Which Comes First: Company Culture or Office Design?
Should your company culture define your office design?
Or should your office design define your company culture?
We think defining your company culture first is essential to effective office design. Identify what your employees need and what your company is all about before implementing a new office design. Your employees are what makes your company run on a day-to-day basis. Because of this, you should design a space to work around your people, rather than making your people work around the design. Here is a four-step approach to creating an office space that supports your company culture.
Step One: Define your company culture.
Your company culture is essentially the personality of your company and your employees. To define your company culture, you’ll want to look at your company mission statement, values, goals, and current work environment. Ask yourself some of the following questions:
- What do I value as an employer?
- What do my employees value?
- Is my company more formal or laid back?
- Are we more focused on creativity or productivity?
- Who is my typical employee? Consider age, values, personality, their job duties.
Step Two: Gather input from your employees.
It’s important to understand that your employees are the ones working in this environment every day. While your office design should mirror your company values and goals, it has to work for your employees. You want the workplace to feel like a home away from home for your team. They’ll work much better when comfortable and be happier about their jobs as a whole.
To start gathering information, consider asking for suggestions through email or even an old-school suggestion box. Give your employees a chance to voice their unbiased opinions and values and then open up the floor for a discussion. Maybe you hold a meeting with a representative from each department—or with the entire company, if your staff is small enough.
Ask questions to find out what your employees value in a workplace. Find out exactly how they work best. Keep in mind that one size does not fit all. In other words, what works for one company or department may not necessarily work for your company or another department in your company. Your creative team will have different preferences than your sales team or your technical team or your accounting team.
Step Three: Start designing your office space.
Once you have a clear idea of your company goals and employee needs, you can work with an interior designer to create the ideal workplace. Everything from the color scheme to the seating options to the type of technology used throughout the office can enhance your company culture. Your interior designer can help you bring your ideas to life.
When it comes to office design, you’ll want to be open to flexibility to truly add to the company culture. Consider giving your employees a little freedom to move throughout the office as they move from task to task.
Step Four: Implement the new design and evaluate.
You’ve drafted a floor plan, chosen a color scheme, and purchased new furniture. Now, it’s time to put everything together and see what happens. Observe how your employees work in their new environments. Study any changes in productivity and quality of work to see how much of a difference the new design is making. If anything doesn’t seem to be working or getting as much use as you expected, go back to step two and work from there.
If you need help evaluating your current workplace, defining your company culture, or designing an improved office space, one of our interior designers would love to help. Click below to learn more about our office design and ergonomic services.
