Office Design Ideas

These 12 office design ideas will inspire you to create the most positive and encouraging environment for your hard-working employees.

Conference Room

After months of quarantine, your employees are accustomed to working at home. Coming back to a cubicle in a noisy work environment may require adjustment. Not all kinds of people flourish in a noisy office environment. As a caring manager, if you see that your employees crave some quiet time, it is very often a good idea to embrace this need.

If you have any of those standing whiteboards in your conference room, try rolling them into the office bullpen. Having those nearby can provide your employees with the option to roll them in front of their cube doors when they need to focus or make phone calls.

If you do not need to keep the bullpen structure, you can even divide the cubicle design into a smaller group or individual work stations.

At the same time, you have made the conference room free to play with and to express your creativity. Maybe you want to make it a part-time quiet space for your employees to gather and work for an hour or two in quiet. Let’s say you add a couple of “quiet hours” for the conference room. It can vastly improve your colleagues’ productivity without excessive effort on your side. And they will appreciate it.

Conference Room

Motivational space

More and more, people are seeking meaning in their work. They have had a long time to reflect at home and now they need to feel like their work is paying off. You might have experienced that as well. Find a corner of your office space, perhaps one that your employees frequently pass by, maybe by the elevator, or nearby the coffee break room and give it a whirl! Put some of your recent achievements on a wall; give them some happy faces of your clients or customers you have helped with your product or service. Maybe check to see if you have any fandom people in your team? Wouldn’t they just love a Harry Potter themed pillow or Ironman… Well, anything goes for Tony Stark.

Personal space

Depending on your policies and space available, your employees probably need to have some space just for themselves. Maybe it is an entire office, maybe just a desk, but many studies have shown that people really appreciate it when they have a place, a space they can call their own. This also boosts a sense of belonging and creativity. Help them decorate it. Employees feel engaged if they participate in contributing office design ideas.

If you have the budget, pass along some catalogs and set a spending limit. You can even make a deal with the retailer and everything will still look nice and cohesive in the same style! Hand out some branded picture frames for your employees. Everyone has someone or something they want in a picture frame to look upon: a loved one, a pet, or a European capital they want to visit once the corona crisis is over.

Fresh and new plants

Nothing spells out life and vigor as some new plants do. In the season of 2020, almost everything goes, as probably most of your old office plants have been abandoned and withered. You may have heard of the security guard working in a law office in the UK who took it upon himself to take care of 12 FLOORS of office plants! He actually took them all down to the cafeteria, labelled them with the floor, the office, and the desk from which he acquired them, and took good care of them for three whole months before anyone noticed! Now if you had a bit of a different experience, try to freshen up your office space with some new plants.

The Newsroom

For work that requires lots of collaboration, your employees are going to need a lot of open space. Having a clean and organized space is especially important for any type of work that requires communications and constant meetings. Reserving a conference room can be a real hassle sometimes. That is why this room can be specially made for those groups which need a quiet and organized environment to work properly without interruption.

To create such an environment, you’ll need some decorating tips and tricks. Here are some of them. First, you can start by pushing together all of the office desks in the room. This way, you’ll end up making clusters of larger and smaller group tables. Then, you need to remove the cubicle walls and room dividers. Add several different comfortable seating positions that your employees will get to enjoy during breaks. You can pretty much use the stuff you already have and just spice things up with some additional bean-bag seats.

The Artist Loft

Giving your employees space where they can explore their creativity and imagination is one of the best ways to motivate them at work. That is why you should consider creating an artist loft. This can be their space for all of the creative and highly visual work. In the artist loft, your employees will have a chance to use a variety of materials such as long galley desks and whiteboards. Not only will this encourage the free flow of ideas, but this space will also motivate your employees to be more productive throughout the day.

To create an inspiring space like this, you will need to put together some desks and create horizontal rows. Try to gather as many whiteboards as possible and place them in the work area. Additionally, you can use printed graphics designed by the company to frame them around the office. This will add a dash of color and create an inspiring space.

The Innovation Lab

The Innovation Lab can be a perfect place for your employees when it comes to pushing their dreams and ambitions. This space needs to be filled with idea banks, inspiration boards and many casual meeting spaces.

