Author Archives: Bellia Office Furniture

Bellia Enterprises has been named one of the 2017 Best Places to Work in New Jersey!

The NJBIZ’s Best Places to Work in New Jersey award identifies, recognizes and honors the top places of employment in New Jersey that benefit the state’s economy, workforce and businesses. Companies from across the state entered the two-part process to determine the 100 Best Places to Work in New Jersey.

About Bellia Enterprises:

Bellia Enterprises is a third generation family owned and operated business is now run by the third generation, grandsons Anthony, Michael, Andrew and Salvatore, and it is made up of two successful businesses, Bellia Print and Design and Bellia Workspace Professionals. The company has grown and expanded over the past 40 plus years, but remains steadfast in its ideals and principles of integrity, quality service, community involvement and providing a family atmosphere. Which is why the award of being named as one of the Best Places To Work in New Jersey is so rewarding.

Bellia Print and Design consistently explores new areas of growth so they can maintain their quality commitment to their customers and community. Their goal is to provide their clients with the ability to communicate information through high quality printed media, while offering superior customer service and fair pricing. Along with their top of the line printing services, they also offer full service direct mailing, graphic design and even high-end communications for special events.

At Bellia Workspace Professionals, our mission is to increase the magnetism within the Tri-state area by creating modern, inspiring workspaces to attract and retain top talent and increase productivity that will the business growth of our community.

Before you let your employee resign, you might want to think about ways to retain them.  Employee turnover rates are costing companies staggering amounts of money each year.  According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), it costs $3,500 to replace an $8 per hour employee. Now, think about that with a different level of salary and the cost becomes astronomical:

• For entry-level employees, it costs between 30-50 percent of their annual salary to replace them.  For example, if you lose two entry-level employees in one year, at 40% of the average salary of 40,000, will cost $16,000 per employee to replace them.  So losing only two employees would cost your business $32,000.
• For mid-level employees, it costs upwards of 150 percent of their annual salary to replace them.  
• For high-level or highly specialized employees, you’re looking at 400 percent of their annual salary.

To think about those percentages in more tangible terms, you can really just do the math.  If you lose an entry-level employee, at 40% of an average salary of 40,000, it will cost $16,000 to replace them.   If only one mid-level employee with an average salary of $80,000 decides to resign, it will cost your business $120,000.  If a top level executive leaves you, with an average salary of 120,000, it will cost $480,000 just to replace them.  As you can see from this real-world example, it is worth your while to invest in your employees.

But what does investing in your employees really mean?

By providing employees with raises and giving them a good benefits package will certainly help to retain your valued employees, salary and benefits aren’t the only reason that people quit their jobs.  Other factors such as company culture, meaningfulness of the work they are doing and recognizing a job well done to name a few.  On way to help retain your employees and allow them to feel comfortable and valued in your organization so that they never want to leave is through office design.

As you can see from these statistics, employee turnover is incredibly expensive. Aside from the financial burden, there are other ways that employee turnover impacts a business as well. For instance, advertising, interview expenses, the cost of training and onboarding prior to and during the hiring process.  Not to mention that often when a new employee is hired, productivity takes a hit while the new employee adjusts to their position.  Because of the tremendous impact that employee turnover has on a business, it only makes good sense to have a strong employee recruitment and retention policy firmly in place.

Office design is an often overlooked aspect of employee recruitment and retention. By using strategic office design, you will see an immediate return on investment when comes to your employees. Consider incorporating the following design features to enhance your workspace.

OPEN OFFICE LAYOUT

An open floor plan encourages teamwork and collaborative efforts amongst staff. Allow them the choice by including open and enclosed spaces, comfortable lounge areas, and quiet rooms where they can choose the optimal work space. Providing employees choice pays off.  According to Dana Manciagli, a global career expert, “companies that grant employees choice grew more and had one-third the turnover versus more traditional organizations.”

TECHNOLOGY

Technology is changing very rapidly and these technological changes have altered the way people work, so having technology that supports a culture of collaboration, innovation and creativity is a must to attract and retain top talent.  WIth up to date technology, employees will gain added flexibility, remote access and improved collaboration.  

COMFORT/FUN

With people spending more and more time working, employees want their office to feel more like home. Offices should include comfortable seating areas, kitchens and cafes and perhaps even game rooms or areas to have fun.  Including areas in the workspace that are comfortable and inviting will allow employees to feel more satisfied with their jobs. By providing the new workforce with the comforts of home and breakout spaces with a relaxed and social vibe, it will create a positive work environment that is enjoyable to spend time in.

