Five Quick Ways to Make Your Workspace More Ergonomic!

Considering all the hours you spend logging in at the workplace, it’s easy to forget about your body’s needs when you’re juggling multiple deadlines and projects — that is of course until your body sends you a painful reminder. Save yourself some strain with these quick ergonomically friendly tips! This can also help designers in what to consider when building the perfect workplace for your client.

1. Take a step back. It’s great that you’re dedicated to meeting those deadlines, but unless something is due right this second, walk away from your workstation every few hours, even if it’s only for a brief walk about the office. Stretching your body is the only thing that can combat the health issues that arise from prolonged sitting.

2. Get aligned with your computer. Keeping your elbows bent near 90 degrees, with your mouse comfortably within reach of a keyboard. Oh, and stop slouching (you probably just caught yourself doing it while you read this)!

3. Keep your chin up – literally! Elevate your monitor to eye level, approximately 18-28 inches from your face. Your neck will thank you for it.

4. Use a sit – stand workstation. On top of making sure you’re decked with a good ergonomic office chair, consider a sit-stand workstation, which will allow you to take stretch breaks throughout the day, elongating your spine and promoting blood flow.

5. Adjust that chair. Your chair is your best ergonomic friend. It supports your back, your bottom, and your posture. Consider the following:

Shape. To help maintain a healthy posture, choose a chair that offers good lumbar support.

Length. When you sit, there should be a little space between the edge of the chair and the back of your knees. Adjust the seat depth to be able to sit accordingly.

Height. When you are sitting, your feet should be on the floor in front of you, and your thighs should be slightly below your hips. Shorter folks might need to use a footrest, while taller people might need to adjust the height of their desks.

A Healthy Workplace is a Happy Workplace

In today’s competitive business landscape, employees are logging more hours at the office than ever before. Since so much time is devoted to office work, office design should place a strong emphasis on what makes for a healthy workday. After all, design which takes health and wellness into account not only affects the personal wellbeing of the employees, but also the effectiveness of the business and consequently its productivity. Here are some design solutions you to keep in mind to optimize workplace health and safety:

Ergonomics and usability. The purpose of work place ergonomics is to increase the comfort, safety and efficiency of employees by fitting the environment to be compatible with their needs, abilities and limitations instead of the other way around.

Air quality. Indoor air quality may be one of the most important element in ensuring your office is a healthy and pleasant place to work. When considering design elements, bear in mind physical factors such as air temperature, humidity, and air circulation.

Lighting. Appropriate lighting can reduce eye fatigue and headaches, providing for greater comfort and increased productivity. A combination of natural light and well-planned task lighting can prevent eye strain.

Inclusive design. Every design decision has the potential to either include or exclude employees. Inclusive design emphasizes the value of diversity, covering a wide variation of capabilities, needs and aspirations. Organizations should integrate design structure that reduces the need for employees to ask for individual accommodation, and empowers them to feel and work their best in the workplace.

Regulations, legislation and code of practice. Designers and project managers alike, should align themselves with the Model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act, supported by model WHS regulations, model Codes of Practice and a National Compliance and Enforcement Policy governed through Safe Work Australia.

Transitioning to a Wireless Workplace

The use of mobile in the workspace has become more prevalent in recent years. Offices have evolved to accommodate these changes. What things should you consider when designing an office to be more mobile friendly?

Virtual meetings and cloud storage are both essential if you’d like your office to be wireless and reduce the need for workers to be in the office. Being able to meet with your team from anywhere in the world is a huge advantage and opens up the workforce to great team members that may be outside of your geographical area. Meeting systems such as GoToMeeting and Google Hangouts allow for easy face-to-face meetings anywhere on the globe.

Cloud storage is equally as important, if not more, than virtual meetings. Being able to share files and compare notes from anywhere is a must if you’re trying to make your team more mobile. Widely used apps like Dropbox and Google Drive make sharing files easy and secure.

Now, what things can you implement in your office that foster a more wireless culture? A new trend in office plans called “agile working” allows teams with a limited amount of space to make the most and still be productive. Seats are unassigned but unlike hot desking, there are multiple areas specially catered to different working styles such as private work areas, collaborative spaces and social spaces. Staff can pick the area best for their productivity and change based on project needs.

To accommodate mobile equipment, charging stations for laptops and phones should be implemented where possible and will require cable management systems. Moveable tables are great for social work areas and saving space but can cause issues with cabling. It’s all about finding a balance in flexible physical space and digital space.

A wireless office is great for allowing better communication a more mobile way to work. You may find certain challenges in implementing these changes in your office. We hope that this has given you some ideas on the changes that need to be made to allow your team to be more wireless.

