The road to new ways of working and change management.

Top 10 things most people don't know about refurbishing your current office?

If your business is approaching a tenancy lease-end and your requirements or vision has changed, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you must relocate. As the world moves towards hybrid working as a standard, it is the ideal time to analyse how your teams operate and how successfully they do so within the current space.

Here are the top 10 tips on how to refurbish your workspace to yield significant changes:

Workspace Analysis & Strategy A great place to start is to analyse how your team use the office and how they feel that they could be better supported by the environment. Conduct surveys or workshops with the department leaders and wider team if possible, to gather constructive feedback and suggestions.

Space-planning A hybrid working model where the workforce is split between the office and remote working doesn’t necessarily mean reducing your floorplate, but it does give the opportunity to re-assess the layout and zoning to support the team better. A fitout partner and designer can help you to maximise the use of the space by assessing the following:

• What work settings are regularly used/never occupied? Are there enough meeting rooms and are they acoustically effective?

• How are the workstations arranged?

• Can the workstation number be reduced by implementing a variety of work options such as individual rooms for concentrated work, teamwork areas or tech-enabled flexible settings?

Example of zoning plan.

 

Embrace non-hierarchical open plan working Traditionally, Managers would position their private offices around the perimeter benefitting from the natural light and views. Integrating leaders into an open-plan workspace frees up space for the workstations of the wider team to benefit from the light and views, therefore increasing well-being and staff satisfaction.

Cultural & embedded behaviours

An upgraded workspace journey is the ideal time to address any internal culture and staff engagement issues. Investment in a bespoke workspace can raise morale, and employee engagement resulting in a higher level of productivity.

Social Interactions

Addressing space planning for efficiency, it may release some additional space to create social areas and breakout spaces. Flexible/movable furniture/casual meeting settings. Townhall

Technology

Please take the opportunity to assess the integrated IT and its ease of use. Tech is often a significant source of frustration therefore upgrading systems, using the same system across the business and providing training can make a huge difference in how the team communicate internally and with external parties.

Staff Attraction & Retention The War on Talent is real. Employees are increasingly choosing new positions based on a company's ingrained values and additional benefits. A modern, innovative and human-centric workspace will undoubtedly be beneficial during the recruitment process. Employees wish to be valued and enjoy their daily work experience, therefore creating a space where people want to attend is crucial.

Sit-to-stand/ergonomics Although ergonomic furniture and equipment may come at higher initial costs, by reducing ergonomic risks, you will reduce lost workdays due to injury, discomfort and fatigue. Your team are your most important asset and by fostering a focus on well-being and health & safety, not only will you reduce employee turnover and absenteeism, your employees will be more productive and efficient.

Brand & company values

A workspace should represent your business values and brand. Your workspace should represent your company personality while conveying professionalism and high-quality service or product.

Client welcoming/professional

Are you proud to welcome clients to your office? A good first impression on arrival at your office is essential. It is believed that a judgement can be made in a matter of a few seconds and therefore may make a key difference when trying to secure new clients.

Talk to us now about the road to new ways of working, we’re always happy to guide our clients on the best solution.