No matter how attractive, functional, and well-designed your office might be, no workplace ever remains suitable for a company throughout its entire journey. Whether your team is growing, desks and offices are quickly filling up, or you simply need a better layout to support collaboration and productivity, an expansion will likely be needed at some point. And while the prospect of growth might be appealing, redesigning an office space can also be a daunting process, especially if your budget is tight or your space is limited. To help you make the most of what you have, here are some essential tips you should follow when expanding your office area:
Create the right layout
Before you begin the expansion, selecting the right office layout will be one of the most important steps. The layout will dictate the physical flow and the workflow within the office, supporting the company culture and aiding in collaboration, growth, and success.
For instance, open floor plans are great for creativity and informal communication, private office designs can help to increase privacy and reduce distractions, while a combination of both could strike a good balance between fewer distractions and increased efficiency. Keep your employees and the way they work in mind, and choose an office layout that will help to improve productivity the most for your specific company needs.
Upgrade the desk space
Often being large and bulky, desks are one piece of office furniture that can easily take up too much room if they’re not laid out well, making the entire expansion futile. Also, it will be quite simple to plan an office space that suits your needs at the moment, but you need to think of the future as well, when your team grows even more.
Fortunately, there are a few simple ways you can cover both during your office expansion. You can purchase multipurpose extendable desks or even create banks of regular desks, whether that means buying one large desk suitable for multiple people or combining and arranging individual desks in rows.
Redesign the waiting room
Although often overlooked, the waiting room is an incredibly important aspect of your office. It is an area where both clients and business partners will spend time, and will likely make certain judgments regarding your business, whether consciously or not. That is why it pays to invest in the waiting area when expanding your office, and ensure it perfectly represents your company.
For example, you can take a page from Austrlians’ book, and buy charming bentwood chairs from Melbourne for your waiting room. They are ideal for creating a warm and inviting space. Similarly, calming colors, soft lighting, and beautiful plants can help to set the right mood in the waiting area.
Invest in more storage space
When redesigning your workspace, don’t follow the latest trends and go the Scandinavian route of extreme minimalism. Unless you are running a fully paperless and entirely digitized business, chances are high your office area will have a huge need for storage space, as do most other companies. So, aim to provide your employees with the storage space they require.
If you have the opportunity, building a separate storage room is a great solution for clearing up the office, focusing on a more appealing design, and keeping all essential items in one easily accessible place. If not, you could also consider additional desk drawers, vertical shelving, modular cube storage, and similar solutions.
Consult your employees
After all, the extended office space will mostly be used by your employees. For that reason, it might be wise to ask them about any features they wish to be included in the new design. For instance, they might want ergonomic chairs and desks for added comfort, more privacy in their workspaces, or even a separate employee lounge room for decompressing and recharging.
As long as their demands are reasonable, aim to implement the suggestions of your employees into the office expansion. Consulting workers can help to relieve any confusion and stress regarding the expansion, while creating a space that suits their needs will likely increase job satisfaction, productivity, and efficiency as well.
While outgrowing your current office might be exciting news for business, workplace expansions can also be quite financially draining and time-consuming projects. Keep the tips above in mind to expand your office successfully without sacrificing efficiency.