REPRESENT YOUR BRAND AND CULTURE

Representing your company’s brand and culture through office design will appeal to top talent because they want to feel meaning and connection to the organization for which they work. So as recruits walk through your door, they should be able to immediately sense who you are as an organization. From the logo and colors, to the furniture and even having the values on visual display will be a huge selling point for potential employees.

Coworking evolved when the home office proved to be an insufficient space for freelancers seeking collaboration with likeminded, independent people. These spaces provide a productive, creative, and satisfying work atmosphere, not just for freelancers, but also for corporate organizations. As more and more corporations realize that coworking offers great potential for fostering innovation it raises many questions. Where are the roots of this potential? How can they be transferred to different types of businesses?

Fraunhofer IAO, one of Haworth’s many research partners around the world, conducts research around new ways of working. We have summarized their findings, which reveal that coworking has great potential to fundamentally change knowledge work and catalyze innovation in the future. 

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According to the National Center for Education Statistics, as of the fall of 2016, 20.5 million students attended college after high school graduation and that number is continually growing. Because so many students are looking for the perfect college to attend, their decision is no longer based simply on academics, but the design and aesthetic appeal of the campus. Students have a very clear idea and vision of what makes a university unique and better than the rest. By increasing the magnetism of your university, it will become your best and most effective recruiting tool that will set your school apart from the many schools with whom you are competing.

University Business Magazine concludes that “campus unity ” is the number one thing that makes a campus feel like a campus. It is the “harmonious interplay” of innovative exterior and interior building design with opening spaces which promotes a feeling of confidence and positivity in the university. The ultimate achievement in recruitment is when a student steps onto campus and immediately knows that this is the campus of their dreams.

What design features are students looking for on campus?

Prospective students are looking closely at the design, aesthetics and amenities that a school has to offer. In designing spaces that include a combination of areas that will allow for collaboration, connection and focused study, you will create a foundation for student success.

Places to Connect and Collaborate

Every prospective student’s vision of the their campus experience is different. Some like an urban, modern campus, other’s want gothic architecture and the variety of preferences are innumerable. 

One of the biggest draws for prospective students is collaborative spaces. Creating comfortable places in common areas will spontaneously bring peers and faculty together.  An important part of the college experience is interacting and coming together with others in the campus community.  By interspersing communal areas among classrooms, lecture halls and cafes, you can support learning through community.  By creating common areas that embrace collaboration, it will enhance the vision of a positive campus experience.

Study Spaces

The only place to study on a college campus isn’t just in the library. Prospective students want to know that in common areas that their is space carved out for quiet work and focus. In a recent study, 70 percent of college students said that this was the one thing that their college campus was lacking–quiet study spaces. Incorporating quiet study nooks into common areas.

Residence Halls

A recent survey by APPA’s Center for Facilities Research to measure the impact of facilities on the recruitment of college students, determined that residence halls were the second most important factor in choosing a university. Including design features that include areas that support social interaction and privacy are important in enhancing the residence life experience. Creating a positive residence experience is a critical factor in retention and success of a university’s students, Further designing residence halls to feel like home through furniture choice and natural lighting is important to prospective students,  

Increasing the magnetism of colleges and university will have significant impacts on campus recruitment and enrollment.  By considering the importance of design in enhancing the university experience, you will not only attract top students, but make your university stand apart from the competition.

Raising the magnetism of the Tri-state area is something that all businesses need to begin thinking about.  In the area, we have a number of top-notch colleges producing top talent each year, and we often lose these graduates to other markets. By investing in our businesses and promoting an area with a strong family-business presence, not only can we keep the top talent in the area, but we will attract top talent from other places to work here and fuel the economic development of the area as well.

Top Graduates–the Key to Growth

According to a recent study, the presence of young professionals in a region has a direct correlation to continued economic growth. The Tri-state area often loses its young college graduates to the bigger markets, so it is important to understand ways in which you can get them to choose your company before they get a job offer from a bigger market.  According to a recent Harvard Business Review article, the best ways to attract the best college graduates to your company is by getting your best and most recent hires to engage with potential recruits, tell the story of your mission, your culture and your brand through social media and make the application process easy and engaging.

Business–All in the Family

One of the greatest things about the Tri-state area is its rich tradition of family businesses. Family businesses are ones that through hard work, dedication and commitment to their employees have grown and thrived. But just because it is a business that has been in the family for generations, doesn’t mean that its interior has to look like that. Through strategic office design, you can give top graduates all the things they want in an office setting like collaborative work areas, touchdown spaces and an open floor plan.