Sometimes all your employees need is a bit of a push. Anything from serving clients to creating their own projects can really benefit your employees’ self-esteem and improve their innovation if they have the right space in which they get to express themselves properly. They will especially thrive in an environment that encourages their idea exchanges.

What you need to do first is to place at least one or two privacy screens around the desks. This will create a certain inviting, yet very private atmosphere. Then, let them know that they get to use chalkboards or white boards to write down all of their amazing ideas as well as some thought-provoking questions throughout the week. This system of working will get the ideas flowing.

You should also create idea banks. Simply set out 5 or 6 bowl and small pieces of paper and lots of pens that your employees can use. The point of idea banks is to give your employees an opportunity to write about specific problems they are trying to fix at work. Encourage all of them to write their own ideas on how certain problems can be solved and have them place their ideas in the bowls. This system will also encourage many introverted employees to open up and share their ideas as well.

The Light-Filled Office

Office design ideas that emphasize light are quite popular, and for good reason. Natural light can do wonders for concentration and productivity. By bringing natural light into the working space, you are blessing your workers with an extremely healthy and positive environment that is going to motivate them and keep them happy at their workplace. To let more light in, you can add more windows, or if that’s not an option, you can add mirrors to create an impression of a bigger and more open space. Let the room soak in all of that natural lighting.

To truly make the space feel natural and enjoyable, consider swapping out overhead bulbs for some brighter models. You can even add some lamps too. Then, you need to take down the blinds. By adding mirrors in very strategic and well-thought-out locations you can create an illusion of a bigger space and create more light. For instance, you can achieve this by simply placing the mirrors right across the windows.

Light-Filled Office

The Multi-Environment Office

The fact is that not all of your employees are the same, and neither are their preferences. By allowing them to express their individuality you are encouraging them to strive for bigger achievements. That is why letting your workers determine their own work approaches and work environment is essential for enhancing their sense of belonging in the office.

In this office design, you just need to use simple materials. Go for decorated wooden frames and you can always build up from there. This allows your employees to start with a neutral space and convert it into a personalized workspace. Also, let your employees decorate the area how they want.

The Recharge Office

Your employees also need their rest and recharge time. These office spaces are truly needed if you want your workers to feel rested enough to concentrate and be motivated for work. As their boss, it’s your duty that you create a cozy and relaxing environment where they get to take some quality recharging time from all the work. But this one of the office design ideas that are often overlooked.

You can divide a bigger space into different sections for eating, drinking, meeting, or even playing games. It all depends on what your employees prefer. Place a few bean-bags around the break room to make people feel comfortable and cozy. Another great investment for this room is a coffee machine for hire which makes sure that your workers have warm and delicious coffee available at all times of the day.

Recharge Office

The Social Office

Speaking of cozy areas, the social office is definitely a type of environment your employees would need to be motivated for hard work. We all need human interaction simply because we’re social beings. Bringing people together in a warm and friendly environment is what boosts people’s moods and therefore affects their productivity in a positive way too. Their friendships also enhance performance as well as create a much better working environment.

What you need to do to create that type of environment is to bring desks up to eye height. This slight change has to do with the fact that we tend to look at socializing at bars as a much more fun way to meet and befriend people. Lifting your desks will actually, therefore, encourage the same type of spontaneous conversations that people have at bars. Also, make sure to rearrange the desks so that people are facing each other. Even though this may be awkward at first, people will get used to it really quickly and they’ll come to enjoy it.

The Fit Office

Lastly, sitting around in the office the whole day can surely leave people feeling stiff. That is why allowing them to have enough space to move around and stretch can be very essential. Also, some people simply get restless if they’re not moving enough throughout the day.

Here are some office design ideas to help. You can start by adding privacy screens next to employees’ desks but make sure there is still enough space for them to put a yoga mat. Encourage your employees to use their breaks for any kind of physical activity since it is very beneficial for both their physical and mental health and therefore, can drastically improve their performance at work.

Conclusion

All things considered, there are many ways you can make sure that your employees are getting the right kind of encouragement to keep up their work. Creating an inspiring, cozy, and positive space where your employees will feel encouraged to speak up and aspire to be better every day is the most effective way to keep your employees motivated for work.

We hope you found this blog post on 12 Office Design Ideas That Will Inspire Your Employees useful. Be sure to check out our post A Guide to Choosing Your New Office Space for more great tips!


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