Office Interior Design to Optimise Productivity

Interior Design for Offices Aimed at Enhancing Productivity

The importance of interior design

Interior design is about making a space functional, while looking good. This is achieved through the use of furniture, desk placement, flexible workspaces, interactive whiteboards, and some of the key methods we have detailed here, in this handy guide on how to use interior design to create and maximise productivity.
If a successful office interior design has been put into place you will reap huge benefits in regards to staff wellbeing and happiness, and in increasing focus and productivity levels.

A workplace that is comfortable, friendly and well-put together encourages employees to feel inspired, satisfied within their jobs, and that good interior design has a huge impact on creativity and focus as well as productivity. The office layout should reflect what you want it to produce: if the office spaces are blank, dark and cold, the employees will feel uncomfortable, self conscious and bored – if however you are in a well designed office space you are more likely to feel upbeat, positive, productive and focused. Who would have thought interior design plays such a major role in workforce productivity on a day to day basis?

Breakout spaces

A change of scenery and room to breathe within a work day can be highly beneficial when building a productive office space. This is because having a change of view and separate space to relax on breaks or between meetings can help improve creativity and allow your brain to come up with new ideas, or solutions or answers to problems that have been unsolved for a while.
A good example of a breakout space could be a cafe space or sofa area within your office plan. These spaces should allow employees to relax or work in a more chilled out environment, and foster collaboration and communication between staff, clients and team.

Open spaces

Having access to an open plan office, or a workspace with plenty of open spaces allows room for movement, flexibility and communication, which can then inspire creativity and increase productivity levels. Having open spaces where collaboration is easier accomplished can help many individuals to work better; particularly those who:

• enjoy being part of (or want to create) a community within the working environment
• are keen to network with other employees
• work well in interactive and fast paced environments

Natural light

Having natural light in the work environment can make all the difference when it comes to workplace productivity. Artificial lighting can be too bright, or make you feel gloomy – where its possible to maximise natural light, for example by adding mirrors into the space (if you cannot add more windows) to reflect, bounce and increase the natural light; we strongly suggest it!

The more sunlight and vitamin D staff get can make them feel generally happier, and has been shown to improve the team and overall employee experience.

Biophilia in the workplace

Incorporating plants and adding biophilic elements into your office space could optimise and boost your productivity levels. Biophilia is the connection we as human beings seek with other living organisms, and to incorporate this into the workplace means introducing plants and other natural elements and designs. This concept has been taken on by an increasing number of architects and interior designers, by bringing elements of nature into homes, offices and workplaces.
Some of the key studies that present the positive impact to employees’ health and the office environment of having a workspace that incorporates biophilia include:

• improved employee productivity and creativity
• enhanced learning
• lower physiological stress and anxiety levels (stress reduction)- which can help with numerous mental health disorders as well as stress related illness
• improved air quality
• improved recovery rates of illness
• reduced sickness absence of employees
• reduced mental fatigue
• overall improved employee wellbeing and cognitive function
• positive and peaceful mindset
• higher levels of office productivity

The use of colour (colour therapy)

The use of colour in the workplace is not to be disregarded as an important factor in employee productivity.

Colour therapy has been used by many interior designers – heres a brief overview of how it works. Colour therapy is used to treat many mental and physical health conditions through the use of colour and light. Blue colours are thought to help treat depression and pain, orange stimulates appetite and happiness, red energises, yellow colours are meant to enhance mood and green to relax and ease stress levels. With this knowledge we can try to utilise colour in office design to boost productivity. This is often done by incorporating red, yellow and green tones into office design and workspaces to encourage energy, positive mindset and focus.

SEC Group

If you are looking for expert advice, ideas and solutions for optimising your employee and business productivity through workplace interior design; contact SEC Group today to speak to one of our expert office designers.