The structural design of your office and the sitting arrangement of your employees, significantly impact the productivity of your employees and the work environment. A change in the design of your office can help liven up the environment and provide a new experience to your employees. Moreover, office space design is not permanent and can be changed any time you feel the need.
If you feel that the growth in your office has become stagnant, your employees are not motivated, there is a lack of creativity and innovation, then maybe it is time for a change. You can only use a working model as long as it serves its purpose, once you see that it is no longer working, you need to improvise.
An improvised office design that is recommended by many corporate experts is open office design. Open office design does not have private spaces for meetings, senior staff, or any other needs in the floor plan. There might be a few private rooms available for conferences, but most of the daily operations are conducted by the employees from the same room.
Offices like google and facebook use the same office design to ensure collaboration and interaction between key executives and other employees. In the US, more than 70% workers enjoy the benefits of open offices. The reason why open office design has become popular is because of its various advantages. Some of them include:
- Enhanced Creativity: Open space offices, open up space for creativity in the office. People are able to learn from other people and apply those learnings to their own work. Moreover, when there are people around, there are ideas and thoughts shared. Most of those ideas will be creative, some might even turn out to be absurd, but who cares as long as there is creativity.
- Better relations: There are many companies that try to reduce the interaction between their employees as much as possible, to increase productivity. However, employees at such firms are often dissatisfied with the restrictions on communication and feel demotivated due to a lack of interaction. You see, 'All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy.
If you want your employees to thrive both personally and professionally, then it is essential that you provide them with the space for growth and interactions.
- Increased quality of work: When the senior employees of a company will interact with the juniors and collaborate on tasks, the results are going to be brilliant. Moreover, when two departments in a company decide to collaborate, they can create wonders! For example, if the content team in a company works in close contact with the marketing team, they can reach millions of people with their product. All it takes is a changed way and design of working.
- Increased work morale: When your employees share their workspace with most of the people in the office, they are likely to feel valued. When employees work from the same room they cannot erase the boundaries but can blur them.
- More discipline: When most of your employees will work in the company of key executives, they will feel the need to be more disciplined. The employees will avoid talking too much, taking rest on their desks and chairs, or simply wasting time. They will be more focused and determined to deliver work, lest some executive points out their laid-back nature.
- Ease of taking initiative: It can sometimes be nerve-wracking to take an innovative idea to your senior's office to get their feedback. However, when the senior is sitting in the same row, maybe your employees will find the courage. The probability of receiving great ideas increases when you share a room.
Drawbacks
Some of the drawbacks of open office designs are:
- Inability to focus
- Lower privacy levels
- Illnesses spread easily
- Employees may feel more anxious
At Gebesa, we are a team of experienced professionals that sell furniture for various office designs and sitting arrangements. Our team can help you find the best design and related solutions for your needs.