Small Details To Tie Your Office Design Together

It can be easy to forget about the little things in interior design like power outlet covers and door knobs. We rarely give it a second thought but that gives it all the more reason to catch our attention when it’s out of the ordinary. For some, even the furniture isn’t as planned out as it should be. It’s the details that make an office stand out from boring ones. Take the opportunity to display your great attention to detail and impress your clients by putting a little more emphasis on often overlooked furnishings.

So what things should be on your checklist so that you don’t forget them? Furniture is definitely at the top of the list. However, a lot of offices drop the ball in choosing furniture for the office. Everything, from the arms to the upholstery can bring all of the design elements together.

Wooden accents add a natural cozy look. You can bring a little bit of nature inside of the office in some fairly simple ways. Wooden bookshelves or chairs are great to add a bit of nature. Reclaimed wood paneling and furniture with wood accents are good ways to incorporate wood in the office.

Other details to consider are the small pieces that bring everything together. Matching power outlet covers and door hinges to light switch covers and door knobs can really bring everything together. Show off your attention to detail by focusing on the little things that bring your office design together. Putting more emphasis on the finishing pieces can make a huge difference in the way your office looks. Impress more clients with the look that these little changes can make.

Design That Tells Employees: Make Yourself At Home!

As businesses look to stake their place as industry leaders, team members are logging more hours in the workplace than ever before. The lines between work and home life, are quickly becoming more blurred. For this reason, many organizations are following suite and working overtime to make the office feel like a home away from home for their employees.

This trend is known as the domestication of the workplace, and it’s front and centre in current design trends. While the trend lends itself to creating a more eclectic, comfortable space, it also works as a tool for recruitment and retention of employees while supporting employee performance and enhancing workplace health and wellness.

This is not to say universal design has lost its place in the workplace. For instance, residential furniture does not necessarily have the technological functionality that commercial use requires. To account for this, many interior designers and project managers are opting to merge universal and domestic design for a workplace environment that embodies both practicality and comfortability.

So how can you introduce domestic design without losing the capabilities tied to traditional office design?

Consider introducing sectional couches, mobile side tables and accessories like accent rugs, plant life and contemporary art. You can even go one step further by considering foosball and ping pong tables to engage employees and encourage group play during downtime. Encourage employees to customize their workspaces with personal items that inspire and enable them to work their best.

If you’re looking to continue building an innovative work space that grows around the clock – create an office employees can ‘come home’ to!

How Can You Get The Most Out of Your Office?

With rising real estate costs in CBDs like Sydney, Melbourne and many other international cities around the world, designers and staff are increasingly challenged with doing the most with the least amount of space. How do we maximize the limited space that we have to work with?

When you’ve got a small office, you’ve got to be smarter in the way that you operate. It’s easy to let the clutter build up and make the office feel tiny. This is where a few simple changes can make a huge difference.

Organization is much more important when space is limited. We have to make it much easier to file or discard things as soon as they hit the desk. Finding a good system for putting away paperwork and not allowing clutter to pile up on desks is essential for keeping the office feeling open. Be sure to discard things that aren’t needed as well.

Vertical space can be a savior when you’re limited. Using vertical space for storage can limit the use of square footage thus giving more space for other furniture and activities. Tall filing cabinets work well, and shelves above your workspace keep from using precious floor space. Mobile and multipurpose furniture can expand a small space by function.

It’s important to not use brightly colored furniture in such small spaces. Bright colors make objects appear larger than what they are. Conversely, darker colored walls will make a room feel more closed in. So use darker furniture and brighter colored walls to visually maximize the space that you have. The options are endless with the ability to customise furniture colours with upholstery, powder coating and staining.

Working with small spaces can be incredibly challenging. But with a little bit of planning you can make the most of just a little bit of real estate. Organization and some policies on clutter can be game changers. Add in some design elements and you can have a very impressive office.

Prefabricated Office Spaces Make Room for Growth

In today’s increasingly complex, diverse, mobile and environmentally conscious business landscape, organizations are facing increased pressure to curate office spaces designed to meet the diverse needs and values of their employees.

Prefabricated office spaces show great promise as they are easily customized to be any size, allow for multiple stories and often integrate modular device and furniture solutions that promote collaboration and increased productivity. Prefabricated office spaces also reduce waste and boost sustainability as they are often built using several recycled products and materials.

To keep your modular workplace ahead of the curve, you can also request the integration of Universal Design strategies to ensure all employees, regardless of age, size, cultural identity, ability or disability are exposed to inclusive spaces and products that promote accessibility, safety and convenience.

The process of introducing a prefabricated workspace is fast and simple. Once a prefabricated building is complete and shipped to your location, it is set into place and connected to the foundation. Utilities are connected and your choice of exterior finishes are then added. The resulting prefabricated workspace is environmentally friendly, with the all the same architectural aesthetics you would expect from a conventional building. To accommodate the needs of a thriving business, prefabricated modules can be expanded or minimized at minimal expense.

