Author Archives: Bellia Office Furniture

Each year, businesses spend millions of dollars promoting their brands through advertising and marketing. While marketing your brand through advertising is critical, your workspace is also important in promoting your brand and the message you want employees and clients to receive about you. As you take a look at your current space, is it reflecting your brand? Is it effectively conveying your message?

A branded workspace should not only be about displaying your company logo and colors in your lobby but using the entirety of your space to communicate your message.  Your office has the potential to be your most important brand messenger. In order to make your workspace support and reflect the essence of your brand, it is important to consider some of the benefits a branded workspace can bring to your business.

The Power of Your Employees

While the most common way to deliver your brand message is through marketing and advertising, your employees are often the best way to strengthen and reinforce your brand. By creating a branded workspace, employees will feel connected with your organization’s message and values. A good way to create a consistent visual reminder for employees about how your brand should be portrayed to clients is to inject your brand into every area of your workspace including meeting rooms, kitchens, and lobbies. A branded workspace also shows that your organization values and is committed to the well-being of your employees.  It is a constant reinforcement to your employees that you care about them as much as you care about your clients.  Studies have shown that companies that have a branded workspace have more engaged employees. Employee engagement leads to increase in productivity and decreases in employee turnover.

Tell Your Story

There is no better way to connect to employees and clients than by using your workspace to tell your story.  By creating a space where all who enter can experience your story, your history, your milestones and your achievements, it will inspire and create a feeling of belonging. Telling your story through design elements will communicate that your company stands apart from the rest and subtly remind clients and employees what makes your company uniquely you,

3 Ways to Brand Your Workspace

Signage

Your company’s name, logo, and colors are a critical part of branding.  As your employees and clients walk through your doors, it should be the first thing that they see. Your signage should also be a reflection of your business.

Floor plan

Your floor plan should be carefully considered in a branded workspace. If your company is innovative and collaborative, a closed door, private office layout will not convey the right message about your brand nor will it maximize productivity.  However, if you are a professional accounting firm, more private spaces will send a message to your client’s about the nature of your business.

Color

Choosing colors that reflect the uniqueness of your brand is an easy way to send a message.  You can add subtle splashes of color in furniture, upholstery, and artwork in common areas that will help bring your brand to life.

A branded workspace has the power and potential to shape the way your company is perceived by your employees, your clients, and your investors.  By hiring a team of professionals to help you create a branded workspace, you will communicate the values and mission of your business. When you use elements of design to reinforce your brand, not only will you see business growth, but increases in employee engagement, attract top talent, maximize productivity and see a return on your investment.

Are you ready to brand your space?  Let the team of professionals at Bellia help you early in the planning process by conducting a complete analysis and provide solutions based on your goals.

An office renovation doesn’t need to be a stressful process. Here are seven tips for a successful office renovation.

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Every employer is looking for ways to boost productivity and inspire and motivate its workforce.  By doing so, not only will your improve your bottom line, but you will also create an environment that will attract top talent and help you business surpass the competition.  

Recent studies have suggested that workspace can serve as a way to motivate your workforce and increase productivity.  In fact,  24% of the workforce feel that their workspace was responsible for their job satisfaction.  Furthermore, 91% of mid to senior level management believe that office layout has a direct impact on performance.

When you take a look around your current workspace, is its design and layout a place that will inspire and motivate your workforce?

Boost Employee Morale

When your office is thoughtfully well designed, it will show employees that not only is your company proud of its work and its mission, but that you also value and care about your employees. Workspace plays a huge role in job engagement and satisfaction, so creating a beautiful space that supports the type of work your employees do will help to motivate them to do the very best at their jobs.  Additionally, a well-designed space that includes a combination of work areas, will be a comfortable and pleasant place where employees want to come everyday.

Enhance Company Culture

Since every company has a different culture, there isn’t a one size fits all approach to office design to enhance your company culture. Culture is based on attitudes, ethics and goals and workspace that supports your company culture will have many positive effects like increasing productivity, boosting engagement and inspiring creativity.  Using office design to enhance the personality and character of your business will have positive, far-reaching effects on employee motivation and inspiration, but can also be leveraged to maximize productivity, attract and retain top talent and create a stronger brand presence.

Support Flexibility

When employees have more choice, they are more motivated and engaged in their jobs. An office environment that allows for employees to have more control over the way they do their work in the way that works best for them is beneficial to your workforce. Providing a combination of spaces for employees is important because it satisfies the need for privacy and collaboration depending on the task at hand.

When your company creates a work environment that engages, motivates and inspire its employees, it will communicate to your employees that you appreciate them and want to give them the best workspace to do their jobs.  Motivating your workforce by creating a beautiful place to work will not only help you reach your corporate goals but ultimately, improve your bottom line.

