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Top tips for choosing the best office furniture for you, chairs, desks, filing cabinets etc.

There’s a good chance you’re going to be spending a lot of time using your office furniture, this makes choosing the best for you important. Whether it’s the comfort of your chair, selecting a desk that’s the right height and size for you, or ensuring you have enough storage easily accessible to stay organised, getting it right could be crucial to your experience of your office space. However, picking the best of everything can get very expensive. The skill lies in striking the best balance between budget and quality.

Below we’ll give you some top tips on what sort of furniture you should be looking at, how to choose the best for you, and where to find it.

Be aware of the space you have

Yes, that executive hardwood desk looks fantastic, but it’s also huge. Think practically when selecting your office furniture, not just stylistically. All office furniture should fit comfortably. When you’re selecting filing cabinets and cupboards, ensure there is plenty of room to open the draws or doors without impeding anyone else.

While this all sounds fairly basic, office furniture, from desks to filing cabinets, all come in a wide variety of sizes, so making the most of the space you have is important. You may want to draw a little plan to help you decide on where everything is going to go, and then you can calculate the amount of space you have in different areas.

Selecting the right desk for you

While aesthetics is important, practicality should be your top priority when selecting a desk. Ask yourself some relevant questions before making your choice, such as whether your furniture is suitable for all the intended uses, whether it has enough storage for your needs, whether there is plenty of leg room for you to work and move comfortably, and will it be low maintenance?

These questions are just the general questions everyone should ask themselves, there may well be specific needs you have because of your role. Take time to consider how you will use the desk, and then decide on a short list of must-haves in order for your desk to work for you.

Keep your costs down

Whether your having an office fit out of your existing space, or are moving to a completely new office, we all like to keep our costs to a minimum. Top quality office furniture isn’t cheap, and cheap office furniture isn’t always available at the lowest price. Speaking to an expert about the type of furniture you want is a great way to ensure you get durable and affordable office furniture.

It’s rare that the lowest price offers the best value for money, as the quality is usually considerably lower. However, there are plenty of desks and filling cabinets that offer excellent value for money.

Minimise aches and pains

If every time you turn around you whack your knee it’s going to get under your skin pretty quickly. Ensuring your office furniture has the correct ergonomics for you is important. A desk that is too high or low can lead to bad posture, as can a non-supportive chair. Both of these will lead to back and neck pain, as well as a long list of other aches due to your continued awkward posture. Filing cabinets and storage solutions with heave clunky draws can lead to excessive exertion while bent at awkward angles, which is an injury just waiting to happen.

Comfort is critical

Being comfortable in your work environment is of the utmost importance. Not only will you be more productive and efficient, but you’ll also be able to perform your job better while being happier. Comfort is one of those things you never worry about, unless it isn’t there. We’re all quick to notice when something is uncomfortable, but well selected furniture will perform exactly as you expect, so there’s no need to think about it after the initial selection.

Will your office have a theme or style?

Many companies like their office to reflect the brand in some way. Whether they use colour schemes, furniture, or floor tiles, your office furniture can also be incorporated. You can use the colour of your seats or the name tags used in the draws of filing cabinets. Maybe you want a predominant type of material to be used in your office. Some companies like to incorporate as many exposed natural products as possible, whether that’s wood, metal, or concrete.

Don’t spend for the sake of it

You may well have some office furniture in your existing set-up that will work well with the other new furniture. Whether it’s the bins under every desk, a selection of filing cabinets, or a boardroom table, recycling some of your old office furniture and adding it your new office fit out will save you money and hassle.

Could you work more efficiently?

Just because you have 4 desks and 3 large filing cabinets doesn’t mean that’s what you should get this time. Would you work better with four desks and smaller personal filing cabinets? Are desks going to be assigned to an individual or will they be shared? Where are filing cabinets and storage cupboards going to be stored without being an eyesore, or will that hamper the way you work?

Get all your questions answered by professionals

Making sure you make the most of your budget, nit just in a practical way, but also in relation to quality, will ensure your desks, filing cabinets, and chairs are all still going strong for many years to come. If you can incorporate your brand into your furniture, and add a bit of colour and energy, then even better.

The easiest way to do this is to ask for help from experienced professionals that not only have a comprehensive understanding of what’s available at your budget, but will also want to know how you work, so they can tailor an office furniture solution that works for you, will last, and comes in at the right price, desks, filing cabinets and all.

