An office should be everybody’s safe place, giving us the same feeling of security when we’re at home. For adults, their workplace is considered their second home. Employees stay in their workplace for at least eight hours a day, sometimes even more than that if the workload requires. With this, the employers are obliged to give them a comfortable working space.
Like at home or anywhere you go, having a nice layout, interior design, and nice furniture will affect your daily productivity and well-being. A dark office with dull, shabby furniture will most likely add to an employee’s stress.
Having a comfortable workspace also makes the employees focus more on their work. Who won’t be distracted working in a disorganized, sloppy place?
Today’s furniture designs are aesthetically pleasing, characterized by a more modern and minimalist look. More furniture companies have widened their variety of designs and they are now more open to doing personalized furniture for their clients.
Purchasing furniture is an office investment. More often than not, your office furniture items can also be your company’s assets. In many ways, having a well-tailored plan and design before buying any items is always important. It can also be the case in choosing the right furniture for your workspace.
The appliances, layouts, and lights of your office seem to look seamless with your furniture items if installed in the right places. There can be many furniture items that you can choose in the market today, which makes it harder to know what item will perfectly fit in your place.
To guide you in choosing the best furniture, here are some of the best practices for furniture planning and purchasing:
Space Planning
Space planning is the allotment and division of interior space depending on the company’s requirements.
Interior design will always be related to space planning. If there is no space available, interior design cannot be managed and vice versa. The absence of proper space planning will only result in having an embarrassing, uncomfortable, and unpleasant look for your workspace.
Before buying furniture, always make sure to verify the measurement to avoid future problems and hassle. Always remember that the furniture size should never hinder the employees in doing their daily work activities.
Not getting the exact space measurements of the workspace has been the most common mistake of most buyers, and because of this, they weren’t able to fully utilize the space allotted for them. No-size-fits-all, this is the phrase to remember.
In space planning, it is also essential to be forward-looking. Considering that your business will soon grow bigger, leaving enough space for additional office equipment and furniture will also make sense.
Design Functionality
As previously mentioned, furniture designs are becoming more creative, modern, and bold-looking. Even the furniture forms have become more irregular and odder, compared to before. Furniture designs in the past were only limited to basic shapes such as rectangles, squares, and circles.
While these hip furniture designs are attractive, you need to consider their functionality. It is more important to consider the functionality of the furniture piece more than its unique design. No matter how aesthetically pleasing it is, remember that office furniture is still an investment. Thus, it should not just unnecessarily take up some space in your office. Instead, its function must be needed and justified.
Similarly, the current trend nowadays where offices are designed according to a theme may be nice to have, but overdoing the decor to follow the theme might overwhelm and distract your employees. Learn not to put too much of your budget on items that are only for aesthetics
Furniture cost
This factor has always been included in the list of best practices in furniture planning. Since this is a long-term investment, most people would think that acquiring a more expensive item will cost less in the long run. Yet, not all fancy items are high-quality, and not all high-quality items are costly. Every time you plan to spend and set a budget for your furniture assets, always ask the following questions:
How long will your furniture last?
Is it worth every penny you will spend?
Is it needed?
Consider also the maintenance-related costs of your preferred furniture pieces before buying them.
Comfortability
One of the most important practices to consider when planning to buy furniture is comfortability. It’s time for you to get rid of those uncomfortable furniture pieces. Suggestions and requests from the end-users are worth noting since, in the end, your employees will be the ones who will be using the items, and you want to factor their comfort level into your purchase.
For example, ergonomic furniture pieces are some of the most used furniture types nowadays. When buying a study table or office table, it should be perfect with your staff's height while sitting down to make it more comfortable while working.
Getting furniture items with adjustable sizes would also be better if you are buying them in bulk. Including your employees in the planning and procuring process of these items would eventually boost their work productivity and focus.
Privacy
The last essential practice in furniture planning that must be observed is assuring that each of your staff has their sense of privacy. Like the overall layout and placement of furniture pieces, privacy also helps employees focus more on their daily work.
Planning the placement of each furniture piece will help improve the privacy of the individual workspaces of your staff.
All in all, there could still be a lot of other practices for furniture planning online. These practices will help you find the perfect furniture for your office, making your employees’ workspace look cozy and elegant.
PlanWell Strategies has a proven experience and an elite supplier network that can assist you in choosing the furniture pieces suitable for your office. PlanWell can also update you on workspace planning strategies as they evolve.
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