Office design can encompass everything from a new breakout area or a new-look reception to new furniture or a full fit out – and everything in-between.
As we’ve highlighted in previous articles, office design has changed over the years. It now focusses more on employee needs and how office design can impact productivity, creativity and morale. It looks to encompass different ways of working including activity based, agile, flexible and hybrid working, to provide different workspace areas which allow for privacy and quiet as well as collaboration and teamwork and recognises the need to utilise workspace to provide breakout areas to allow staff to take a break and recharge.
In other words, office design should focus on people as well as the work they do in order to design an office space that is good for business and staff alike.
Beyond the Visual
In any office design project, whether it’s big or small, there are many factors to think about before embarking on onsite work.
Office design is no longer just about how things look, or where to place your desks and chairs, it extends beyond the visual and encompasses health and wellbeing, workflow and processes, company culture, sustainability and technology, all of which must all be taken into account when planning any changes, updates or full fit outs. In this article, we look at the various aspects that must come together so that an office design is successful.
Health and Wellbeing
A healthy workforce is vital to any business.
In 2022 a report “Mental health and employers The case for investment –pandemic and beyond” published by Deloitte highlighted the estimated total annual costs of absenteeism, presenteeism (being at work while ill and underperforming or being less productive) and staff leaving had increased by 25% to a cost of £53-56 billion, due to poor mental health of employees, since 2019.
Deloitte found that the largest cost to employers was due to presenteeism but the overall increase in total costs was as a result of a higher turnover of staff, with 28% of those surveyed saying they had left their job in the previous year or intended to do so in the next 12 months with 61% citing mental health or wellbeing reasons for their leaving.
Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of mental health charity Mind and member of the Mental Health and Productivity Pilot (MHPP) Strategic Advisory Board commented “The scale of poor mental health within the workforce is a huge challenge to employers.”
Public Health England published a research and analysis paper “Physical environments and employee wellbeing: topic overview” which gives an overview of the literature available on the impact of the physical work environment on employee wellbeing, specifically: the office layout, office furniture, workplace lighting, temperature and employee control over their work environment.
The document goes onto say that “All of these [office design] factors should be considered in order to ensure that the physical characteristics of the work environment do not have a detrimental effect on engagement, productivity and wellbeing.”
Office Design Factors
Office Layout
No one layout will meet all business needs.
Layout can be determined by the work your business does and how that work is carried out. You should take into account whether staff need privacy or if they work together in teams, who needs to communicate with who and what space is available to them. You also need to factor in areas to allow staff to get away from their desks and take a break. This should then give you an idea of what is required in terms of individual workspaces, collaborative spaces, break out areas, kitchen and tea points and meeting rooms etc.
If you think your work processes are likely to change in the future, it’s worth building in flexibility to allow you to adapt as required.
Type of Working
There are a number of different ways of working which will also impact how your office space should be designed.
In a traditional office staff have their own designated desk and workspace.
In the case of Activity Based Working (ABW) a business tailors their office design to meet the requirements of its working processes. Instead of employees having a fixed seat or desk in the office they are free to move around. By being mobile staff are able to move to workplace spaces which are specifically designed to support different activities (different settings for different tasks).
Another form of office working is hot desking. Hot desking is the practice of having unassigned desks within a workspace. Multiple employees can use a single workstation or desk at different times or on a rota system, rather than giving each member of staff their own desk. Hot desking works well when a company has employees who work at different locations at different times. In this type of situation, it’s clearly better not to tie up desks if an employee is unlikely to be in the office for periods of time. Hot desking allows the office space to be used more efficiently.
Agile Working (AW) enables staff to work from anywhere e.g. in the office, from another office, from home or on the move. In this case the office design will require robust technology and IT to allow efficient remote working.
Then there’s flexible working, which allows employees to be adaptable in when they work, allowing them to fit their work around other commitments. This allows them to choose to change their working days and hours as required. Like AW, it requires robust technology so that working space can be booked out when required.
Sustainability
In any office design where sustainability is a priority there are a number of factors that need to be taken into account.
