Do you want a workplace that encourages your employees to be more productive? Here 8 creative tips for designing an organized office space.
Do your employees have low productivity? Or do you believe that there’s still room to improve? Redesigning your office might be the key.
Office design affects the productivity level of employees. However, this doesn’t only pertain to the aesthetics of the office. If it looks good yet is disorganized, employees can still suffer from low productivity.
To produce more and better output, your employees need a good environment. You can provide this by having an organized office space with the following tips.
- Purging Junk and Files
The first step to organizing the workspace is purging all the unused equipment and old files. Throw out anything you or your employees don’t use anymore.
It could be a printer that’s always broken. You might as well throw it out to gain more space for other items — like a new printer that works.
The best way to go about this is to purge one area at a time. Take the time to go into your file room, too. Anything you can digitize, do it now so you can throw them out later.
There’s a way to keep the filing room neat and organized, but we’ll get to that later.
- More Defined Spaces, Less Open Space
The idea of an open working plan is to encourage collaboration and creativity. It became the mark of a modern office that breaks the traditional walls.
However, studies show it’s not bringing the results it’s meant to bring. The employees in this kind of workspace atmosphere have lower satisfaction and productivity.
Instead of going this route, create and define different spaces in your office. Allot a space for collaboration, and then design it in a way that will encourage that interaction. You can also use smaller spaces for individuals who need some quiet, or you may also give them a space for bonding.
If you’re concerned with going modern for your office design, having spaces without desks is a nice compromise.
- Optimizing the Office Layout
The next step for an organized office is a great floor plan. Employees should have easy access to all rooms and spaces. The more often they have to use a space, the closer it should be.
If it takes them 10 minutes to go to the bathroom because they have to pass by several rooms, that’s a bad layout. It decreases productivity because it wastes their time.
In shorter terms, your employees should not have to go through a maze to get to places.
- Considering the Equipment Placement
While figuring out a good layout for your office, think about the proximity of your equipment to your employees. Are they able to use the printer in only a few steps? What about the suppliers they use daily?
Keep these things in mind while designing your office, not only the rooms. Anything essential to their work should always be within reach.
As for the supplies, keep them well-organized but well within range, as well. Keep the papers close to the copying machines, for example. Likewise, the filing folders should be near the cabinets.
For things employees don’t use often, it’s okay to put these in a room or a cabinet farther from the desks.
- Creating Movement Opportunities
This might contradict the previous point, but this tip keeps your employees healthy and, by extension, productive.
It prevents them from being stagnant at their desk. Research suggests that for every 20 minutes you’re sitting, you must stand for 8 minutes and then move for 2 minutes.
In that regard, placing the machines far enough (but not too far) to get your employees moving will do the trick.
The five-minute trip to the bathroom, for example, can refresh their minds. This can help them overcome a wall and regain their momentum.
A short break spent in the water cooler has the same effect, and even the short walk to the filing room can do wonders.
- Creating an Organized Filing System
Speaking of files, it’s time you take a trip to your filing rooms and realize the chaos. It’s not unusual, but if you want more productive employees, don’t let them stress out over your filing system.
Reorganize the room to include more cabinets, shred the unimportant files, and develop a filing system that will ensure the files will be easy to locate afterward. Keep all your client files in one corner, for example, and then your employee files in the other.
Don’t forget to hold a meeting to teach your employees how to use the new system.
- Improving the Lighting
Natural light makes for a healthy work environment, and it may be the best perk you can give them. Having no access to natural light can make your employees gloomy, lacking motivation, and prone to illness.
Installing large windows to let as much light as possible is ideal. If your office can’t have windows, however, consider a smart lighting system.
This can sync with and mimic natural light outside. In particular, it mimics the color of natural light throughout the day. Daylight is bluish-white, while the afternoon light is more orange.
- Controlling the Noise Level
Noise has a lot of negative effects on your employees. Aside from less productivity, they also have lower job satisfaction and more stress. This may be one of the reasons why open floor plans aren’t successful.
For a positive work environment, control the noise using noise. You can hide speech, computer sounds, and more by distributing white noise through your speaker systems.
You can also reduce the noise levels by moving the machines creating a lot of noise. Printers and copiers should go where noise won’t be an issue. Having a separate room for them is ideal.
Get an Organized Office
Having an organized office space will not only boost productivity. It will also boost your employees’ happiness. If you need help, don’t hesitate to contact a professional office designer to help you with designing a good working space.
For more tips, feel free to check out more of our guides. You can discover more tips and tricks with our library of helpful posts today!
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