocks and so on, spare a thought for what staff really want. Play and rest areas may well be a waste of money if nobody has the time while at work to use them.

How To Make Pallet Storage In Industrial Warehouses More Efficient

February 20, 2017 / admin / 0 Comments

One of the first things to do when you have identified a warehouse suitable for your storage needs is to assess how that space is used for optimum efficiency.

To do this you will need a storage professional to help you not only help plan how the space will be used but also increase the profitability of your warehouse. Of course a lot about planning your space will depend on the kinds of products you will be storing and how much traffic is likely to be entering and exiting the building.

When it comes to the pallets themselves there are three important areas to keep think about:

The size of products
The ideal use of space is to store your products according to their common sizes although this may not always be possible. The focus either way should be to keep the fastest moving products nearest the exit door so that productivity can be maximised.

The number of pallets
When calculating how many pallets you need to fill the available rack space you should also allow for growth in stock levels over time.

The size of your pallets
It is important to allow some clearance around your pallets rather than have them tightly packed together. A forklift truck should have enough room to pick a pallet out of each slot without risking damage to surrounding products.

There are of course plenty of other factors to consider including the rent per sq ft and so on but the above should help get you started. If you need more information please don’t hesitate to contact us.

How to create a positive workplace

February 10, 2017 / admin / 0 Comments

It’s often surprising to see how closely some offices resemble the TV version of the office with positivity at best on a par with the staff of Wernham Hogg. While not all of this is down the design and layout of office space, positive office design can at least go some way towards reducing the negative impact of inconsiderate managers and bosses.

One thing is certain, a negative work environment is not just bad for miserable staff members, it can also spread throughout the organisation leading eventually to apathy, lack of motivation and reduced productivity.

Some simple tweaks to the design and layout can have a surprisingly positive effect on everyone in the organisation if carefully thought out.

The introduction of more attractive office furniture will be welcomed by staff members particularly if desks and chairs are looking like they have seen better days.

Another important part of designing a positive office is to introduce a sense of fun. While work time shouldn’t always be fun time, having a laugh and perhaps a game of pool or table tennis with colleagues can give some release from day-to-day monotony. We all as humans like to be rewarded for our hard work.

Lastly areas should be well lit, and there should be plenty of space to move around in. There is nothing worse than being stuck in an office day after day in a crowded room full of colleagues you may not necessarily get on well with.

Will We See A Revolution Workplace Design In 2017?

January 21, 2017 / admin / 0 Comments

2016 proved to be a quite a year and in the future historians will probably look on it as a key turning point in the history of the world but what can we expect in 2017? Will change be coming to the workplace environment or has change already been happening before our eyes even if we don’t really notice it?

With so-called millennials joining generation x in demanding more flexible workspaces that help provide a better work life balance changes have already been taking place. These have been led by leading tech companies in the US where corporate spaces have been transformed from traditional office layouts with a room for the boss and a boardroom to modular open plan collaborative workspaces that incorporate areas for entertainment, refreshment and so on.

Greater awareness of health issues in the workplace have also seen more notice taken of ergonomics. Business owners have realised that healthy workplaces make for happier more productive staff.

In 2017 the biggest thing we can expect is more of the same. With technology moving forward at a rapid rate and remote working now far easier than it ever was in the past, many offices have now become little more than meet-up spaces. Ironically the great technological advances we have witnessed in the offices has actually inspired and will continue to inspire a more human centred approach to workplace design.

How To Do Employee Focused Office Design In 2017

January 13, 2017 / admin / 0 Comments

Office design for big businesses has come a long way in the past decade but what about smaller businesses?

Those business owners who don’t pay attention to their office layouts can risk alienation, lower productivity and an increase in sick leave among staff.

It doesn’t have to be this way, however, for those business owners stuck in the past with compartmentalised and unhealthy offices.

Creating spaces that staff will enjoy spending their time in doesn’t necessarily need to cost the earth. Simple measures such as bringing in more light, be it artificial or ideally natural can make a huge difference to productivity levels.

The same could be said for creating more mobile spaces where staff can feel comfortable moving around rather than feel that they must be seated for an entire 8 hour shift.

A common problem at this time of year is inadequate heating. Simply turning up the temperature during cold spells can make a big difference to staff morale, for a the comparatively small extra expense.

Those business owners who fail to think about their employees’ work environment could risk losing their best staff members and face a struggle to replace them.

5 Modern Office Fads They Thought Would Never Catch On

December 20, 2016 / admin / 0 Comments

Back in the old days the office was somewhere most people wanted to escape from. Nowadays some employees probably find work more comfortable than home particularly with the proliferation of office entertainment and other fads. Here are some of the biggest fads they thought would never catch on…

Treadmill desks
Apparently if you sit down for the best part of 8 hours a day you are putting yourself at risk of all kinds of illnesses. The solution to this is the treadmill desk. This allows workers to get up and walk while they work so they can be on a physical as well as mental treadmill.

The office slide
Many people laughed when they saw Google’s office slide. They’re not laughing now that other big tech companies have fitted them in their office playgrounds.

Table tennis
Table tennis pool tables and other areas to play games have become common place in trendy offices around the country. What better way to unwind after a hard day staring at the computer screen?

Hot desks
These are temporary desks used by staff who like to do their work on the fly. Dated back to some time in the 1990s you still see them in offices today, although habits are changing due to the increased mobility modern technology provides.

The sleep pod
Apparently we should all be having two naps a day to perform at our optimum level. The solution to this is the office sleep pod. More likely to be found in trendy techie type companies, the pods help keeps everyone fresh so they can continue changing the world.

4 Pieces of Advice On Choosing and Installing Office Furniture

December 10, 2016 / admin / 0 Comments

Choosing, ordering and fitting office furniture can be a quite a challenge even for smaller businesses but there is a lot you can do to make the process as stress free as possible. The following five tips should prevent you from making some of the most common mistakes.

Don’t look simply at the price
While getting a large discount or seemingly finding office furniture at a bargain price might give you some satisfaction, this can be short-lived if shipping costs are high and the furniture isn’t of sufficient quality to survive heavy use.

Plan for when your business grows
It is easy to focus on present staff members and their needs rather than look at the future when you may be hiring new staff members. It will often be cheaper to add extra desks chairs and so on to your order rather than buy them separately later on.

Take advantage of office fit-out services
An office fit-out company can help you plan measure and use space more efficiently. They might even save you money in the long term with the experience they can bring to the table.

Don’t be afraid to ask for discounts, offers and other perks
Suppliers might be only too willing to give you a discount and you may be able to ask for samples of what you are buying to make sure your desk colour suits your overall colour scheme.