Offices undoubtedly have a significant impact on your company as a whole. From your team’s productivity to the area’s efficiency and safety, there are plenty of factors that would determine a corporate office design that gives your business an advantage.
Below, you’ll discover the different office layouts and their advantages to determine which option is best suited for your company.
The Importance of an Office Layout
Consider the following situation: your staff spends up to nine hours of their day in a building to make ends meet while helping propel your corporation’s footprint in its industry.
While helping your business flourish to its fullest potential, it helps to provide an adequate space that motivates the team to fulfill their duties. An office layout creates multiple opportunities that benefit your business.
Saves on Funding
Incorporating a smart office layout into the work environment takes all contributing factors into account while making the most of all available space. Using up all square footage will eliminate wasted space and decrease unnecessary costs.
Increases Productivity
Your team’s workflow can occur easily and naturally with the ideal office layout. An office design prioritizes staff and will promote collaboration between departments, resulting in more fluid project completion.
Aids Management Team
An efficient office layout will be accessible, making it easier for leadership and management to interact with their teams. In turn, management roles will have more opportunities to train and coach staff to create a more productive environment.
Creates a Safe Space for Work
Incorporating a proper office layout may also reduce the risk of accidents, promoting increased facility security. Remember to locate fire exits, emergency staircases, and clearance around workstations and cubicles when determining your corporate design.
Doing so can help you decrease the risk of a workplace incident, making it easier to carry out emergency preparedness plans.
Keeps Teams Happy
Team morale is crucial to creating a healthy work environment. An office layout prioritizing staff may focus on smaller details like natural light, accessibility, and an area that allows personnel to relax during lunches and breaks.
Enhances Your Brand
A well-thought-out office design also can enhance your brand and complement its values and mission. This move can help send the right message about who your company is and how its staff and clientele fit into its vision.
Help Produce Quality Work
Traditional styles of work requiring a sole individual to carry out tasks by themselves are slowly becoming outdated. An efficient office space will provide leeway to place multiple team members on a project, encouraging problem-solving and creative outputs, resulting in improved outcomes.
The Different Types of Office Layouts
It’s easy to think of the mundane cubicles when hearing the words “office layout,” but the impression has transformed to accommodate modernization.
In this age, entrepreneurs and leadership want to encourage collaboration among peers and provide efficient work environments that can bring teams together. Here’s a closer look at the different types of layouts you’ll come across:
Traditional
Traditional office layouts typically consist of individual spaces for staff members. The design may incorporate enclosed offices and conference spaces and establish an open area to greet clients and customers.
Advantages
Traditional office layouts operate on the foundation of privacy. Each room belongs to its occupant, establishing an exclusive space for each team member and decreasing distractions that could hinder productivity.
Cubicle
Cubicle office layouts are among the most popular; while this design has an open dynamic, it utilizes partition walls to create individual workspaces for staff. This type of layout also combines private offices for senior leadership into the design.
Advantages
The cubicle office layout is cost efficient and accommodates teams and departments. The partitions also allow for privacy while making room for personal expression.
Open-Plan
Open-plan office layouts are a popular choice among many start-up corporations. This design removes partitions, favoring furniture and other structures as definition. You’ll notice lounge seating and large table setups to establish casual collaboration among colleagues.
Advantages
Open-plan layouts are versatile; you can rearrange furniture hindering workflow to better accommodate your team’s needs. This setting may also encourage staff to move around more, eliminating the need for remaining sedentary while working.
Team-Oriented
Like open-plan office layouts, a team-oriented design is another recent approach to modernizing the working environment. This alternative groups individuals by team, dedicating an entire space for them to collaborate.
Advantages
Like their open office counterpart, the team-oriented layout allows groups to come together and share ideas without needing a meeting room. These spaces are fantastic in busy, fast-paced environments and encourage networking, creativity, and accountability.
Low-Partition
A low-partition office layout modernizes the standard cubicle office alternative. As the name suggests, this design incorporates lower walls while improving staff communication.
Advantages
Low-partition office layouts are efficient in maintaining absolute privacy within the workplace yet encourage communication and collaboration like an open office design.
By incorporating low-sitting partitions, your team can engage in productive working habits while still communicating with others to avoid feeling separated or disconnected from one another.
Cellular
The cellular office layout divides the floor into individual offices that require a door for separation.
Advantages
The amount of privacy encouraged in this design is ideal for companies prioritizing confidentiality. For example, law offices would benefit from this layout since it protects sensitive information from being disclosed to unauthorized parties.
Hybrid or Combination
Hybrid or combination layouts are beneficial in that they combine elements from all types of office designs to create a space that accommodates a company’s unique needs.
Advantages
While it’s one of the newer corporation styles, it provides plenty of benefits! The hybrid layout allows staff to work to their strengths and abilities. These environments encourage face-to-face collaboration or remote work, creating a dynamic environment that can boost your team’s morale.
Final Words
Different office layouts have varying advantages that benefit your company. Given your team’s time in the corporate setting, it helps to consider an office layout that aligns with your brand and helps maintain an efficient, dynamic working environment.
But first, you’ll want to reach out to a corporate site selection firm to help guide you toward the ideal location. Our professionals at WDG Consulting can facilitate the real estate exploration process to provide an approach that aligns with your project’s objectives and expectations.
