Your work environment is a critical factor that affects your employees’ productivity. Studies confirm that one’s physical environment significantly affect their cognition, behavior, decision-making, and relationship with others. Evidence shows that a messy and disorganized workplace can lead to stress, which costs American businesses up to $190 billion a year in healthcare costs alone. If your work space easily gets messy and cluttered, it may be time for an office renovation, one that factors in cleanliness and organization.
Easy to Organize Layout
Layout should be one of your key considerations when you are renovating your workplace. Ideally, your office’s design and layout should not only boost your employees’ comfort and well-being, but it should also be easy to clean and organize. Using private booths and cubicles in your office allows you to keep your employees’ things out of sight, but it also makes your entire office feel crammed. An open office layout might seem ideal if you want your office to look bigger.
One downside of the open office layout, however, is that it has a lot of high-traffic areas, so managing cleanliness and keeping your employees safe can become a challenge. A study shows that a single virus can contaminate an entire office within a single day, especially in its high-traffic areas. One good layout to consider is the low partition layout. This is basically a more modern version of cubicles, where partitions between desks are lower. With this layout, your office does not look as cramped as when you use full cubicles, but it isn’t as exposed as an open office layout.
Mind Your Materials
One of the many pitfalls when it comes to renovating or redesigning your office is selecting materials solely because of how they look. For example, carpets are still commonly used as office flooring, as data shows that as of 2021, carpet sales grew by 11.5% from the previous year. However, over 200,000 bacteria can be found in every square inch of a carpet, which is why even the US National Institute of Health cautions against its use. The same goes for walls, which can easily get dirty but are tricky to clean without damaging the paint job. As such, it would be ideal to use vinyl, laminate, or even hardwood for your office floor, and high-quality paint for your walls. These materials are relatively easy to clean and to maintain. If you are still cautious when it comes to the integrity of these materials, you can hire professional cleaners to sanitize them. This way, you can ensure that these are thoroughly cleaned without being damaged.
Smart Shelving Options
Take advantage of shelving options to avoid clutter on your office floor. For example, full wall shelving is great in maximizing the use of a wall as it provides extra options for sub-shelves. This is ideal for small offices with space issues. Meanwhile, if your office requires frequent movement, moveable or adjustable shelves might be perfect. Since employees spend an average of 1.5 hours per day looking for things, you can cut this down by providing desk organizers, such as file organizers, pen holders, and storage boxes. It would be better if these organizers are labeled so that your employees can further save time in finding where specific items are. By being smart when it comes to shelving and organizing options when redesigning your office, you can ensure that your office space remains easier to maintain.
Keeping your office clean and organized is a must for every office owner. Renovating or redesigning your office presents an opportunity for you to reconsider your office’s layout, construction materials, even shelving options, so that these are easier to clean and maintain. This way, you can ensure that your employees work in an environment that is conducive to productivity.
