How Can Office Design Improve Work Efficiency?

An aesthetic office design can not only impress your clients and business partners, but have a huge influence over your employee’s productivity. A global research by Green Building Press amongst others, found that an optimised office work space can increase productivity by as much as 24%.

Numerous scientific and workplace studies also have similar findings to support a more aesthetic office design. Running a business is more than hiring a team and letting them work. If you want to improve your team’s work efficiency and your brand’s image, redesigning your office is a tactic you should not overlook.

How Office and Work Space Design Affects Productivity?

In a city as dense and compact as Hong Kong, improving your office work space design is key to helping your team save time, space, energy, and boosting their creativity and work efficiency. Use these work space ideas to help you plan your next renovation.

Maximise Space

Most office and work space layouts in Hong Kong are either underutilised or just doesn’t fit with the company’s work flow. Office culture has changed dramatically over the last decade, but most offices still use obsolete layouts from decades ago. Common office layout problems include:

• Big meeting rooms or work zones that rarely get used

• A lack of variation in space

• Poor spatial planning that makes storage and movement difficult

Turn your underutilised space into a multifunctional area. Create a variation of spaces such as work zone, quiet zone, collaborating zone, and break & rest zone. Custom-make furniture to reorganise your storage system. Your team’s performance will increase dramatically.

Facilitate Collaboration

Compared to older designs (such as the cubicle), a newer and more open office layout can not only fit more employees but encourage them to collaborate and enhance teamwork. Multifunctional space, collaborative space, as well as resting and game zones can all enhance your teamwork and help build a strong community and company culture. The most successful businesses in the world, such as Google and Facebook, all use similar design tactics to improve their office’s efficiency.

Allow Movement

Allowing your team to move freely without distracting each other is a very important design rule that many offices and work space neglect. Sitting in front of a computer and not moving for hours is not only bad for our health, but detrimental to our productivity in the long run. Freer movement also allow the team to interact better with each other and create a stronger bond.

Consider reorganising your office work space by removing furniture and partition walls to allow your team to move better. Plan intelligently and leave enough space for team members to pass through each other’s desks. Narrow alleys can turn furniture into obstacles and moving workers into distractions. Avoid them at all costs.

Organise Lighting

Poor lighting, either too bright or too dark, is detrimental to your team’s productivity. Reorganise your lighting layout to fit your work space’s seating plan. Also, most offices still use white fluorescent light without any variations. These lights use lots of energy, create a sense of confinement, and gives people migraines.

Consider redesigning your office’s lighting plan with LED lights and using different warmth to create a variation in atmosphere. Warmer yellow and orange lights are great for later in the afternoon, and for creating comfort in you relax zones. White is not the only way to go.

Also, design your office so that windows can be enjoyed by most employees. Use them as a source of natural lighting and a gateway for the team to refuel and destress.

Insulate Sound

Office designs that cluster desks together often have a noise problem. Replan your layout with sound insulation in mind. Separate personal work desks from collaborative zones. Use partitions smartly and create a buffer area between different work space to insulate noise. Your team will be able to concentrate better and get much more done.

Office Decoration Ideas

Sometimes, improving your office work space does not require a major renovation. Use these office decoration ideas to instantly improve the look and functionality of your work space.

Plants

Many studies support the idea of using plants as your office decoration. They help clean the air, reduce sickness and absent rate, and reduce stress for your workers. They can also improve your office’s design aesthetically and provide a more pleasing and comfortable environment for those working there.

Colour

White walls, white desks, and white lights can never go wrong, but they don’t often inspire creativity, and makes the office work space feel like a confinement. Use different colours in your furniture and decorations to create a more lively environment.

Go Minimalist

Sometimes adding new elements to your work space might not be a good idea. Instead, removing excess or underutilised furniture and appliances could free up a ton of space and bring about a much more comfortable work space.

Look for minimalist interior design on Pinterest as your reference. Minimalist offices are often boiled down to only the essential ingredients: a chair, a desk, and a lap top. More blank space means less distractions and more focus and concentration. Decluttering and reducing storage and files will also encourage your team to become more organised and streamlined in their daily work.

More Work Space Ideas for Hong Kong

Every office has a different set of needs and challenges that require a unique design. inT Design is a multi-award-winning interior design firm with many years of experience designing work spaces for businesses in Hong Kong and we can help you find the perfect solution. Do not hesitate to get in touch with us, so we can discuss your specific office design and offer you personalised work space ideas.