When expanding your company’s offices, you must pay special attention to the furniture. Knowing what factors to consider when buying office furniture can prevent a lot of trouble down the road, especially if you have a larger workforce with a diverse set of needs that must be met. The following eight tips will help you out.
1. Plan your layout carefully
Proper layout planning is one of the most important steps in the process. You have to ensure that you’re making the most of the space you have available, and that all your employees will find it easy to get from one point to another. You can maximise your space by opting for stackable furniture.
If you want to dig into this in more detail, look into some Six Sigma courses. They can teach you a lot about the importance of layout optimization in workplace environments, complete with some actionable tips that you can put to immediate use. Foldable office furniture also helps you save space.
3. Settle on a consistent style
Your office interior doesn’t have to be anything fancy, and in most cases going with a slightly more boring style is preferred over a more extravagant option. No matter what you do though, always make sure that you’re following a consistent style and colours that doesn’t abruptly change from one room to another.
This will not only help your office look better, but it will also make it easier for your employees to navigate through it. If you want to dedicate some rooms to specific purposes, it’s okay to deviate from the main style a bit. Just make sure that there’s some high-level consistency to everything.
5. Get input from your employees
Always consider your employees’ opinions first and foremost. There might be certain issues that you’re not aware of, and those will only become apparent once you’ve conducted a serious conversation with everyone who’s going to be working in the new office.
If you’re opening a brand new office and thus don’t have any established contact with the employees who’ll be working there, you can still conduct a survey among your current workers. Ask them what they like and don’t like about their current workplace arrangements, and specifically ask for input on potential improvements.
7. Invest in extended warranty when it’s available
Always go for any extended warranty options you can get, at least for more expensive pieces of furniture. Not every manufacturer/seller will offer those, but when you’re making a larger purchase like furnishing an entire new office, it can make a lot of sense to additionally insure your investment.
This is especially valid for expensive office chairs with various mechanical functions that are prone to breaking down over time. It will also help you keep things consistent in the long run. If something breaks and you can’t buy a replacement for it anymore, that will be a problem that will get progressively worse over time.