Setting up your office

The below are things you need to think about when it comes to furnishing your office space. For this we would offer space planning, you need to also consider where to put communications and office equipment at the same time as these items will likely need to be plugged into sockets, which may affect where you put your furniture items.

Opening the first office requires a lot of input and support. So to make everything as simple and streamlined as possible, focus on creating a layout and workflow that supports your company’s primary tasks and increase productivity from day one.

Layout

Your layout will be dependent on how many employees you have. The key thing is to think about your most frequently used equipment, files, and stationery, as well as which employees work together most day-to-day. If you have a departmental structure, for example, then you’ll want to place the people in each department close to each other.

Depending on your business you’ll probably be looking at one of three layouts. Each one has benefits for different businesses, and choose the best one that reflects your employees work habits and your business needs.

  • Open plan: An open floor plan maximizes the usable area of the space, but at the expense of privacy and storage.
  • Closed plan: A closed floor plan gives your staff more personal space, but it’s less collaborative and won’t fit as many seats.
  • Modular workstation: This layout combines elements of both, giving your staff more privacy, storage, and larger working surfaces—with open areas for collaboration.

Basic furniture

You will likely need at three types of basic furniture for your office, but you may require more depending on break areas and meeting room space.

  • Desks – it’s important that your employees feel valued and comfortable at work, so giving them their own desk space is important. You can go as simple as you want with plain rectangular desks or opt for an L shaped design that will offer more space and storage. You can also get height adjustable desks that offers employees a standing option and can benefit workplace health and safety.
  • Chairs – you can get chairs with a range of support and comfort from simple task chairs to executive chairs. While you may be on a budget, chairs have a significant impact on employee health and stress. Your chairs should be fully adjustable and offer some back and arm support as a bare minimum.
  • Storage – this includes filing cabinets, general stationary storage, and personal desk storage. You may buy desks with storage fitted, or you may need to may additional mini drawer space to fit under each desk. Your amount of storage will be entirely dependent on the size of your equipment, filing and stationery needs.

Additional areas

Other areas to consider in your office space will require other types of furniture, such as tables and chairs or large meeting room tables.

  • Formal entrance or reception area:You  may need to have a lobby or waiting area with guest seating if you expect clients to come in for meetings
  • Print Room you may need dedicated area within your office, like a copy room that contains your fax, printers, and a shredder
  • Break out or Kitchen areas – Ideally provide a small area for employees to take a break or have their lunch. A break area can make your employees feel more welcome, comfortable, and relaxed which is good for productivity. Think about sofas, coffee tables, dining tables, benches, and chairs.
  • Visitors – will you need a meeting room or separate area for meeting customers, suppliers, partners, and other visitors you may host?
  • Meeting/Conference room – even business with minimum collaboration will need to have department or business-wide meetings at some point. Conference space is crucial if your team gathers for regular meetings; private rooms are best for one-on-one conversations like HR reviews.

Office Culture

Workplace culture is the environment that you create for your employees. It is the mix of your organisation’s leadership, values, traditions, beliefs, interactions, behaviours, and attitudes – and workplace design plays a huge role in shaping and maintaining a positive workplace culture.

“Improve teamwork, raise morale, increase productivity & enhance workforce retention”

Creating a positive workplace culture improves teamwork, raises the morale, increases productivity and efficiency, and enhances retention of the workforce. Also, job satisfaction, collaboration, and work performance are all enhanced – and, most importantly, a positive workplace environment reduces stress in employees.

If you have an accountant, they should be your first stop for business advice. If you don’t have an accountant or they can’t help, BuBul has a wide range of experts available. For advice on planning your office, contact our expert* Caroline on LinkedIn.

*We’ve picked experts we know and trust who are good at what they do. All of them will give you at least an extra 30 minutes free advice if you contact them and would then charge their normal prices. They don’t pay to be on BuBul and don’t give us any money from anything they earn as an expert.