When you get your own office or are setting up a home office, something you’re probably worried about is how to arrange the space. Believe it or not, it is actually quite important to arrange your office the right way to optimize your productivity and the receptivity of your space. There are countless tips and tricks to achieve a great office arrangement and we’ve compiled a list of the most important things to consider.
Consider the space you have and the furniture. Smaller spaces are sometimes more difficult to work with but you can always make it work. When you’re thinking about how to arrange you office, you need to decide what the goal of the office is: client engagement, work productivity, or aesthetics. This decision will influence where the best place for your furniture is. If you’re just putting an office together for aesthetics, you are free to arrange the furniture in any way you like. However for client engagement and work productivity, there is a bit more science to it.
You need to arrange your office in a way that benefits you. First and foremost, you need to have a comfortable chair. It is preferable that this chair has the ability to swivel, allowing you the freedom of motion to do whatever you need to and/or to engage with multiple people comfortably. Make sure your chair is situated where you can access most, if not all, areas of your desk. As for where to place your desk, it is generally a better idea to have your back to a wall with a clear visual of the door and the rest of the room. This creates a more approachable atmosphere to people looking to enter your office, or even to those who are just walking past.
Something that is often overlooked is storage. A clutter free desk will make your workday more relaxed. More importantly, having your work essentials organized into cabinets and shelves will make finding them in times of need a much easier task. Having a cabinet/shelf near your desk is always a good idea if you often find yourself needing several different things to complete a task. Having these objects nearby saves you time and energy from getting up from your desk to search for them. These objects include printers, books, files, stationery, etc.
If you want to put up pictures, artwork or awards, put them up on the walls behind you or on shelves not close to your desk, where they cannot distract you from your work. In an effort to avoid further distractions, its better to place your desk adjacent to the door rather than directly in front of it. You’ll be less tempted to chat with co-workers as they walk by!
If your work brings clients to you for meetings or co-workers for discussions, you should have a couple of comfortable chairs placed in front of your desk. If you are really lucky and have a large enough space, you could have some couches and a coffee table set up for clients/co-workers.
Some general tips are to keep everything organized and make sure that everything has a specific place, such as having paper trays for all your paperwork. Another good idea is to keep all pathways clear. This means that the area from the door to your desk has to be open for people to move through and also applies to any part of your office that is visited regularly.
In the end, it is your decision where to put your furniture and how to set up your office. Your intentions for your office and the size of it are big considerations that will influence where you place your desk and all the furniture that goes near and around it.