Give us a call at Loco today to discover how we can help you get better value for money on your office furniture.

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5 Reasons Great Office Furniture Increases Productivity

Great office furniture is one of the first steps in boosting your office’s productivity, read these 5 reasons how you can achieve this:

  1. Organisation

For an office to work effectively it needs to be well designed and well organised.  It needs great office furniture to house and organise all the various office supplies, devices and materials, as well as providing ample work stations for each employee.

A productive office needs furniture to provide the right amount of shelving units, filing systems, desks, lockers, chairs, for efficient work stations.  Office storage that can empower employees to organise and access all their office supplies and materials in a clear and efficient way.

In addition, a productive office needs the great office furniture arranged in an optimum way that the layout allows clear movement throughout the office.  Allowing ample space for each employee to be able to work at their work stations and fully concentrate on their work to be as productive as possible.

Office organisation is a clear winner when it comes to boosting and promoting employee productivity, and great office furniture is an easy way to achieve this.

 

  1. Comfort

Comfort is another essential step in creating a productive office space.  Having great office furniture automatically means that it is ergonomically designed with optimum comfort in mind.  First of all, chairs will need to be designed with the person in mind, with a balance of soft cushion, strong support, adjustable height, and a built in back support that allows the greatest amount of comfort throughout long hours of sitting in such a well designed chair.

Likewise, desks need to be the right height and dimensions to allow a comfortable working environment both ergonomically and having enough room to do work productively.  Having all the office furniture designed with the person’s comfort in mind, ensures that people can work better and more efficiently for longer, increasing productivity and boosting company profits.

As well as the physical furniture being very comfortable, the office environment needs to be very clean and hygienic for employees to have a great degree of comfort in their working environment.  The more work comfort, the greater chance of creating an optimum and sustainable environment for productivity.

 

  1. Visual Design

People can be very inspired about the visual aesthetics of any environment.  This is especially so when they need to be efficient and productive.  Having a visually attractive environment which is well designed is key.  Where there is a strong sense of style and visual design can really increase people’s motivation and inspiration for getting work done.

A sense of pride of place and attractive visual design in the office layout can be achieved by great office furniture.  In addition to great office furniture that is visually well designed, it is a great benefit to productivity if the office has attractive wall art and complimentary colour tones.  Having a nice visual environment can create the right atmosphere for greater inspiration, motivation and by default greater productivity.

 

  1. Ambiance

Once the level of organisation, comfort and visual design is achieved it can build the foundational requirements for a productive environment.  The next step is building the right office ambiance to best promote a good work mood.

Apart from the right physical space, lighting can greatly add to the atmosphere created.  The office should be clearly visible and optimum to work in, while also avoiding tones of light that are garish or harsh.  Getting the right balance of light is key

For a positive work ambiance, the most important factor is the right emotional and social environment that encourages a fun and positive work space.  Empowering people to feel free to express themselves, sharing their ideas and generally work in a positive work space is key for producitivity.

Having management set the right tone and mood of the office is crucial for people to have the best emotional space to contribute their best.  Stress stifles creativity and slows the thought process down, so try to avoid a debilitating environment that crushes creativity and innovation as your business will suffer and staff turnover can be higher.

Instead provide a very welcoming open, honest and supportive environment that helps empower each employee to contribute their very best and give 110%.  The right ambiance will incredibly provide the right environment for optimum productivity, once employees physical space is comfortable and efficient to work in.

 

  1. Social space

Along with the right ambiance, there needs to be a strong collaborative and social space for the most productive ideas and work to come from.  Where each employee can collaborate the best of themselves for the overall benefit of the company will greatly improve your companies innovation and competitive advantage.

In order to achieve the right social space for building team work you need to get great office furniture that enables employees to comfortably work together for sustained periods with the right level of table room, collaborative writing space to map ideas out, comfortable chairs and a generally inspiring space to create the right mood to generate the right level of productivity and ideas needed to drive your business to the next level.

Look at all the best companies in the World that provide empowering and creative social spaces for optimum team work and idea generation and development.  A good social space can provide the optimum team dynamic to best strategize the direction and development of the work that your employees do, which in turn determines your company’s performance and success.

Investment in great office furniture that is well organised, comfortable, attractive, supports work ambiance and team collaboration, can really help boost employee productivity sustainably.

To find out more about great office furniture or indeed great office supplies that will help boost your office productivity, you can see our full catalogue here and contact us here if you need any assistance.