Top Talent–Attracting them to the Area

While the Tri-state area has top grads that we want to keep here, businesses should actively be thinking of ways to try and get the best talent from all over to work in this area. When it comes to accepting a job offer, the biggest motivating factors are what they always have been: salary and benefits. But that’s not the only thing that appeals to top talent.  Having a strong company culture, providing continual professional growth and development opportunities and most importantly, they want a highly functional work environment.

Through strategic office interior design, businesses can increase the magnetism of the area which will fuel the area’s economy. So take a look around your current workspace and think about how it looks, how it feels and what it says about you as an organization. Is your space outdated? Could it be updated and refreshed? Is it open and inviting? By taking an honest assessment of your space and then making positive changes to it, your organization will help raise the image of the area creating stronger economic growth that will keep our graduates here and attract top talent to a premier place to work.

As education changes and grows, charter schools have become the wave of the educational future. Charter school are unique in that they operate independently from the public school system in which they are located.  Because students can attend whichever charter school they choose, charters schools are tasked with finding new and creative ways to appeal to a wider audience. Why should charter schools invest in increasing their magnetism?

ATTRACT TOP STUDENTS

Charter schools receive government funding based upon their school’s academic performance, so charters are often actively recruiting top new students. The best way to entice students to attend your school is by creating a dynamic learning environment through interior design. By using design features such as bright and vibrant classroom colors and adaptable and flexible furniture, you can create an ideal learning experience that motivates and inspires students and teachers. Not only will the design feature lead to positive learning outcomes, but it will get parents and students excited about attending your charter.

RECRUIT THE BEST TEACHERS

Attracting the best and most talented teachers is also very important for the overall success of a charter school. Classrooms that are technologically integrated are a really big draw for teachers.  In a classroom where technology is available for both the teacher and students to have at their disposal, it will not only make a teacher’s job a little bit easier, but will lead to engaging and enriching lessons.  Also, including flexible and adaptable seating where teachers can have students go from independent learning to collaborative group seating seamlessly, fosters a stimulating classroom that will not only boost student performance but support successful teacher performance as well.

STAND APART FROM THE REST

Because there are so many charter schools often within close proximity to one another, it is important that charter schools establish a way to stand out from the rest. Of course, having a strong reputation for academic achievement will speak for itself, but creating a unique classroom experience will increase the magnetism of your school.  One way to do this is by having adjustable, movable and durable desks that will accommodate different student needs.  By using height-adjustable tables that have the ability to be pushed together to make a more collaborative surface for students will engage and excite students, teachers and their parents about what’s happening at your charter school. By using design features to enhance your school environment, positive word will spread about your school.

Because the interior design of classrooms, surrounding hallways, private offices and other areas within your school have a direct impact on performance and achievement, it is important to consider having a strategic design plan for your building. Not only will it attract the best students and top teachers, but it will create a buzz about your charter school that will make it stand apart from the rest.

Because office design is a beneficial tool that businesses are using to attract and recruit top talent, perhaps it is time to take a look around your current office and consider whether its design is attracting top talent or pushing them away. As baby boomers are retiring at high rates, millennials have now become the largest part of the workforce. The younger workforce wants something different in their workspace than the generations before them.

The values of the baby boomers, which have defined office design for decades, were privacy, quiet and high quality conference rooms. These once important design features are not what the new workforce is looking for. So as you consider your current workspace in acquiring top talent to grow your business, it is important to understand what appeals to them in terms of office design.  The new workforce wants to feel connected and engaged in the work that they do, they want to have flexibility in their space and be a part of a collaborative work culture. How can that be accomplished through office design?

OPEN FLOOR PLAN

While there is still a need for privacy in the workspace, millennials value a more open and transparent office environment. Workspaces that have long hallways with private offices have become dated.  Top talent wants space to move around, to be collaborative and to be flexible for use in multiple ways.  While quiet areas and conference rooms are still needed for focused work, an open floor plan that includes this combination of work areas is highly appealing to top talent.

TECHNOLOGY

Technology is changing very rapidly and these technological changes have altered the way people work, so having technology that supports a culture of collaboration, innovation and creativity is a must to attract top talent.  WIth up to date technology, employees will gain added flexibility, remote access and improved collaboration.  

