Hot-desking is becoming more and more popular with businesses looking for space-saving solutions as they embrace new patterns of working. Done right, switching to a flexible office can bring fantastic benefits in terms of productivity and cost-effectiveness. But before taking the plunge, it’s important to consider various common pitfalls, which can be avoided with a bit of careful planning.
Most hot offices are designed to encourage a spirit of flexible collaboration, but this shouldn’t come at the expense of providing places for staff to work in privacy when they need to focus on a demanding task or have a confidential conversation. Privacy pods for offices provide a perfect solution to this issue. At Lismark we supply a great range of office pods for a variety of tastes and budgets with the following features:
Gone are the days when a personal landline was a key requirement for every team member, but although much of our business is conducted online these days, it’s still important to provide a space for employees to conduct phone and video calls, particularly if they are confidential, lengthy or require deep levels of concentration. Installing office phone booth pods means your staff can concentrate on conversations without having to worry about background noise or other distractions. Our phone booths offer:
As humans, we can be creatures of habit, which is why some people can initially be resistant to the idea of making the switch to hot-desking.
Not only that, in these offices, some people can still become attached to a particular desk, which can defeat the purpose of transitioning to a flexible workspace.
This type of issue can be mitigated by careful planning of the office layout to ensure that while there will always be desks people prefer for a variety of reasons, there is no one ‘bad’ workstation that everyone wants to avoid. Choosing the same standard of high-quality furniture for every workstation will also ensure every employee feels valued and content, wherever they end up working on any given day.
Our great range of bench desks, including the Martin Bench Desk, are a great option for the modern office. Not only do they provide a change from the traditional metal-legged office desk with their stylish solid timber leg frames, their intermediary legs mean they offer the option to grow with your team as they do the job of both a collaborative worktable and a solo workstation.
Although team members won’t sit in the same place every day, it’s still important to foster a sense of belonging in the workplace. This can be achieved by providing breakout areas for staff to socialise, take breaks and collaborate informally. An inviting and contemporary feel can be created by using soft furnishings like our stylish and contemporary Walter Sofa range.
When a more private setting is required for meetings, a meeting table is a must. Our Martin High Meeting Table creates a collaborative and contemporary atmosphere that blends seamlessly with the hot-desking environment. Or if space is an issue, why not create a striking statement with a meeting pod? Most of the meeting pods we supply, such as the stylish Brix-Up Meeting Pod are available in two, four or six-person configurations, and if you need a bigger meeting pod, take a look at our showstopping Ben Den meeting pod.
Here at Lismark we use our expertise in office design and furniture to create the perfect workspace for your business, starting with a visit to your premises to advise on what will work best for your space. To find out more, please call us on 0116 251 7741 or email sales@lismark.co.uk.
Open-plan offices have become the norm in the UK and worldwide, and although they facilitate collaboration and communication, they can sometimes raise questions about privacy and the ability to have sensitive conversations.
Luckily, there are some simple ways to create privacy for employees in open-plan office environments, without losing the benefits of ease of movement, versatile seating plans and flexibility for individuals who only work from the office for some of the time.
Here are some of the best ways to create privacy for employees at their desk, in ad hoc meetings and when making private phone calls.
Office pods give you instant privacy by enclosing a desk or meeting space with acoustic shields. This reduces the transmission of sound to the surrounding area and provides a visual barrier to passers-by too.
Work pods and booths have other benefits too. As well as protecting privacy, they can give workers the space they need to concentrate on a challenging or time-consuming task. Employees face fewer distractions than in a large open-plan space, ensuring productivity and the quality of their work are optimised.
Acoustic pods are not just for individual workstations. They can also provide a shielded area in which groups of colleagues can meet to discuss projects, problems, or anything else that needs their attention.
Depending on the size of your team, you might want to consider installing larger meeting pods. These can accommodate groups – in the case of Magna Extra Large Meeting Pods, up to eight people at a time – while serving as comfortable breakout spaces when not in use for meetings.
Office phone booths are a fantastic way to allow private phone calls to take place without the risk of eavesdropping. That’s not to say that any of your employees would listen in intentionally, but keeping calls separate from the rest of your office is a sensible precaution.
Modern office phone booths don’t have to be boxy. Even a low acoustic surround can shield conversations from people nearby, such as on our Brix 61 Solo Work Booth. It’s all about meeting the needs of your workforce, while providing them with comfortable, usable spaces for private discussions and phone calls.
You might not need 100% privacy or total soundproofing in order to reduce the risk of calls and conversations being overheard. High-back sofas are a great way to break up the transmission of sound, without completely enclosing your employees.
