office furniture
The New Face of Office Space Storage
In the new world of office space design and office furniture, the key is flexibility. From flexible walls to mobile office furniture to meeting pods, everything that defines an office space needs to be “subject to change” in location or look with relatively little to no difficulty, time or expense— or at the very least, be able to serve multiple purposes. Office space storage cabinets are no exception.
Office space storage cabinets for 2017 will not only take on a slightly different look but also serve more than one purpose. In terms of looks, the new standard filing cabinet could be customized to incorporate the colour scheme of the office, and have a glass or wooden top surface. The individual storage areas in a cabinet can be a set of horizontal drawers, vertical cabinet doors or a combination of both, allowing for multiple storage systems to be used in one office space storage unit. For example, the horizontal drawer space would be used for letter, legal or A4 filing, while the vertical cabinet door area would be used to hang up coats and store personal belongings. All sections of the office space storage unit would have secure locking systems to keep all contents safe.
And no longer will they necessarily have to be lined up against a wall—they can be the wall! That’s right! Creatively placed in an open office space design, the new office space storage cabinets can be used as a divider to further define or separate a work space from a meeting space. How clever is that?
With the rising popularity of flex hours and desk sharing, and the more simple contemporary designs of actual office desks, the popularity of storage at an actual desk is on the decline. It only makes sense that file storage cabinet units pick up the slack with their new contemporary design and purpose.
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DJ Mcgauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Space Planning, Renovations and Relocation Project Management Company of choice. If a renovation or relocation of your office space is in your plans, please contact us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. By the end of that meeting, you will know all that would be required to make your office renovation/relocation project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931, email [email protected] or visit our website for more information and to complete our contact form.
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References:
Cooper, E., Office Design Advice, Posture People, “Office Furniture Trends for 2017”, http://www.posturepeople.co.uk/office-furniture-trends-2017
Apres, FRD Comb:Store, Cabinet and Drawer Combined Office Storage, www. apresfurniture.co.uk/frd-combi-store
Who says you can’t sleep on the job? Introducing Sleeping Pods
What was once considered a reason to permanently relieve a person from their duties if done at work is now slowly being re-looked at by companies as just one more way to promote well-being and increased productivity amongst staff members. I am referring to sleep. And with the introduction of sleeping pods in an office space, staff catching up on lost sleep during their break or lunch hours, will be much more easily facilitated.
What are sleeping pods? In short, they are self contained units built for one, and designed for the sole purpose of allowing its user a private place to nap. Similar to office pods, sleeping pods are portable, sound proof, and can either be fully or partially enclosed. Some sleeping pods are even stackable, therefore allowing multiple units to be in an office space without taking up a large amount of its real estate.
Inspired by space and submarine sleeping capsules, sleeping pods at minimum include some form of mattress or bed upon which the user can lay down horizontally and rest. Some sleeping pods, however, can be outfitted with shelving for personal items, a radio, CD or DVD player and/or television to keep the individual entertained while in resting position.
Why introduce the option to sleep at work? According to Global Dean of Research, Ashridge Executive Education, Hult International Business School, Vicki Culpi, “Memory, attention, decision making, creativity and innovative thinking, highly relevant skills in the work environment, have all been shown to be affected by poor sleep, and the effects can appear after only a few nights of poor sleep. In addition, chronic sleep restriction, over longer periods of time, have been linked to diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.” Affording employees the opportunity to “disconnect and recharge” in a sleeping pod, even for just 15 minutes, has shown improvement in all of the above areas as well as promoted an increase in productivity, creativity and innovation amongst staff.
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DJ Mcgauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Space Planning, Renovations and Relocation Project Management Company of choice. If a renovation or relocation of your office space is in your plans, please contact us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. By the end of that meeting, you will know all that would be required to make your office renovation/relocation project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931, email [email protected] or visit our website for more information and to complete our contact form.
