Office Design Misconceptions
Office design myths abound. From what makes a space productive to the cost implications of a redesign, there are dozens of misconceptions. While some are relatively harmless, others can lead to poor decisions that impact your company’s efficiency, employee satisfaction, and even your bottom line.
Every day we speak to companies considering or planning an office design. So often, their perspectives and decisions are impacted by damaging myths about office design. To set the record straight, we'll go through 10 opinions about office design we often hear - but that are untrue.
By the end, you'll know why they are untrue, and what to actually expect. You'll be more educated about your office design, and much better prepared to avoid common office design mistakes that could derail your project.
1) Open Plan Always Improves Performance
In an attempt to increase space efficiency and communication, many companies have moved to compact open-plan office layouts. However, this does not automatically increase productivity. In fact, an HBR study found that some open-plan offices lowered face-to-face interaction by 73%!
An open-plan office layout can help increase staff collaboration, but it doesn’t do it automatically. Cramming desks together in an open-plan design will be ineffective. To maximise collaboration, you need to include spaces that are specifically designed for informal, small-team collaboration. It's most important that your office supports the way your people work.
2) Office Design Is Purely Aesthetic
Many C-suite executives think office design is purely about aesthetics - a nice-to-have that has little impact on company performance. However, the environment in which your people spend so much time together has a profound impact on their performance.
Your office design impacts the performance of your people through the different environments and design features that are in the space. It's crucial that your office suits the way your people work, and doesn’t limit their performance. Your office aesthetics are important, however. By creating a design tailored to your culture, you will increase alignment and engagement.
3) Minimising Cost is the Most Important Factor
An office refurbishment or relocation is often a big investment. The return on that investment can be hard to calculate. Given this, many companies fall into the trap of prioritising cost when planning their office design. Minimising cost is important, but if doing so reduces the productivity of your people, then you are reducing your real estate ROI.
To find the balance between minimising cost and maximising performance, you need to carefully define your brief and work closely with your office designer. A well-defined brief will enable you to eliminate the unnecessary nice-to-haves. The designer's expertise will help you not to eliminate important features.
4) You Can’t Calculate the Impact of Office Design
Office fit out heavily impacts two of your biggest costs – staff and real estate. However, measuring staff performance is challenging. This has led many executives to conclude that there is no way to measure their return on investment. However, you can often get a very good idea by breaking down your new design into it's different parts.
The best place to start is your real estate costs – both leasing and operational. If you are downsizing or installing more efficient utilities, these should decrease. You should also consider the improvements in physical and mental wellbeing that your new office will bring. This will help you keep the investment in perspective.
5) Remote Work Means the Office is Obsolete
One of the most misleading myths is that with the rise of remote working, the office is now obsolete. While remote working has proven a bigger success than expected, it's not viable for most companies to be fully remote. An office can be an essential way of bringing your staff together and improving engagement, collaboration, and communication.
The role of the office today is very different to 5 years ago. No longer is it a place where people come to work all day every day. With the advent of hybrid working, the office has become a collaboration hub that brings your people together. By embracing the new role of the office, you can make your workspace much more effective.
6) Office Design is a One-time Project
Because office design can be difficult to assess, many companies don’t think about it until their lease expires. However, this is a mistake. Your industry is always changing, and so is the way your people work. As a result, you should regularly assess the performance of your office, at least every 12 months.
The simplest way to do this is by surveying your people about your workspace. This will give you clear feedback on whether your office needs updating. You can also use data from access control systems or occupancy sensors to analyse how your people are using the space. This will prevent your space from becoming outdated.
7) Open-Plan Workspaces are Noisy and Distracting
A common complaint about open-plan office layout is that they are noisy and distracting. Distractions can be very damaging to productivity. Employees lose an average of 2.1 hours daily to distractions. However, this is not because of the open-plan layout, but because of poor space planning and acoustic design.
To reduce distractions in your workspace, you need to include spaces designed specifically for individual deep work. You can also use acoustic wall panels and ceiling baffles to reduce the noise levels throughout your space. Creating a workspace that minimises distractions is crucial, but this doesn’t mean an open-plan design is not an option.
8) Amenities Improve Wellbeing
Wellbeing is one of the 3 top considerations of new applicants when choosing a job. In an attempt to improve staff wellbeing, many companies have invested heavily in staff amenities. However, in many cases, these have had little impact. Gaming areas or sleep pods may attract attention, but the resulting improvements in staff wellbeing will be short-term at best.
This is not to say that amenities do not improve staff wellbeing – far from it. However, the best amenities are the ones your people barely notice, like lots of natural light, materials, and plants throughout your space. To learn more, read our article on the top 5 amenities to boost staff wellbeing.
9) Technology Always Improves Productivity
In a similar way to wellbeing, workspace technology has become more important in recent years. This has also led to heavy investment in office technology that is, in many cases, ineffective. An extended reality suite may look amazing, but is it a good investment?
To ensure your workspace technology is as effective as possible, first consider the way your people use your office. You can then implement technology to complement that, which will be far more effective than adding technology without considering how your people will use it.
10) Small Changes are Simple
The final major myth of office design is that changes during the project are simple. As a result, the planning process is not thorough enough. However, there is a lot more that goes into a proejct than meets the eye. A seemingly small change may require procurement of items on a long lead time and getting a specialist subcontractor back on site. This would delay the entire programme, costing both money and time.
To avoid these, you should define your brief very carefully, and then work closely with your design and build company on a plan that meets the brief. By careful planning and working with a fit out delivery expert, you will avoid the need for these “small” changes in the first place.
Avoiding Myths in Your Next Office Design
There will always be myths around office design. However, by educating and informing yourself, you can determine fact from fiction. As a result, you'll prevent these damaging myths from reducing the success of your next office design project. As always, the crucial thing is to remain focussed on what is best for your company and your people, rather than being distracted by trends or opinions.
To keep learning about office design, get your own copy of the Definitive Office Design Guide. Inside, you'll find answers to all your questions about office design, from costs and timelines to common mistakes.
For more help making a success of your office design project, read about the Top 7 Office Design Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them), as well as 12 Office Design Best Practices for 2024 and 6 Office Fit Out Regrets to Avoid.
