Speaking about the new world, times have really changed. Most of the productive work of an organization or for running an economy mostly plays out in the arena of our office spaces. The development and integration of research findings in the improvement of office spaces is not only ethical but necessary for survival in the 21st century business models. This study, as we will later on realize, is not a one size fits all kind of approach. Our advice will only broaden your perception as to how you can make the best decision for improving your office spaces based on requirements and needs unique to you, your clients, and your organization. Bear in mind that these unique needs will vary also based on the location of the area in concern.
An office space is a building or room in a building that provides an environment suitable for office operations.
Office spaces fall into different categories; namely :
⦁ Classic office spaces come with different terms or terminologies. They are also referred to as traditional office space. The term traditional is relative by the way and should not be taken as cast in stone.
⦁ The traditional approach defines office as the place where all managerial and clerical activities are performed. It is the main arena for business activities.
⦁ The modern concept of office refers to an office as an activity instead of some spatial location in a building. It places more emphasis on activities done instead of on a location.
⦁ The regular activities of collecting and distributing information are the core function of a modern business concept of office.
⦁ In the mixed model, both the location and activities in concern are merged together in one to come up with a single entity defined as an office. There is no clear cut definition to this, but the key idea is simmering everything down to individual needs.
⦁ With different preferences with regards to specifications, not all mixed offices will look or even feel the same. Some will be more inclined towards the traditional, while others will be more modern and others evenly distributed between the two.
⦁ Mixed office spaces also tend to be more space efficient (depending on how it’s put across). As it pertains to square feet allocated per person, you can fit more employees at tables or rows in open space than individual cubicles or private offices.
Knowing how to decorate your current office space clears expressing the classic or modern traits of your office space and therefore reflecting your company’s values, is imperative to helping identify the advantages and limitations of each type of office space in relation to your business. We as a commercial and residential office space customization company in the heart of Harare, our services are to help you make the best decision as to which culture best elevates your business' productivity to the next level. So what is the difference between a modern and classic office or working space?
How the business is run can regularly be dictated by whether the proprietors follow a traditional business ethos or focus on a more modern approach. By joining current qualities into a business, in addition to the fact that this is probably going to bridle a cutting edge splendid office space advancing imagination and worker wellbeing, yet it's probably going to have an adaptable way to deal with the method of working, for instance, by working with distant working.
Distant working is turning into an inexorably mainstream method of working. Pre-cross country lockdown, numerous organizations and workplaces were upholding 9-5 Monday – Friday working, coming into the workplace five days every week. Presently, there is a gigantic interest for virtual workplaces and adaptable working all things considered. This sort of approach is bound to hold representatives, draw in ability and make an agreeable work/life balance for worker prosperity.
Optimization of your office spaces is elemental to improving productivity of the employees working in those office spaces. In this scenario, the intent is to maximize the productivity within the limited space. Improvements necessary for enhancing employee productivity are done on the available space thus saving against costs which could otherwise have been used for expansion. The idea of optimizing space is to make the small space appear and feel large, and practically more productive at less cost. When optimizing our office spaces, we ought to consider the following factors:
Before you install a slide and buy everyone treadmill desks, you’ll want to sit down and make a budget to see what these changes and updates will cost. Next, you’ll want to determine who is going to make the decisions. If you have enough money, you might consider hiring an interior designer; arranging the space yourself will be less expensive but likely more time-consuming. Finally, be sure you consider the individual requirements of your employees and company. You may want to poll, share potential designs with, or at least talk to your direct reports to find out what kind of space they want to spend their time in.
Before you arrange the furniture, consider whether or not it’s convenient to keep it. Old or poorly made furniture can cause employee health problems such as back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, migraines, and eye strain. Finding ergonomic desk chairs is a great place to start. Look for chairs that feature armrest variations; swivel mechanisms; height, width, and depth adjustments; lumbar support; and padded material. While updating furniture or opting for something more expensive might hurt your wallet on the outset, it will save your employees pain and healthcare costs down the road.
Before you start accidentally moving work areas from telephone jacks representatives need to get to, set up a chance to talk with your IT office or head of designing about how best to mastermind the space so everybody can get to the innovation they need. Consider factors like the area of printers, stockpiling for innovation, closeness to outlets, WiFi switches, and space for projectors and screens.
According to research; “employees experience higher occupation fulfillment when allowed to control the arrangement of their own work spaces or pick where they need to work.” This can mean allowing your staff to orchestrate the furniture how they need in their workplaces or request the kind of furniture they need; or, it can mean giving them a few alternatives for work spaces all through the place of business. For instance, one worker may jump at the chance to answer messages in a private telephone stall toward the beginning of the day however adventure into a common space to team up with collaborators in the early evening.
Lighting can affect efficiency, well being, disposition, prosperity, and discouragement. Indeed, an American Society of Interior Design study showed that 68% of workers are troubled about the lighting circumstance in their workplaces. Go for a walk around your office and observe spaces that are not getting sufficient light. Regular light is ideal, yet this isn't workable for all spaces, particularly inside workplaces and desk areas. For these spaces, consider getting roof lights that mirror regular light or daylight work area lights.
While office temperature may appear to be a different issue from office format, it's really not. For instance, the sun's radiating through a window may make one region excessively warm, while a cooling vent found straight over an inside work area may make that space excessively cold. You will not have the option to represent all of these issues, however some familiarity with temperature variety all through the workplace may help you settle on keen design decisions.
A basic thought while making arrangements for your office design is development. What number of workers do you anticipate including the following years, and where will you accommodate their work areas? Where will these extra people be navigating through mean for basic spaces and offices? Will meeting rooms be continually reserved? The questions asked could be very intriguing and not easily answered, but the recommendation would be to coordinate your space considering the future so you don't need to revamp and redesign due to a legitimate need. While an intermittent office redesign is solid and ideal, yet doing it over and over again will get expensive and tedious.
Furniture selection is an integral part of the design process and often plays a vital role in the productivity of your employees. This is where we come into the picture to help you make the best decision. As a team, we have been involved in the office furniture sector for many years and there are not many manufacturers or suppliers in Harare that we have yet heard about. We are well placed to help you through a potential mine field of high quality services.
As part of the design process, we identify various products, with appropriate specifications unique to your office spaces, to help support the design. We will create a series of options to inform furniture showroom tours to view, discuss and agree a final selection. In conjunction with the selection, we provide you with a fully quantified and budgeted specification of furniture items including dimensions, manufacturer & finishes.
Our business model has always been oriented towards our client’s unique specifications. This noble ideal is what we continually strive and yet keeping our clients happy and satisfied with our services. We use all our experience to ensure that you achieve the best deal available by avoiding multiple supplier margins. We may recommend, in some instances, that furniture should be procured directly from the manufacturer and we will always advise on the best product line procurement for our clients.
Our clients sometimes ask us if we can supply the furniture. The answer to this is yes, we can. We do have access to a wide range of furniture manufacturers and are happy to supply furniture on an open book basis at competitive prices. It is always our client’s choice as to which direction to take. The only thing we will say is that if we are managing a tender process, we will not be involved in the supply of the furniture.
We are always expanding our level of awareness of the office furniture sector and regularly update our knowledge base to reflect creativity, research, and development. This includes understanding provenance, sustainability, quality, and warranties.