References:
Ross, Eleanor, Virgin.com, Feb 1, 2016, “Are sleeping pods about to become commonplace in offices?”, https://www.virgin.com/entrepreneur/are-sleeping-pods-about-become-commonplace-offices
Case for Commercial Office Furniture
Non-commercial and commercial office furniture can look good and function well in any office space, but if you were to ask us to recommend a grade of office furniture for your business, nine times out of ten we would likely recommend going with commercial office furniture if your budget permits. Here is why:
Expansion and Moveability. Commercial office furniture disassembles and reassembles well and can survive relocations.
Longevity. Commercial office furniture is built to withstand frequent usage and high levels of business activity, therefore has the potential to look “as good as new” for a longer period of time (i.e. will not delaminate or scratch as easily) despite frequency of usage.
Storage & Sound Barriers. If physical storage space is an important element for your business, then commercial office furniture has physical storage space usually included in its system package and is of better quality. Similarly, if your office space is divided into cubicles and sound barriers are required to lessen interferences with business calls, then commercial office furniture is ideal.
As mentioned in a previous blog, office furniture is a viable asset to your company. Hence, when considering the longevity of your business and your office furniture, investing in commercial office furniture would be a better long-term investment.
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DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Move, Reconstruction and Reconfiguration Project Management Company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2000 – 25,000sqft office space is a remote possibility, consider contacting us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. We guarantee that by the end of that meeting you will know all that would be required to make your office move/reconstruction project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931 , email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
Commercial vs Home Office Furniture—Which is Best for Your Business?
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Office furniture can play a crucial role in substantiating a business, however, with different grades of office furniture to choose from — namely home-graded vs commercial graded office furniture– how does one decide which office furniture is best for their office space?
First, I should probably clarify what I mean by home-graded vs commercial graded office furniture. Please take note of the chart below:
| Home Graded Office Furniture | Commercial Graded Office Furniture |
| Made out of low-grade laminates with limited colour choices | Made out of higher quality laminates, solid wood, contemporary fabrics, stronger internal hardware, and have a wide selection of colour choices |
| Available at stores catering directly to consumers (e.g. IKEA, Staples, Best Buy, etc) | Available at warehouses and stores that mostly cater to office space designers or interior designers |
| Usually has a lower upfront cost | Usually a higher upfront cost |
| Built to withstand light to medium usage | Built to withstand frequent usage, high levels of activity |
Both types of furniture have their place in an office space, but what is best for your business is typically determined by the following factors:
The Business Itself—Stage, Size, Culture
In our experience, we have seen companies with roughly 25 or less employees utilize home-graded office furniture, whether or not their office space is in a home or commercial space, whereas companies with more employees lean towards commercial-graded office furniture. The differences are usually based on the stage the company is at (i.e. a start-up company versus. a company beginning to grow versus an established corporation), the industry of the business (IT vs industrial), and sometimes the company culture (for example, we have one client whose culture includes having new employees build their own desk the first day on the job).
Business activity:
The amount of business activity involving the usage of your furniture is one good way to determine whether to invest in home-grade office furniture or commercial grade office furniture. For example, some businesses (like IT businesses) function best with just a telephone to make or take calls and laptop at the desk. In our industry, that would be considered a light to medium usage of the office furniture simply because wear and tear on the furniture itself would be relatively minimal …… perfect for home-grade office furniture. Other businesses, however, use their office furniture more frequently for a variety of business activities such as storage and filing, collaboration meetings, conferences and so on. For businesses that have higher levels of business activities that involve more frequent or heavy usage of their furniture, we usually recommend commercial grade office furniture.
Budget:
Budget is a “bottom-line” determinant in choosing the type of office furniture for a business. In short, we have seen businesses with lower upfront budgets purchase the home-graded office furniture for their businesses, regardless of company size or business activity, while businesses with higher upfront budgets are more apt to purchasing commercial-graded office furniture.
