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Category: Office Furniture (page 3 of 3)

3 Ways To Make Workspace A Happier Place

Returning to work after the summer holidays can be a depressing experience for some people. You get used to all that sunshine and miss all that relaxation. Going back to work needn’t be stress however and there is a lot you can do to cheer up your work environment…

Add some greenery
Office plants are all the rage as people like to see a bit of nature in their workspace. Being amongst plants and trees is supposed to be good for us and it’s easy to bring a bit of that into the office with a few potted plants.

Get a personalised mug
Personalised mugs are great for adding personality and humour to your tea or coffee times. You can have your mugs personalised to your personality so nobody is left in doubt over who it belongs to. They also look a lot nicer on your desk than a plain old mug.

Tidy up those cables
Cables can take up a lot of space unnecessarily. You can banish this issue by purchasing some cable organisers so that they can all be tied up and stored out of sight. You could even invest in a new desk which has holes in giving the cables somewhere to go. So many desks don’t actually have this simple method of keeping cables out of sight.

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.

Why Office Carpet Choice Matters

May 20, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments

How many offices do you go into with drab looking or worn out carpets? Carpets say as much about a business as walls and furniture so it’s important to pay attention to the quality and colour of your carpets is you want to project the right image of your business to clients and customers.

Of course not every business owner will have control over the colour of their carpet. If an office is rented it can be hard to convince the landlord to change the carpet but if you do have the freedom, then a new carpet is a great way to start transforming the look and feel of your office.

If for example your business is involved in websites or graphic design, you might want to select bright bold patterns whereas if you run an accountants, then a neutral toned more conservative carpet might be a better choice.

Pattern is also important. Plain office carpet can be dull and boring so having some kind of pattern even if it’s subtle can transform an office space. The carpet can even match your company branding.

Today there are no hard and fast rules on carpet choice and lots of inspiration available on websites such as Pinterest

Is It Time You Had An Office Refurb?

May 5, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments

In business you’re either growing or you’re shrinking so it’s important to always be moving forward and that includes the design of your office.

Taking care of the office, however, often ends up low on the priority list during busy periods or when a lot of effort is being put into growing a business. Yet appearances should never be ignored and your office will provide prospective clients and customers with their first impression of your business when they walk through the door.

If your office is looking a bit tired and dated, then refurbishing your office can freshen things up and inspire confidence. It is often the smaller details that contribute to business growth and a well maintained modern office can create the kind of lasting impression that provides a good return on your investment.

Also with the holidays fast approaching staff are likely to have their minds on their next holiday and if their surroundings are dull and drab this will only hamper productivity. So there you have it. Refurbishing that tired old office might actually pay for itself with all the benefits it provides.

If you would like to find out more about our office refurbishment services, give us a call today.

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.

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.

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.