The world of business is seeing a new trend on the rise. Gone are the days of the stuffy, drab office space, lined with grey carpets (or worse, linoleum tile), sided with plain white walls, and stiff with endless rows of plain cubicles filled with ugly office furniture. A workplace set up like this is bound to drag employees down in a mire of boring, repetitive days, negatively affecting productivity and creativity, and driving anybody with a competitive job offer to run for the nearest exit. Now, employers are starting to savvy up to the fact that a vibrant and well-designed space creates an environment that brings out the best working potential of all staff members. Following these tips for the strategic use of office furniture can easily make employees excited to come to work every day. 1. Comfort Nobody wants to sit in a stiff chair behind a steel desk all day long. Indeed, a sore back and a stiff neck leads to physical and mental discomfort, inhibiting creativity and keeping the poor worker unhappy and unproductive. Some forward thinking companies, especially in the creative tech sectors, are wising up to this and opting for comfy office furniture. While you don't need to shell out for leather couches and glass coffee tables like some of the Silicon Valley moguls are doing, a set of nice, ergonomic chairs and smaller tables can have a surprising effect on productivity and staff retention. 2. Color The next step is to ensure a vibrant workspace. A great deal of money and effort has been expended for researching the effect of color on peoples' well-being. First, consider that market research has all but proven that a richly colorful advertisement is more likely to attract attention than a black and white one, even if the content is the same. Next, consider the effect of solitary confinement on prisoners, locked in a small, dark space for long periods of time. Simply put, our neurological mechanism requires stimulation. People become bored without compelling visual stimuli in their environment. A colorful, decorated space encourages engagement and creativity, and makes people more excited to show up to work each day. 3. Openness Now that you've updated your office furniture, you'll want to consider the layout of your workspace. If you've gone this far with the process, you've probably gotten rid of the cubicles. If not, many would recommend that you do so. Isolation is not conducive to productivity, particularly in collaborative and team-based efforts. Some of the most successful office designers are finding that the most ideal layouts strike a balance between casual and professional. Staff members should be able to relax their bodies and communicate easily, but they should also be able to easily focus on their work. The best way to accommodate this is to avoid clutter and plan your spacing, leaving enough room for people to move around easily, but not enough space so that it's a hassle to engage with coworkers. These tips should be enough to get your creative juices flowing. When in doubt, think about the place where you've been the most successful. Picture the space in your mind, and model the office based on that. You should see happier employees in no time! To learn more about their options for office furniture, Bay Area residents should visit http://www.cri-sf.com/.
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