Building a community with office space planning

On average, British employees spend around 35 hours a week at work. That's well over 1,500 hours every year, working in the same environment, with the same people, often working on the same projects. So is it any wonder our experiences at work affect our lives outside of work?

In an ideal world, it would be great if we could leave work at the office but the truth is that stress, overwork and conflict regularly effect how we feel about our jobs. A great way to help people to enjoy their work more is using office space planning to create a community.

What is office space planning, and why is community important in a workplace?

An office interior design method that arranges workplace layouts to compliment how employees work, office space planning can get people to work together in departmental or team groupings. Not only is it a means to create better communication and teamwork, it can also help to increase productivity, as well as the quality of work produced.

All of these elements will not just help the business to fulfil its aims but they also raise job satisfaction for employees too. We all want to turnup to work and have a great experience; work is a necessity but it should not be the 'grind' that many believe it is. It should challenge us, yes but it should allow us to learn and improve our skills and give us opportunities to unleash our personal abilities and talents. A lack of these things can easily be put down to the environment on offer.

A community, in the literal sense, is a 'collection of like-minded people with common goals'; in a workplace, the benefits of creating a strong community are innumerable. Whether it's increasing the ease of communication between people, through to promoting a sense of camaraderie and togetherness; a community will ultimately help everyone to enjoy their working days, playing heavily into their productivity and quality.

Creating a community within an office design

In office space planning, creating interiors that helps to foster a community will create clarity of purpose for employees. Here are just two simple ways an office design can achieve this:

Informal meetings/get-togethers . One of the most obvious ways to create a sense of community and a genuine bond between employees is by allowing them the opportunity to communicate in less formal environments. Whilst getting outside of the office building is always a great idea, something like a breakout room, a kitchen, cafe or bar is ideal to achieve similar from within the building.

Setting a clear company culture. What do the interiors of the business say to its employees? If the workplace offers a dull, lifeless image that doesn't help to inspire and group together its people, it simply will not grow any kind of community. It's only by understanding what they want to communicate to their employees, can a business truly get the best out of the people who work to make it a success.

Branding the interiors with colours, logos and biophilics is a great start but what about the facilities on offer? Are there areas in which teams can meet? What about a quieter place for those who want to get on with their work? How can different teams and departments communicate or physically traverse to each other? These are all things that better office design can cater for.

Need to improve your office fit out? Get in touch with the experts

If you're looking to improve the existing layout of your office design, need to expand or are simply looking to better shape your office into a more bespoke design, the dedicated office fit out team here at Oaktree Interiors are on hand to help.

Having been undertaking office space planning throughout the South of England for the past three decades, we have cultivated an experience, skill set and contact base that sets us apart. An example of this is our completely FREE no-obligation consultation that firstly, understands what your requirements are, the space available and how everything can be achieved. We then create 2-D and 3-D designs based on allof this, giving you an insight into how your ideal office design will look before you even commit a single penny towards its construction.

To learn more about our office design services, please feel free to get in touch with us directly today. You can give our team a call on 0345 21 86955 or alternatively, you can send an e-mail to us at hello@oaktreeoffice.com

Building A Community With Office Space Planning

What is office space planning, and why is community important in a workplace?

Creating a community within an office design

Need to improve your office fit out? Get in touch with the experts

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