With a significantly reduced time to occupancy, your business can start driving growth and optimizing your bottom line sooner.

While prefabricated workspaces may not suit the needs of every business or organization, the cost-savings, sustainable practices and inclusivity they provide – make them a strong consideration for the future of your workplace.

Universal Design – Building for Everyone

While the concept of Universal Design is relatively new to the world of architecture and design, there is an increasing demand for more inclusive spaces and products that promote accessibility, safety and convenience for an increasingly diverse population and their wide range of needs.

The expectation to ensure all people, regardless of age, size, cultural identity, ability or disability are treated equally in building environments is quickly becoming the norm across the globe. For this reason, project managers should consider integrating Universal Design strategies into their plans regarding products and spaces.

Architects, product designers, engineers and environmental designers can become true innovators in optimizing Universal Design integration by considering the following:

1. Body fit: Designing spaces and utilizing products that accommodate a wide range of body sizes and abilities

2. Comfort: Keeping demands within desirable limits of body function

3. Awareness: Ensuring that information regarding use of integrated Universal Design strategies is easily perceived

4. Understanding: Making methods of operation and use intuitive and clear

5. Wellness: Contributing to promotion of health on a holistic level, avoidance of disease, and prevention of injury

6. Social integration: Treating all groups with dignity and respect

7. Personalisation: Incorporating opportunities for choice and expression of individual preferences

8. Cultural appropriateness: Respecting and reinforcing cultural values and the social and environmental context of any design project

By implementing Universal Design into new and existing building projects, we are truly designing for this diversity – a philosophy that, when applied, benefits everyone!

A Learning Lesson in Classroom Design

Improving educational outcome in the post-secondary world is a universal goal for educational institutions. How to go about doing so remains the focus of significant research and debate. An often overlooked factor, is the effect classroom design can play in optimizing student learning and engagement. In fact, several noteworthy studies have confirmed that thoughtfully and intentionally designed post-secondary spaces can affect retention, attention, motivation, learning and academic achievement. Here are three simple classroom design tips that promote and enhance active learning.

1. Integrate flexibility – modular furniture, technological devices and whiteboards will make room for collaborative project engagement and brainstorming sessions.

2. Abandon the ‘front of the room’ – utilize the middle part of the classroom as the primary “teaching corridor,” and leave the wings as study areas for students that can also be walled off with movable screens. This approach will encourage active involvement and shared communication.

3. Let the light in – Natural light in the classroom can improve performance. One study of 2,000 classrooms found those with more natural daylight performed higher on than those who had less. While installing new windows across campus could be a costly endeavor, swapping up spaces with windows that weren’t originally used for learning purposes (office spaces or lecture halls for example) could be a viable solution.

Generation Z will be the next wave of post-secondary students. In a constantly shifting technological and educational landscape, it’s crucial to design and integrate active learning spaces that inspire the innovators of tomorrow.

Going Green is Good for Business

Integrating environmentally friendly initiatives into the workplace may seem like a simple and trendy public relations move. In truth, going green brings a wide variety of benefits for business owners. Applying green processes to the workplace positions participating businesses as leaders of social change while allowing for significant financial growth. Some benefits include:

Tax Advantages

Going green has many practical advantages. In some countries, tax credits and incentives are available. Many businesses are eligible for a sales tax exemption or corporate income tax credit for using solar energy systems, equipment, machinery and other renewable energy technologies.

Reduced Waste

Sustainable utilization can improve the overall efficiency of a business. For example, turning off lights in vacant offices can save energy, reduce utility costs and increase your bottom line. Printing less cuts down on paper usage and refilling ink cartridges instead of throwing them away can be another money-saving practice while also reducing the amount of plastic thrown away from the cartridge and packaging.

Improved Workplace

Providing green options within a company can help employees who suffer from respiratory and other health-related conditions, because green products contain fewer chemicals that are connected to physical problems. A healthier workplace reduces sick days, in turn increasing productivity and overall output.

Environmental Standards to Increase Your Bottom Line

Businesses or organizations looking to stand apart, might want to consider attaining ISO certification. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has developed a comprehensive series of standards including a family of standards that provide practical tools for companies and organizations looking to manage their environmental responsibilities.

Australian consumers seeking out sustainable options will be especially interested in Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) certified products. Interior designers and project managers looking to introduce new design and furniture solutions into the workplace, would set themselves apart as sustainability champions.

With green initiatives increasing in popularity, economic studies have shown that companies utilizing green technology and selling green products are seeing an increase in profit. With environmentally building design and operation, success is assured as the workplace becomes both practical and profitable. The numbers are in and the Return on Investment (ROI) of prioritizing sustainability in the workplace – are sure to drive growth that’s very, very green!