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Questions to Ask Your Employees Before Redesigning an Office

An office that has looked the same for so many years can make employees feel dull, trapped, and uninspired. This is why more and more companies are investing in regular effective office space planning- not just to make the work space look aesthetically-pleasing but also to make it a tool that could encourage the staff to do and be their best. So the ideal thing to do, besides researching on how you should have your office designed is to ask the people working in it; after all, they are the ones spending 8 to 9 hours in that space so might as well ask them for their opinion, right?

To help you know the right questions to ask before any office space planning, we’ve rounded it up to the top 3 :

In the whole office, where do you spend most of your time?

Employees have various tasks and these daily responsibilities are the best determinant on how you should design the workspace. For instance, if you have an account executive who spends most of his time outside the office meeting clients, it’s best to not give him a single desk and instead opt for the traditional cubicle workstation. On the other hand, if an employee is a full-time writer who spends her whole day sitting in front of the desktop computer, invest in a workspace that enables her to do her job in a comfortable setting.

Does your job entail collaborating with other departments?

This is quite obvious. Given the example above, an account executive is usually better off with a cubicle-type workspace since they need as much privacy they could get away from noise and distraction especially when they’re on the phone with a client. The writer, on the contrary, requires the input of creative directors and designers to make sure that content is delivered in a way that it gels everything together. This means that the writer’s workspace should be easily accessible for all teams commonly involved.

If you have the liberty to change anything in terms of the workspace design, what would it be?

The two previous questions are very specific; this last one, on the other hand, is more broad giving your employees the chance to actually express their opinion. Give your staff the freedom to share what they personally like about the existing setup and what makes them uncomfortable. By asking this question, you will be able to get a clearer and bigger picture on what improvements to make in the office by consolidating the common hassles and struggles that employees go through because of the current office design.

If you need more assistance on redesign your office, don’t hesitate to ask us here at Solutions for help. We are not just experts in providing quality new and used office furniture but in effective office space planning as well. Together, we can redesign your office into a space that encourages collaboration, inspiration, and productivity.