The office is the central hub of your business, and even if a growing proportion of your business splits working time between it and their home, it is still a place where employees should feel comfortable, motivated and inspired working in.

This means that a lot of established ‘rules’ and advice about office furniture, furnishings and decorations should be discounted and ignored in order to make the best space for you, your employees and your business.

A Uniform Look Is Essential

A lot of office design is inspired by minimalist design, which prioritises simple forms and clean, uniform lines.

Unfortunately, some people take the uniformity that often comes with minimalism and assume that every chair and every desk needs to be the same, which is not the case at all.

People are unique and have different needs for the furniture they use, which means that any single look will affect their comfort. Instead, choose bespoke office furniture that focuses on their needs and designs that complement each other rather than rigidly match.

Keep It Neutral, Keep It Safe

A lot of office interior design has focused on uniformity over everything else, and this typically leads to somewhat monochromatic designs. Grey, beige and off-white tones dominate and colours are either kept to a minimum or excluded entirely.

This can work in places where a calm atmosphere is essential to the business functioning, but for creative businesses and divisions, it can create a somewhat imposing and undesirable workplace.

Instead, take advantage of your branding and use splashes of one or two complimenting colours to provide an accent and counterpoint that can strike the spark of creativity.

Fill Every Corner

There is a temptation in many offices to fill every nook, cranny and corner with desks in order to take advantage of every bit of the space, but this runs the risk of backfiring if it creates a cluttered, monotonous space.

Instead, take advantage of space, and if you have the room for it given your number of employees, add more open breakout areas, plants and space desks out to give employees room.

Whilst too much space can make an office feel empty, the solution is not to fill that space with empty desks but enough to handle the likely number of employees in an office on any given day.

Either No Hotdesking Or Only Hotdesking

The new hybrid office has led to many dilemmas when it comes to choosing a working style and suitable furniture to match.

Often this leads to an all-or-nothing approach, with either every person being assigned a desk even when this does not suit how they work or their typical approach, or conversely having no assigned desks at all, which can be a problem for employees who do not work from home.

However, the answer should not be so binary. There will always be a need for hotdesking space, particularly if a business works with freelancers or outside contractors, but at the same time, a certain number of people will be in the office every day to open and maintain the office.

They have separate needs and should have desks and furniture based around them.