COMFORT/FUN

With people spending more and more time working, employees want their office to feel more like home. Offices should include comfortable seating areas, kitchens and cafes and perhaps even game rooms or areas to have fun.  Including areas in the workspace that are comfortable and inviting will allow employees to feel more satisfied with their jobs. By providing the new workforce with the comforts of home and breakout spaces with a relaxed and social vibe, it will create a positive work environment that is enjoyable to spend time in.

REPRESENT YOUR BRAND AND CULTURE

Representing your company’s brand and culture through office design will appeal to top talent because they want to feel meaning and connection to the organization for which they work. So as recruits walk through your door, they should be able to immediately sense who you are as an organization. From the logo and colors, to the furniture and even having the values on visual display will be a huge selling point for potential employees.

By the year 2020, 40% of the workforce will be made up of millennials. The office designs that worked for generations past, will need to change in order to appeal to top talent. Through strategic office design, your organization will find that your workspace can ultimately become your most valuable recruiting tool.

Bellia Office is pleased to welcome Ariane Sirizzotti as our new workspace consultant. Bringing in-depth knowledge and experience in fiber design, graphic/web design, renderings and site plans and field surveys for design development, Ariane’s forward thinking vision to utilize layout and design will allow our customers to tell their story while achieving their corporate goals.

Working alongside Bellia’s team of in-house interior designers, project manager and the director of business development, Ariane Sirizzotti will support existing customers and new clients by providing innovative and customized interior solutions. With her understanding of the relationship between design solutions and achieving short and long term goals, Ariane will be a great asset to the Bellia team.

When we saw this infographic at SmartCEO.com – we knew we had to share it for the interesting facts about millennials in the workforce.

As Michael Zimmerman stated in a recent article at SmartCEO.com, “The workforce is experiencing a major shakeup as baby boomers are retiring and millennials in the workforce have become the largest working generation. What does this passing of the torch mean for companies trying to attract the best candidates and keep them for the long term? ”

Does your organization have the right appeal for the dominance of millennials in the workforce? If the answer is no, this is a good time to re-evaluate your current recruitment strategies. But the change will impact more then just attraction. Did you know that, sixty-six percent of millennials (those born after 1980) expect to leave their jobs within 5 years.  Employers need to focus on their retention strategies to keep millennials content and for them to stay with their employers past the five year mark.

So what is important to millennials in the workforce?  Read  more below.

Professional Development

Millennials want opportunities to learn and grow. Alarmingly, 63% believe that their current employers are not developing their leadership skills.The new workforce looks at their employment as a learning opportunity and in fact, 59% of millennials name this factor as the most important aspect of choosing a job. It is important to keep employee training and professional development a top priority within your organization.

Commitment to Community Service and Philanthropy

Eighty-seven percent of millennials believe the success of a business should be measured by more than just financial performance. Social responsibility and opportunities to be engaged in cause work is important to this workforce because they want to make a difference. It is so important that nearly 50% of millennials have done volunteer work through their workplace.  More importantly, if an organization isn’t engaged in community service and philanthropy this could negatively impact your ability to recruit and retain top talent.

Clarity about Values

Among those millennials who intend to stay in their current job for at least another five years, 92% believe their employer shares their personal values. Employee engagement can increase by over 50 percent if companies share a meaningful vision with their employees, according to a 2014 study.  Because millennials want value their work and want it to have meaning, knowing that their organization shares their personal values will keep them loyal and committed to the company’s overall vision.

The 2016 Deloitte Millennial survey indicates that 25% of millennials would quit their current jobs to do something different or move to another organization.  After two years with the same employer, it increases to 44%.  As millennials become the leaders of the workforce, it is important to focus on ways to keep job satisfaction high and retain them as part of your organization. Although some have characterized millennials as job-hoppers, it certainly isn’t the case if your organization understands exactly what they value in their employers. By aligning your company’s values and motivations with the ideals of the millennial workforce, not only will you attract millennials to your organization, but keep them there as well.

Did you know that employees represent more than 80% of a company’s overall investments?

That is an astounding commitment for organizations operating in a world of work that continues to evolve at an exceedingly fast pace. Businesses today must face the dilemma of how to strategically invest their limited resources to ensure every employee is doing his or her mind’s best work for organizational success. That strategy includes evaluating how the built environment influences both individual and group work,and ensuring that the cognitive processes people rely on to complete specific work tasks are accommodated. Now more than ever before, understanding how a facility supports workers’ needs for concentration and interaction takes center stage in workplace design. Read more about the reseach behind structuring workspaces in this whitepaper from Haworth.

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