Office Space - Millennium Storage and Interiors Blog | Millennium Storage and Interiors

Category: Office Space (page 3 of 4)

Why You Should Consider A Custom Office Design

The workplace is evolving into something that would be unrecognisable to a time traveller from the 1980s where workplaces were all fairly similar and often as grey as the faces of staff forced to work 9-5 in them.

There are plenty of offices like this still around but this often says as a lot about those businesses who opt for old fashioned offices offering little to no joy for employees and prospective customers when they first walk through the door.

A custom-made office goes a step further than simply changing the layout, adding some furniture and a new paint job. A custom office will be designed and fitted around your business and the way your business uses the space.

So in this sense you are not getting a one size fits all office but one that is designed to enhance every area of your business from its image, to productivity and ideas as that space becomes more collaborative.

A custom-made office requires a detailed consultation not just on layout but what works best for your business. Only then can a truly custom-made design be put together with the choice of fixtures and fittings.

If you want to find out more about our office fitting services contact us today.

How To Keep Your Staff Motivated On Hot Summer Days

June 20, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments

Most of us look forward to some hot sunny days in the summer but when you’re in the office it isn’t much fun at all particularly if you are working all day. So here’s some advice on how to improve the office environment to keep your staff motivated and productive.

Ensure Everyone drinks enough water
It might sound obvious but drinking plenty of water can limit the effects of heat. Access to clean cool drinking water is something every office should have. Mood, memory and energy levels can all be affected by dehydration which is something you may want your employees to avoid.

Keep the work place bright and airy
Nobody wants to be stuck in a dark stuffy office on a hot day and the type of furniture you choose can make a big difference to how bright your office is. Ensure enough natural light is allowed into the spaces around your offices and open windows if necessary.

Arrange some outdoor time
Why not arrange some time out of the office for your staff in prolonged heatwave conditions. A bit of team building will keep things interesting and if it is held outdoors, staff won’t feel like they are missing out on the sunshine.

Have Office Reception Areas Really Changed That Much?

June 1, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments

Considering the fact that reception areas provide people with the first impression of your business, it is surprising to find that there hasn’t been much change since the 1980s in some cases.

In the 1980s you might have been greeted with a reception area that was fairly sombre with a desk a row of chairs and a receptionist either typing or sitting reading a magazine. Fast forward to the 1990s and you have the more widespread and visible use of office computers and a more open plan approach to the reception area.

Perhaps even an old sofa would be provided for clients to sit and wait before they are welcomed in to the main building. You will still see plenty of examples of these 80s and 90s office receptions around to this day.

The modern reception is all about creating a warm friendly space where visitors can feel at ease. If we take the examples of Google’s office reception areas you have multi-coloured playful furniture or comfortable curved sofas which look more like a nursery than a grown up place to work.

This is of course the type of image Google likes to project of course and this is the secret of a good reception layout. It must fit with the company image and have your branding clearly visible to leaf a lasting impression on your clients and customers.

3 Important Boardroom Design Considerations

March 10, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments

The boardroom is the hub of your organisation where all the big decisions and deals are often made so it is important to make it a space fit for these purposes. With this in mind, here are our three most important boardroom design considerations.

Furniture
A tired old boardroom is likely to induce that same feeling of lethargy in meetings and conference calls. Investing in some new boardroom furniture including comfortable chairs and the right bright colours will liven up meetings and may even inspire more creativity.

Acoustics
The inside of your boardroom should at the very least be well insulated from outside noise from phones ringing and general chatter from staff outside. It should also have good acoustics on the inside so that everyone can be heard no matter where they happen to be seated.

IT Infrastructure
There is nothing worse than spending valuable time in the boardroom fiddling with monitors and fumbling around trying to get equipment connected. If you have potential clients sitting in your boardroom witnessing this, it will do little to inspire confidence in your business. A boardroom should be the flagship part of your office space and that should include seamless technology.

Planning A New Office Refurb or Layout? Trends to Watch Out for in 2018

February 27, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments

At this time of year we always see plenty of articles and guides as to what can be expected from office design for the year ahead.

