There are some really good reasons to update office décor

 
Replacing office décor can be expensive. And most office furniture and décor can last for years. However, there are times when you might want to replace office furniture and flooring before the end of its natural life. The good reasons to update office décor could well include:

1. Wear and tear
 
One obvious reason is safety, this should always be at the forefront of decisions. A dangerous floor or damage to furniture could result in an accident that makes your company liable for compensation. 

2. New branding
 
Office décor can be matched to the colour scheme of your brand. This can be a great way to align ethics within a business and ensure that everyone knows the core values of the brand.

3. To improve productivity
 
Sometimes it can be tempting to leave old décor in your current building because of the costs associated with installing new flooring and painting a room. Not to mention it can take up days of lost productivity.

However, the benefits might be worthwhile. Several studies have shown that using the right carpet in your office can reduce fatigue (by up to 24%) and muscle tiredness, as well as improve concentration and creativity. Replacing core furniture has similar benefits.

Certain colours within an office can also have an impact on employee performance. The right colour for productivity will depend heavily on the industry you’re in and what you want from employees. There are also many ways flooring can increase productivity.

4. To improve the opinions of guests 
 
You only get one chance to make a good impression. If you have old decor that has been poorly maintained, it will reflect badly on you when guests visit. At the same time, by replacing furniture in an office, you can find that morale within the office will improve. Better morale can lead to increased productivity and less staff turnover which yields greater profits in the long-term.

Looking at ways to increase office productivity

 

Productivity is one of the buzzwords for any office manager, but could the layout and design of your office be affecting how much work gets done?

Office layout can have a huge impact on the amount and the quality of the work that gets done. It is therefore worth considering the following design elements of your office and how they might be impacting your employees’ work. We look at 4 ways to increase office productivity.

1. Choice of flooring

One of the most overlooked factors in the design of an office is the flooring. Your choice of flooring can have some significant effects on those who work in the office, impacting their levels of stress, moral and general enthusiasm for work.

Noise is perhaps one of the biggest threats to any office’s productivity level, with employees losing the ability to focus on tasks with high levels of noise. Yet the right flooring may just offer the solution. Certain types of flooring, particularly carpet tiling, can drastically reduce the amount of noise that filters through an office. This is due to the large surface areas in the fibres in this particular type of tiling, which absorbs sound energy instead of reflecting it back out into the environment.

For more information on the ways commercial flooring can have an direct impact on office productivity, check out our previous article.

2. Individualised workspaces

An office can contain many different types of personalities, all with their own preferred type of work space. This can present a certain challenge when it comes to designing the most effective office as while an open, uncluttered layout may work for one person, it can have a negative effect on another person’s work ethic.

Interestingly a messy desks can be sign of a genius, it is worth considering the degree to which clean and tidy office design could inhibit creativity.

It is therefore extremely important to create a balance in the design of your office, with some open plan areas for those who prefer communal working, and quieter areas for those who have a more quiet approach, and find ways to help those who aren’t naturally tidy to thrive.

3. Air flow

While the temperature of an office is widely accepted as having a direct effect on productivity, the quality of air is also just as important.

Scientific studies have found that the amount of air pollution, and the overall quality of the air in an office can have a huge impact on both employees level of productivity, their general level of stress, and their health.

In the worst cases, air quality can lead to offices developing what is known as ‘sick building syndrome’. This condition can have a huge detrimental effect on a workplace, with large numbers of employees developing headaches, respiratory problems and allergy-like symptoms.

While medical experts do not fully understand the causes of sick building syndrome, it has been linked to the quality of air and the flow of air through an office. It is therefore important to design an office where air can freely flow through the building with no restrictions.

4. Colour

The effects colour can play in an office are wide and numerous. It can affect employees mood, level of stress and their general career satisfaction.

For instance, warm colours typically stimulate employees, causing them to complete their work with a higher sense of urgency. Meanwhile, restful colours such as blue promote intelligent thinking, as well as creativity. These restful colours also help encourage a calm mood in an office.

We previously wrote a detailed article on the many different effects colours can have on an office.

 

The layout and design of an office can have a huge impact on the productivity levels of your employees. Keeping these considerations in mind when designing an office will help promote both productivity and employee job satisfaction.

4 ways employee health & wellbeing is linked to commercial flooring.

 
This article shares some ways that your office flooring choice is linked to the health and wellbeing of your employees, and how making the right selection is good for your business.

There are so many unexpected ways that employee health and wellbeing can be affected negatively or positively by the job they do and the environment they work in. And when it comes to flooring and wellbeing, both design and safety are important for the overall welfare of your staff.

1. Allergies
 
Currently, the UK is one of the top three countries in the world for allergies. Over 21 million adults suffer from some kind of allergy, meaning every single workspace has the responsibility of keeping their flooring and other furnishings clean enough so that dust doesn’t build up.

Offices ideally should be cleaned daily to prevent dust mites, common causes of asthma and other allergies, from accumulating. So you want to choose a floor that is made from an easy-to clean material. Ultimately the floor of an office can easily affect the quality of that space’s air. We have provided tips on cleaning vinyl flooring and carpet tiles in our previous practical design articles.

2. Feeling safe
 
There’s also the physical safety of your employees. You need to choose the right material for the amount of footfall you will be getting in the office. Whether you go for vinyl flooring or carpet tiles your priority must be safety and you must be committed to maintaining the flooring you choose.

We have written a detailed article on the subject of commercial flooring for high-traffic areas. It is worth considering Carpet tiles are ideal for businesses that require noise insulation, and they can help to keep workspaces warm as well. Certain areas may demand the use of safety flooring, if you need advice on how to assess the risk this article might help.

3. Mental health
 
While you should never simplify mental health, its causes and its triggers, it’s worth thinking about how the office environment impacts the people who work there.

With the UK expecting to pay £8.4 billion a year due to mental health-related absences, it’s a huge issue affecting both people and businesses. It means companies are adapting their attitude towards mental illness and looking for ways to help their employees.

The feel of the environment may seem small but it can have positive and negative impacts on our moods and our mental health. So think carefully about the design, colour and material of the flooring you use from this perspective. We have mentioned it before but colour has an immense effect on productivity and wellbeing in the office.

4. Productivity
 
On the subject of productivity – do you ever hear someone say they ‘can’t work from home’. This probably has to do with their environment. Perhaps their house is very cosy, making it harder to get into the work mindset. A clean, bright and fuss-free office or workspace will certainly foster a positive working environment that can lead to increased productivity and improved staff morale, which again is directly linked to wellbeing.

Going beyond that and considering how different people work within a specific environment or even considering Activity Based Workspaces is where flooring can really come into its own here. It shows consideration, which should positively effect how staff feel about an organisation.