The type of office arrangement adopted in a workplace ultimately affects efficiency around that office. It not only influences the ease with which employees can move from point to point but also the extent to which employees utilize the office resources. Efficiency affects the time required to complete a task which, in turn, affects the cost. Therefore, it may be accurate to conclude that an office arrangement affects the profitability of a business.
Minimum distractions
Employees should be able to undertake their tasks with minimum distractions. This has raised the need to adopt cubicles, especially in open floor systems. There are businesses that offer cubicles to Salt Lake City offices of all sizes. The cubicles may be new or used, depending on the preference and financial ability of a business. Start-ups often opt for used furniture to reduce the financial impact on their operating budgets. Cubicles provide a blend of benefits similar to both closed and open floor systems. For instance, since the working spaces are partially closed, they tend to limit interactions between a worker and their neighboring colleagues. Social conversations around the office remain to be the biggest obstacle to achieving high efficiency and performance levels in an office. In terms of their similarity with the open floor plan system, cubicles make supervision easier in comparison to closed offices. As such, it may be safe to conclude that cubicles have provided a good way of increasing efficiency around an office.
Maximum utilization of office resources
The degree to which office resources are utilized determines the operating expenses of an office. As such, any office arrangement ought to be in a way that encourages and facilitates the sharing of office resources. There is no need to equip each worker with their own printer and photocopier. That is unless they are tasked with the production of documents throughout the day. Employees holding senior managerial and supervisory positions may also be provided with their own office equipment. However, the rest of the employees may be encouraged to share the resources. A single photocopier or printer, placed in a strategic position is capable of adequately serving up to ten employees. The machines may be connected to the office’s network to enable the employees to print their documents locally from their workstations. The aim is to eliminate crowding around such shared resources, which provides an avenue for time wasting as the employees are likely to engage in small talk.
Nature of the office
The nature of the activities conducted in an office determines its floor arrangement to a great extent. For example, it is expected that a banking hall and a hospital cannot adopt similar arrangements. Whereas a banking hall may readily adopt an open floor plan system, a hospital is better suited by a closed office system. That is especially true for the consultation rooms in a bid to preserve patients’ privacy.
The type of office arrangement and furniture adopted in an office should provide an enabling environment for workers. It ought to facilitate their ease of movement and utilization of office equipment. That way, office performance is guaranteed.
