We are already in the second half of the year, it would be great to try out new ideas for work, new and higher aims and objectives, and sometimes even new colleagues or employees; all which in a nutshell boils down to new responsibilities. Dare I say with all these new turns should come new furniture. Why? Furniture is to the office what the skeleton is to the body; the balance on which creativity meets comfort and gets driven.
Office-scape, a coined name from the word landscape, refers to the creation and maintenance of the office environment. While the context of this may not exactly be what some bosses would like to hear because it sounds like spending money and looks like work, it's however, of great importance in maintaining or boosting work output and achieving more. And just to allay fears, office-scaping doesn't necessarily involves breaking the bank. On the contrary, it goes a long way in ensuring the seamless and fluid flow of work and creativity whilst investing into the promise of a continued balmy atmosphere for work.
Office-scaping generally focuses on the making of work-conducive, creativity-allowing workspaces having all the right furniture suitable for the many different tasks to be carried out. While a host of furniture choices may pop up as considerable during office-scaping, there are however, two major points to be considered before purchasing at furniture; style and need. This pair can not be overly emphasized because they're in themselves the origin point of office-scape. All furniture purchased should fit the need for which they are bought and be apart with the style of its user. This would be further buttressed in furniture types listed below:
•. Tables:
Arguably enough, no two distinct departments of an office should use the exact same tables. This is because styles and purpose differ, and these tables would only be advantageous and not pose an inhibition to the flow of work if they match the needs of these departments and their respective workers' needs. Example given, the information and communication department of an office would require a different table from the one used in the personnel management department. While the latter would need longer, bigger and more complicated tables that would sometimes encompass the workspace from corner to corner and hold all important gadgets ready for the smooth and uninhibited flow of work, the latter would require a simpler, smaller table.
•. Chairs:
It's no joke the long way a furniture as simple as the chair goes in affecting work output in offices. Better chairs mean comfort, a spur for creativity and fluidity of work and vice versa. Still using the departments in the previous example as a case study; the information and communication department is more likely to use ergonomic swivel chairs while the personnel department would stick to executive chairs and conference or passive chairs. These chairs vary according to the need and style of these distinct departments with the former needing comfort and mobility owing to longer hours of sitting and movements to and from different posts, and the latter needing to show all the exuberance and luxury expected in meetings with external parties.
•. Cabinets:
Eventually, every office has need of storage. And while this may seem like the only furniture that may be to all departments the same, there's need to consider the style of each department. Still with the case study example, the information and communication department are likely to need smaller storage stuck to their tables while the personnel management department would need bigger storage for files and inventory.
All these are the major components of the office-scape that keeps the energy and aura of hardwork and deligence revolving and productive.
Author
Paul Borb Jr
