Office Layouts

Get input from your employees

A recent study found that employees were more able to manage and process information and had a better attention to detail if they were involved in the design of their office layout. Of course, it seems obvious that your team should be your first port of call when deciding which layout would work best – after all, it’s them who are going to spend the most time in your new environment.
Ask your team for their must-haves in a new office layout. Would they prefer standing or sit-down desks? What kind of seating and lighting would work well for them? Get everyone’s input – you’ll be amazed at where the good ideas come from.

Meeting rooms or break out spaces?

Your decision to include enclosed meeting rooms or less formal, open-plan, break-out spaces will largely depend on the kind of business you run. If you’re a larger firm or if your business is regulated by an external body, such as the FCA, it may be wise to have some meeting rooms. However, if space allows, there’s no reason why you can’t have both.

Traditional meetings are fast becoming an out-dated concept. They are time-consuming, sometimes irrelevant to attendees and can be unproductive. These days, companies tend to favour a less formal approach, which is where breakout spaces come in handy.

What are break out spaces?

Simply put, a break out space is a seating area in main body of your office, situated away from the workstations. Strictly speaking, these areas aren’t cordoned off, however with a little clever positioning of walls and chairs, you can achieve an element of segregation that’s required for some meetings.

The main draw for break out spaces as opposed to meeting rooms, is the fact that these aren’t spaces you’ll be tempted to linger in. All too often meetings drag on in an enclosed space of a separate room – the office and its responsibilities seem to fade away when a closed door stands between you and it. Break out spaces are more conducive to efficiency; you’ll have your meeting, assign any actions and then return to work without a moment wasted.

There’s a practical benefit to break out spaces also – especially if office space is at a premium. Meeting rooms take up valuable square-footage in any floor plan and their capacity is often limited.
Break out spaces are a great place to hold meetings because, in theory, your whole team can be involved.

To hot-desk, or not to hot-desk…

Hot-desking is a fantastic way to utilise your space. If the number of people in your team is fast eclipsing the space available at your premises, hot-desking can be a nifty solution for this.

It’s very rare for every desk in your office to be occupied on any one day. Absences and holidays mean that more often than not, desks remain empty but, because they’re already assigned to personnel, they can’t be used by freelancers, contractors or any other members of your team.

Hot-desking can put an end to this. Essentially, in a hot-desking office, employees aren’t assigned a single desk or workstation. Instead, they’re given free reign to work at any empty desk they find. Although it’s not strictly necessary, this format works best when your employees use laptops rather than desktop computers so you may want to bear this in mind if you decide it’s for you.

Health and safety considerations

The well-being of your employees is obviously your most important consideration when planning a new office layout. The maximum capacity of your office will depend on the size of the room and how much furniture you have. It might be worth seeking advice from the HSE before you implement your design to find out if you’ve allowed sufficient clearance between workstations.