The bottom line is that office furniture is a viable asset to your company. So, if your company is small (i.e. less than 25 employees), has a low up-front budget, and is the type of business in which the activity and usage of the office furniture is relatively light, then home-graded office furniture might be the right choice for your company right now. Otherwise, if your business activity involves high usage of the furniture and your budget allows, then commercial-graded office furniture is the way to go.
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DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Move, Reconstruction and Reconfiguration Project Management Company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2000 – 25,000sqft office space is a remote possibility, consider contacting us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. We guarantee that by the end of that meeting you will know all that would be required to make your office move/reconstruction project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931 , email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
Office Furniture That Lets You Exercise While You Work
For the “modular employee” that likes to keep moving, even when at the office, or individuals that need or want to include some exercise in their day even though life and work demand otherwise, there are office furniture solutions just for you.
Introducing the treadmill desk!
Similar to the sit-stand desk, the treadmill desk is a desk or table top with a height adjustable stand. However, attached to the foot of the stand amidst the desk’s legs is, you guessed it, a treadmill. Now the modular employee can bring work and exercise together by walking while he/she continues regular business activities.
The treadmill desks are built with certain safety features. Unlike regular treadmills that are seen in a gym, the treadmill desks have a limited maximum rotation speed of six kilometers per hour (6km/h) which does not allow for jogging or running. They are built with a high torque system that rotates at the walking speed of its user and stops when the user stops, thus encouraging effective exercise and reducing the possibility of falling off when the user stops walking. The desks also include a monitoring device which informs the user of his/her walking speed, distance and/or number of steps.
The advantages of the treadmill desk are obvious. On the health side, use of the treadmill desk promotes healthy circulation, improved metabolism and a reduction in the occurrence of back pain and disease. On the business side, studies have shown that the use of the treadmill desk boosts brain activity and focus which in turn improves productivity and creativity.
But why stop with the treadmill desk? If walking while you work is not your style, why not try working while you bike? That’s right! You can actually trade your treadmill attachment for a stationary bike attachment.
Offering the same health and business benefits as the treadmill desk, the Bike Desk allows its user to sit and pedal while conducting ordinary business activities. It also has a monitoring device to inform its user of the number of pedal revolutions being made while in use. Regarding space, the stationary bike attachment takes up the same amount of space as that of a regular office chair, so it can be a convenient option for any work space.
So, for businesses wanting to promote a healthy, positive and productive working environment and who want to attract top-quality employees, introducing the sit-stand, treadmill or bike desks into your office space design could put you ahead of your competitors.
Office Furniture Takes On New Heights
There is no doubt about it. More and more companies are embracing what I call the “modular-employee” office culture, that is, the culture where employees work out of the office for part of their work week and only come back into the office when there is a need to work collaboratively. This culture evolution demands greater flexibility in office furniture.
While modular office furniture provides flexibility in how the units are set up in various types of office spaces, its flexibility ironically seems limited when faced with the “modular-employee” work-style. Hence, office furniture manufacturers have taken a more granular look at how the “modular-employee” works while in the office and have taken office furniture to new heights.
Introducing the adjustable height or sit-stand desk!
As the name suggests, the sit-stand desk is a desk fitted with hydraulic legs which can be raised when an employee wants to work standing up and lowered when an employee wants to work sitting down. The hydraulics are either electricity-powered or battery-powered. The desk tops themselves range from a simple table top in various geometric shapes to a traditional full-sized desk or workstation.
The sit stand desk is one piece of office furniture that offers many advantages.
- It is ergonomically friendly. Employees have the option of changing their position while they continue working. This reduces stress on their backs and legs, and promotes healthy blood circulation.
- It can be sized to fit in any workspace.
- It can be instantly mobile. Most sit-stand desks have wheels for easy mobility if one needs to move their desk from one location to another within the work day.
- They can be geometrically designed to fit with other similar desks to create an instant collaborative work area when needed.
