The importance of agile office design

As the landscape for office design continues to evolve, the demand for a more agile working environment increases and becomes standard practice from one modern business to another. Read on to find out what agile working entails and why it’s proving to be successful.

What is agile working?

Agile working means that there are few restraints on employees when it comes to how they work – offering maximum flexibility, this method allows staff to work in whichever way that best suits them. If agile working behaviour is implemented within a company, it’s used across the entire workplace, allowing all staff the option to use standing desks, breakout areas, pod areas, kitchen areas and traditional desk areas. In most cases agile working also includes allowing employees to work from a local cafe or at home and by establishing this relaxed approached to work, comes higher job satisfaction, better trust across the workforce and a higher output.

Benefits of agile working

– Increased flexibility

– Higher job satisfaction

– Better trust among workforce

– Less floor space required

– Retains skilled workers

– Attracts new talent

What are the challenges of this approach?

– A shift in office culture will be inevitable for both employees and management

– Staff can’t opt out – chances are they won’t want to anyway

– Technology and IT infrastructure will need to change – phones and laptops will be required

What must I consider during office design?

To get the most out of having an agile office structure in place, there are several steps you undergo to ensure you have a solid strategy, that’ll help to streamline your new office principles.

Step One: The Vision

The concept of agile working needs to be communicated to the key senior stakeholders and upper management and a clear outline brief needs to be created before introducing it into the workplace. During this meeting, teams must be established and the leaders will be the driving force of this new office culture, to ensure the future maps out well into the cost-efficient, flexible and efficient workplace you’re looking to achieve.

So during this meeting: you will need to have an understanding of the organisational challenges and how they can be managed. These stages will be written into a report to ensure all details that have been agreed are in writing and can be referred to at a later stage.

Step Two: Research

To ensure the results of agile working equal a performance based workplace, data needs to be obtained, to understand how your employees like to work. The results will be able to give you a clear picture of how you need to use your office space – with more standing desks and breakout areas – you’ll have more room to work with as lines and lines of desks and chairs will be no more.

Step Three: Your Design

Using the results from the data you have produced, you will be able to map out a rough idea of your office layout as you have a better understanding of how people like to work. This will allow you to strike the perfect balance between practicality, creativity and flexibility. Speak to your interior designers who will be able to draw up an office plan in line with your new agile working concept.

Step Four: Directing Development

Once the initial assessment is complete, the in-house project manager needs to be appointed. They will work alongside your interior designer to ensure the execution is flawless – combining great office layout and best office design tailored to your company’s needs.

Step Five: Interior Design

All companies want to maximise output, reduce overheads and improve staff well-being, so to achieve this, it’s important to think about where telecoms need to be situated and where your IT will be based to ensure office fluidity.

Step Six: Nurture & Guidance

This new process needs to be monitored closely over its first year in action to ensure positive company growth and a happy workforce.

Arc Business Interiors operate throughout a number of locations including: Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Birmingham, Manchester, London and the surrounding areas. For excellent interior design and planning turn to our experts who can offer you quality, comprehensive services. Contact us today to find out more.