Your work space: Does it make you more productive? Comfortable? Even eager to show up for work?
We work in an era in which a slowly increasing number of companies are investing in their employees` work life with flexible working hours, day-care services, nonsmoking policies, stress workshops and employee fitness centers. Now, factor in the work space, right down to the chair we plop into every day: Specialized interior design of the office has arrived.
”It`s not just how a work space looks, but does it work?” said Scott Hester, director of architecture and design with Space Design International in Cincinnati.
Hester uses phrases like ”analyzing space” and ”creating office environments which connotate a company`s goals.”
The interior design industry racked up revenues of almost $1.5 billion in 1985, according to Interior Design magazine.
The compound growth rate for the industry over the last nine years is 32 percent, and analysts say the office segment is a major contributor to that growth.
As the number of factories shrink, more Americans are office-bound. And the high cost of office space forces companies to use that space in the best manner possible for the productivity and comfort of their employees.
”Many clients seem faced with the problem of getting more people in the same floor area,” said Gary Volz, executive vice president of the VNA-DDT Interiors Group.
New technology–such as telecommunication systems and computers–has created new design needs. Computers require special tables, chairs and lighting. Special cables and outlets must be arranged for elaborate new telephone systems.
Image is crucial, too.
”They (companies) may not tell you what they want, but they can tell you how they want their clients to feel when they walk in the office,” said Connie Thomas, an interior designer.
But designers say employee productivity and morale are the dominant factors behind office design. Discomfort clearly deters productivity.
”With the advent of the computer, the chair now must fit the body,”
Thomas said.
A computer-oriented office needs a pleasant environment to maintain employee morale and reduce turnover, interior designer Linda Robbins said.
The corporate office is becoming more comfortable–and sometimes more like home, Hester said.
”It`s like the cottage industry in reverse,” he said. ”Companies are learning that an emphasis on comfort and image is a worthy investment.”