- It can be easily height-adjusted by the push of a button.
Sit-stand desks are just one of the latest and greatest in office furniture offering increased flexibility for your employees.
Skimping on Quality Business Furniture Can Hurt Your Business
We see it all the time. Companies looking to change their office furniture will invest in higher quality new business furniture for areas that are often seen by visitors – like the reception area and the boardroom – but skimp on the quality and “newness” of the task furniture for their staff. That may seem like a great economical decision for the short term but in the long term, it could end up being one of the worst business decisions ever. Why?
1. It can send the wrong message to your staff.
While high quality business furniture in the “seen” areas will make a positive impression on your visitors, the lack of quality task furniture can give just the opposite impression to your staff. Think about it—your staff does all the work to make your company operate effectively. Making sure they have high quality business furniture to work with sends the message that you value them and their contribution in the success of your business.
2. Lower quality business furniture can eat up your profits…
(a) Through replacement costs
While investing in lower quality furniture may keep costs low in the short term, the “life” of the furniture is significantly less than that of higher quality furniture and therefore may need to be replaced much sooner or more frequently. Over a 10-year period, for example, you may find that you have spent more money replacing low quality business furniture than you would have if you initially invested in higher quality furniture.
(b) Through increased absenteeism and benefit payouts
Lower quality business furniture does not promote optimal comfort and positioning for everyday business tasks, hence there could be increased reports of back pain and carpal tunnel syndrome amongst your staff. In more severe cases, this could result in staff missing work for extended periods of time and your company having to pay increased disability costs.
3. It can contribute to lower productivity
Low quality business furniture will lessen you staff’s overall productivity. Lower productivity means less competitiveness.
So why take the risk? Invest in high quality business furniture for your staff’s everyday use. The continued success of your business depends on it.
Changing Office Furniture? Go Modular.
Choosing the right furniture for your office space is not only important but essential for the success of your company. Why? Because the right office furniture ensures the comfort of your staff and encourages their productivity. But when you have to balance the different needs and preferences of your staff with your organization’s goals and image, what type of office furniture should you choose? We suggest modular office furniture. Here are a few reasons why:
By definition, modular office furniture is actually pre-made furniture units, including desks, chairs, storage cabinets, workstation units and wall partitions that can be combined and arranged in different configurations to furnish an office or establish a workspace. Much like the pieces of a puzzle, the modular office furniture units may vary in shape and size, however they are made in such a way that any combination of the pieces can be put together to create a unique and private work space for each individual employee, establish a collaborative team environment, or both (i.e. a collaborative team environment while respecting the individual workspace needed for your people to work optimally )—whatever is needed to get the most out of your employees and meet your organizational goals. In addition, some units can be designed to be ergonomically friendly. Talk about getting the best of both worlds!
Another reason why we recommend modular office furniture is because of its flexibility and adaptability to the actual office space and, of course, mobility if that office space changes. In other words, a set of modular office furniture units, particularly workstations, can be arranged one way for closed-in office space, and re-arranged another way in an open area — each arrangement optimizing the use of the workspace at hand.
A third reason for recommending modular office furniture is that it can be budget friendly. Modular units range from inexpensive cubicle units to more expensive executive furniture units. The furniture pieces purchased can be limited to the pieces needed to create an optimal workspace for your employees in order to stay within any budget constraints. Additional pieces can be added at a later date if your budget permits and the need arises.
A fourth reason for recommending modular office furniture is that it is environmentally friendly. Many modular office furniture units are made out of recycled materials. You would know by the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification stamp found on each unit.
Finally, in general, they are made to last! There are very few cases where a modular unit would need to be replaced or repaired due to damage.
Flexibility, adaptability, cost-effectiveness, environment friendliness and durability, plus no compromise on professional looks—all good reasons why modular office furniture should be your organization’s first choice for furnishing an office space.
Corporate Space Planning & Relocation Advice 