Fit out focus: office furniture

We can all relate to how inadequate office furniture makes us feel. Sitting in an uncomfortable chair for eight hours or having a pesky pedestal crammed at your feet can make you cranky, impact your work and even harm your health.

We advise our clients starting an office refurbishment or fit out to think carefully about what staff want, and what kind of workplace experience the management team wants to create. Doing this exercise helps you narrow down your choices and invest in pieces that’ll add the most value to your office.

Firstly, your staff will have a set of requirements — somewhere to work (whether that’s a fixed workstation or not), storage and breakout spaces for collaboration or concentration. Often if you ask employees what they want, they’ll tell you they need what they currently have. Furniture workshops, showroom visits, tours of other offices and researching different furniture options are ways to move past this. Appointing a group of ‘project champions’ who report back to their peers can also make sure no-one feels left behind in the decision-making.

Secondly, your furniture choices can encourage employees to collaborate and adopt modern working styles like ‘activity-based working’ or even reinforce office etiquette. For example, providing seating pods or high-backed sofas in breakout areas tells your employees that it’s okay to move away from their workstations, whilst having lockers reinforces that personal items shouldn’t be stored in pedestals or under desks.