As ever this year there are some familiar trends and a few emerging ones to keep an eye on if you want to keep your finger on the pulse.

If you have ever heard of the terms biophilic office design and ergonomics, and collaborative workspaces, then you will not be surprised to hear that none of them are going out of fashion any time soon.

When we talk about biophilic office design we are talking about bringing nature in. So important things like natural life and greenery and even the view out of the window can bring great benefits because a connection with the natural world is something all us human beings require to be healthy. Ergonomics, meanwhile, focuses on the body and how comfort and maximum efficiency can be achieved.

According to the latest research a focus on these areas is something we can expect to see a lot more of as office working environments continue to evolve in 2018 and beyond.

Important Things To Consider In A Modern Office Design

July 10, 2017 / admin / 0 Comments

So you want to plan an office layout that will keep all your staff happy and productive? This might sound like a straightforward task but getting it right means balancing out a variety of factors including the following…

The size of your space
The size of your office will have the biggest impact on your decisions. If you have a large office space, then the challenge is whether to create a light open plan or build in cubicles. Most contemporary offices adopt the former approach creating collaborative spaces for staff, however open plan spaces can prove to be distracting. Smaller spaces meanwhile can be challenging and staff can become demotivated and unhappy if they feel closed off.

Exposed Offices
If you have an office that is visible to members of the public, clients and guests, then it is important to maintain a professional appearance. Perhaps the more playful office designs adopted by trendy business are not best suited to exposed glass fronted offices if it appears staff are busy playing table tennis rather than working.

Acoustics
Spaces large and small can benefit from careful consideration of acoustics. Excessive noise can be stressful for staff and reduce productivity. A few simple measures to dampen noise levels can work wonders.

Time and Space
How long are people going to linger in different areas of your office. Will you provide hot desks for staff who regularly work from home? In these cases space can be saved and equipment can be kept to a minimum freeing up space for other purposes in smaller offices

Should You Go Google With Your Office Design

June 20, 2017 / admin / 0 Comments

Google’s influence on our lives cannot be understated and its office layouts have become an inspiration for many companies hoping to copy its office design styles. But is a Google style office right for your business?

When people were first introduced to the inside of a group of offices known as the Googleplex they were puzzled by the all the toys it contained. At first people viewed the whole thing as a gimmick and many will have laughed at staff working near sand volleyball courts or taking time out on adventure playgrounds.

It wasn’t long before people stopped laughing and started to imitate what they saw until Google style offices with dedicated leisure and play areas for staff became almost commonplace particularly among tech companies keen to attract staff to their playful work environments.

Like all fashions, however, there are signs that the playful office design layout might be coming to an end or at least it will be toned down. Design magazines are already suggesting that staff are fed up with the noise of co-workers having fun which could be detrimental to business.

While Google has no plans to ditch its playful office spaces, the many smaller businesses around the world adopting their approach might well be considering a change of direction to something that appeals to all staff rather than just the few who like to play while at work.

3 Ways To Impress Millennials With Your Office Design

June 10, 2017 / admin / 0 Comments

As time moves on so does the age of your employees and most office chairs will now be filled by a generation of people collectively known as millennials or those born between the early 1980s and just after the year 2000. As millennials are now so essential to businesses, how do you go about attracting them and keeping them in your office rather than those of the competition?

Most millennials don’t like conventional offices
If you want to retain your younger staff members it’s time to ditch the traditional office layout and go for something less conventional. Millennials despite their reputation are hard working on the whole as well as being career focused. They can be trusted to work in collaborative spaces with flexible furniture.

Millennials Want To See Up-To-Date Technology
Some business owners are hopelessly out of touch with technology and these are the ones that tend to have a high staff turnover. No self-respecting millennial is going to want to work in an office and make do with poor outdated equipment when they have superior technology at home.

Flexibility
The days of travelling to work every day and going through the motions from 9 am until 5pm are coming to an end for many private firms. Flexible working is now demanded by many people as is a flexible approach working remotely. IT infrastructure should be set up to allow this and enable millennials to enjoy a better work life balance.

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.

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.