If you prefer to leave your acoustic pods open to the rest of the office, you might want to place them slightly further away from the busiest areas, where there is less chance of individuals in either area disturbing their colleagues.
You might not need 360-degree privacy. In some cases, it can be appropriate for a meeting booth to open on to the team’s work area, while being shielded from the rest of the office for security reasons, or just to avoid distracting co-workers.
Meeting pods with an acoustic surround can be orientated to provide maximum privacy in the desired direction, with ease of access to the seating area they serve, creating a best of both worlds solution in busy offices.
Our work pods and booths are designed to be as versatile as possible, with comfortable seating, optional mains electricity outlets and a range of built-in desks to choose from. All of this adds up to privacy with flexibility for your entire workforce.
Why does this matter? It gives your employees and managers options. Conversations can take place in surroundings that meet the privacy needs on the day. If a discussion is more sensitive, it can move inside a fully enclosed acoustic pod. This means you can rest assured that you have catered for your workforce privacy needs.
Even open-plan offices don’t have unlimited space, but with compact meeting pods and office phone booths available, you can create clearly defined private spaces in even the smallest offices.
Traditional square-footprint booths with straight vertical sides are among the most space-saving and standing phone booths work well as part of the modern sit stand office trend, allowing employees to stretch their legs while on a call.
Performance acoustic insulation materials mean pods and booths can be placed close to each other, with little to no audio leakage between adjacent pods, depending on which booth design you choose.
To find out more about any of our acoustic pods, work booths, meeting pods and office phone booths, please get in touch today and we will be happy to discuss your privacy needs.
Ergonomic office furniture is designed to provide comfort and support to the user. By reducing strain on the body, ergonomic furniture can help to improve productivity, alleviate pain and prevent the health problems that can be caused by inferior quality office furniture. When you are considering investing in ergonomic furniture for your employees, it is important to understand what options are available and how they can benefit you and your staff.
Whether they hot desk, work from home or work from an allocated desk in an office, employees spend a significant proportion of each day sitting at their desk. For this reason, when investing in ergonomic furniture, chairs are the first place to start.
Easy adjustability is vital so that employees can share chairs in communal working spaces and chairs can be allocated to different staff members as employees come and go.
The most important function of an ergonomic chair is to ensure the occupant’s body can sit in a safe, upright position that alleviates stress on the neck, spine and hips. Usually, this is facilitated by a supportive headrest for the neck and shoulders, and a backrest that supports the spine’s natural curve. Choosing a chair like this can prevent minor aches and pains and more serious long-term conditions such as neck arthritis.
Our high quality range of ergonomic office chairs includes the Flux Ergonomic Task Chair, which comes with everything you need to tailor the chair to your precise needs, including advanced adjustment features, plus an inflatable lumbar support and a flexible section at the front of the seat, so that the chair doesn’t push against the back of your thighs. Not only that, it’s available in a wide range of fabric choices, meaning that safety, comfort and good quality doesn’t come at the expense of style.
Nearly all of us are aware that sitting at the same desk all day long is bad for our health, however, breaking that habit is easier said than done when no other options are available and there’s a deadline to meet.
One way employers can solve this problem is by installing sit stand desks in the workplace. Already compulsory in Danish offices, these desks offer employees a much-needed alternative to the traditional desk and chair arrangement that we have accepted as the norm for so long.
Research by Loughborough University and The University of Leicester found that standing while working increased productivity. Not only that, muscle activity is nearly 2.5 times higher when standing. This means that spending some time standing while doing tasks also has great benefits for physical health by reducing the risk of injuries, pain and cardiovascular disease by up to 40%.
Here at Lismark, our range of easily adjustable sit stand desks cater for a wide range of tastes and budgets and even includes a two-person version for the ultimate in space-saving and dynamic working.
As every business owner knows, a healthy working environment is a happier and more productive one. In the wake of the pandemic, many professionals are reassessing their work life balance, so the provision of a modern working environment equipped with high quality ergonomic office furniture is now more important than ever.
Ergonomic furniture is the key to the modern, health-conscious office but it’s also important to remember this foundation can be enhanced with keyboards and accessories designed to prevent repetitive strain injury and pivotal monitors made to increase productivity by lessening the risk of eye strain and headaches caused by staring at a screen for too long.
Finally, fostering a culture where regular breaks are encouraged is fundamental, as is ensuring that any employees who work from home are also supplied with the appropriate ergonomic furniture they need to do their job in comfort and safety.
Here at Lismark, we don’t just sell ergonomic office furniture; we work with you every step of the way to understand your exact requirements. As part of this process, our experts will visit you to ensure your new furniture fits and enhances your working space perfectly. To find out more, please email us at sales@lismark.co.uk or call 0116 251 7741.
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