The products and materials you use, reuse or recycle in your office flooring, fabrics and finishes and the materials they’re made of are important. You should look for wood products which have the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) credential or the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) as this demonstrates that these products have been sustainably sourced and maintained. If possible, natural materials like wood and stone should be used in office furniture, flooring, doors and counter tops etc. as they tend to be more durable, so will last longer and won’t need to be replaced as quickly.
The use of plants through living walls (or green walls), floor standing plants and wall partitions also contribute to a sustainable office design. You should look for sustainable plants that are long-lived and require the minimal amount of water.
Maximising the use of natural light, thereby reducing the amount of artificial light that’s required throughout your office will make your office space more energy efficient and help to reduce your energy consumption. Wherever artificial light is required use low energy LED lighting systems which are more energy efficient.
Utilising sustainable and smart technology will also help to keep energy consumption low. The use of smart sensors to monitor and control light usage will enable lights to be turned off when not in use. Smart technology can also be used to control heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
Using local suppliers for all or as much of your office design needs will also help to keep your carbon emissions as low as possible.
Technology
As previously mentioned, technology is an important factor in a number of areas of office design and should be incorporated in the design phase as early as possible. From the use of smart tech to enable the booking of meeting rooms or desks in an AW or hot desking office to smart tech to help control the work environment including monitoring energy and light usage to controlling heating, ventilation and air conditioning, smart tech can help to track and control settings to ensure that the system uses the minimum energy to achieve the maximum performance.
Technology also needs to be designed in such a way that upgrades are possible when required, with minimal disruption.
Lighting
Office lighting is a much overlooked factor in office design. Given that office space can be diverse in terms of the roles it plays, making sure you have the right lighting is important. Maximise the use of natural light wherever possible. Think about how to light each area of your floor space and tailor your lighting design towards the activities that will be carried out in the space.
In the case of an office reception area lighting should be welcoming. In the main office area or individual offices lighting should be adjustable and employees should be able to control lighting levels. It’s also important to ensure any lighting sources don’t cause screen glare. In spaces where staff can take a break lighting should be softer to reflect the mood.
Acoustics
Like lighting, office acoustics are often ignored or forgotten about when it comes to office design. However, we know from research that office noise can be a cause for concern and a distraction for some office staff. A study by Pub Med “The work environment pilot: An experiment to determine the optimal office design for a technology company” showed that open plan office layouts scored poorly in terms of higher levels of noise which caused employees to spend more time away from their desk to seek relief from the noise levels.
According to Ecophon noise is a “superdriver” which affects “individual focus and collaborative work, meetings, phone conversations, conferences, reading and thinking.“ They go onto say that “noise is probably the most prevalent annoyance source in offices, and can lead to increased stress for occupants.”
It’s important to get office acoustics right at the start of an office design to try to minimise any ambient background office noise in the final design. Acoustics should be designed according to the office space and the function that space fulfils. An office with a variety of different spaces with different functions will require different acoustic measures.
Furniture
The office furniture you need will depend on your business, the tasks you need to carry out and your office layout. Consider what pieces of furniture you’ll need for your offices, meeting rooms, break out, kitchen and reception areas and don’t forget storage solutions.
Look at your office dimensions to ensure you know what size of office furniture your office space can accommodate. Take into account where windows and electrical sockets are as this will also play a part in where you can place your furniture.
Don’t make the mistake of choosing furniture that looks good, but which sacrifices comfort. An office chair that looks trendy but isn’t comfortable isn’t fit for purpose and won’t last. There’s nothing worse than having to sit in an uncomfortable office chair that causes back or neck ache.
Make sure the chair you choose for computer work can be adjusted to the right height. Unison’s “Are you sitting comfortably?” Display Screen Equipment Guide explains how to adjust a chair so that it feels comfortable particularly in the back, neck, shoulders, arms and hands.
Taking all of the above into account when considering your next office refurbishment or fitout will go some way to ensuring your office design is successful. It’s also important to partner with a reliable office design company who will be able to guide you through the design process, present you with the best options for your office fit out, based on experience, and ensure your project is on time and to budget.
How Can JBH Refurbishments Help?
JBH Refurbishments have over 30+ years’ experience in office design and can advise on all aspects of your Kent or London office refurbishment. Contact us via our contact form or by calling us on 0333 207 0339.
