Think you might need to redesign your office space? We’ve put together some insights and a checklist to help you figure it out.
So you’ve heard about how office design can affect productivity, communication, and overall employee well-being, but choosing to redesign your office space is a big decision, and an expensive one. So you want to make sure that you’re making the right changes at the right time for you.
You’ve probably been doing a lot of research and asking the internet, “does my office need to be redesigned?”, looking for someone to tell you ‘yes’ or ‘no’. But at the end of the day there are many factors that you need to consider before you choose to do an office redesign, and there really is no single answer.
Is there an expiry date on an office design?
Yes and no, it all depends on the design you choose and whether your space planner has designed your space to function optimally or if it’s just trendy. We aim to design a space to be functional and look great for between five to seven years. Things like ensuring you use durable materials, timeless styling (trendy but grounded), and natural materials will give a space more visual longevity, and you have to plan well for company growth to extend the time a space will be relevant and sufficient.
“A coat of paint will freshen up any space immediately. But if your space needs new planning there is no quick fix.” – Jill Munger, time&space CEO
Signs you might need an office redesign now
- Your team has outgrown the space or your team has gotten smaller.
- Your company’s product or service has changed, affecting how your people need to work.
- You’ve adopted new technology but the space doesn’t accommodate the space the tech takes up or the way your people are working now.
- Your furniture no longer serves its function or needs updating.
- Your company culture dynamics may have shifted and the environment doesn’t suit the new mindset.
- Your staff are leaving or complaining that the environment is old and tired.
- Your office is looking outdated.
- Your company has outgrown the space.
- Your employees don’t want to work in the space they have.
- Things are falling apart. (e.g. dirty or peeling wallpaper, flooring lifting, etc)
Find out why your company culture is so important to your office redesign.
What else should you consider?
Redesigning your office may be what you need, but you might not need a full redesign. It’s possible that just some sections of your office need a redesign. For instance, your reception area might be unappealing or uncomfortable. Remember this is the face of your business, it’s the first thing people see when they enter your offices (and we all know, first impressions count). So maybe a refreshed reception area might bring a new feel to your office.
What we’re trying to say is there’s more to a redesign than simply changing colours or updating furniture. It’s important to get a proper space and needs analysis done and find out how far to take the redesign.
Office redesign checklist:
To make the decision easier for you, we’ve created this checklist to help you decide if your space is ready for a redesign, or if you just need a coat of paint to freshen things up. We recommend you tick off the ones relevant to you, and if you tick off three or more, we’d say it’s time to start considering an office redesign.
- Your office design is older than five years
- You’re downsizing and want to optimise your space
- You’re upsizing and need more space
- You’re moving premises and need help with planning your new space
- Your team members aren’t communicating well
- Your departments aren’t communicating well
- Your lease is expiring and you want a change
- You’ve had a culture change
- You want new furniture
- The office design is out of date
- Your reception area is uncomfortable or off-putting
- Your boardrooms/ meeting rooms are uncomfortable or off-putting
- Your breakaway spaces are uncomfortable or off-putting
- Your offices are uncomfortable or off-putting
- Your open plan space is uncomfortable or off-putting
- You’re too embarrassed to bring clients to your office
- The boardroom table and office desks have more scratches than veneer left
- You can’t update your technology because your current systems are outdated
Click here to download this checklist for future use.
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