The world of education has changed in the 21st century, and classroom design has changed along with it.  Here are a four trends that are leading the way.

Flexible, Reconfigurable Spaces

Like the business world, schools are schools have moved away from traditionally designed classrooms and have adopted a flexible, open floor plan. Because students need to have furniture that can be easily rearranged and reconfigured as learning needs change during the course of the school day.  Research has shown that flexible learning environments have positive impact on student learning.

Breakout Spaces

Breakout areas in the school setting are small spaces located adjacent to classrooms.  Supporting the flexibility and adaptability of a space, these areas are used as alternative spaces for students to engage in small group instruction, collaboration work or individual work.

Incorporating Technology

Technology is an absolute necessity in order to create a 21st century classroom. Having reconfigurable and flexible furniture in the classroom can ease students’ interaction with technology.  Furniture that is also beneficial to integrating technology include tables with power and data ports, seats that can rotate and tables with markerboard surfaces.  Creating a versatile classroom environment will enhance and support innovation, collaboration and creativity.

Sustainability

Sustainability in school design has become a major focus. Schools want to use the most environmentally friendly materials so that the materials do not contribute to harmful indoor air quality or a negative indoor environment.  Having access to natural lighting and focusing on improving acoustics so that students have a comfortable and positive learning environment has become an important part of classroom design.

These trends highlight that in the modern day classroom, variety is really the name of the game.  This generation of students are more diverse and technology-immersed than ever before.  By providing students with a variety of spaces to learn by using a free-flowing open floor plan, adaptable, technology-integrated furniture and incorporating breakout spaces into your design will create a learning environment that enhances effective teaching (and learning) for students and teachers.

As the saying goes, “you never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” Because your reception area receives the most foot traffic from employees and clients alike, it is important that its design is welcoming, tells a story, creates a positive experience for visitors and inspires your employees.  It should immediately convey who you are as an organization.

Branding

In the reception area, the best branding is often done when you take the less is more approach.  Some ways you can brand your reception area is to add signage, subtle corporate colors or a more dramatic approach. Whatever your approach is, by branding the reception area it visually show your clients/employees that you are a quality company that cares about your employees and your clients.  It will also be a visual reminder that tells your clients why they want to do business with your organization.

Timelessness

In office design, trends change quickly. So when considering an update of your reception area, a goal that you have in mind is to make it timeless. If you design your space to be flexible and functional and change easily over time, you will get the most out of your design budget.  By choosing key pieces of furniture that are durable, functional and with easy access to technology, you will have created a space that anticipates the needs of your clients.

Create a Connection

By creating a welcoming and inviting reception area, not only will it create a connection to your organization with clients, but will help boost your employees mood as well.  Your reception area should reflect the values and mission of your company.  Whether your company is creative and vibrant, traditional and elegant, or high-tech and innovative, you can ensure that you convey the message you want clients and employees to receive the moment they walk through your doors.

A few design features to consider:

Specific design upgrades to consider:

• Display your logo.  Because it is all about your brand, your company logo should be prominently displayed.  Perhaps, your reception area could include televisions displaying your logo or advertising or company videos.
• Comfortable seating areas. Comfortable lounge seating areas with integrated power or USB modules that clients can use as a charging station/workstation while they wait
• Include multi-use furniture.  Provide stylish and durable tables that will allow clients to use as a work area
• Don’t forget the plants.  Place plants or water features between seating areas to offer some privacy while also creating a warm, inviting environment

Whether your clients are walking through your doors for the first time, or your employees are walking through your doors every single day, they should always feel a warm, comfortable and welcoming feeling. Your reception area is the most important part of your office because it will set the stage for success.  By creating a branded, spacious and well-designed reception area or lobby, you will ensure that your organization’s first impression will be a positive one for all who enter your doors.

1 College Dr, Toms River, NJ 08754

Ocean County College’s new Jon and Judith Larson Student Center aimed to:

• Be innovative, encouraging it’s students to think in the same mindset.
• Be energy efficient in order to serve the environment.
• Be a motivational, collaborative space for students to learn and succeed.

Bellia and Ocean County College worked together beautifully to bring this vision to life. The Lounge Area featured state of the art multimedia capabilities coupled with a collective seating plan to encourage conversation and modern ideas to flow. The Cafe and Coffee shop was designed with bright, modern accents, and is a place for students, faculty, and potential students to gather, refuel, and further their conversations. The project is sure to enhance the learning experience of each student. 

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When it comes to employees, the happier they are the more loyal and productive they will be.  A recent study found that less than a third of workers feel engaged in their jobs.  One of the best ways to create happy and engaged employees is to create a workspace that they love.  

Here are six ways you can create a happier workspace through office design:

1. Employee Wellness.  By creating a stimulating and inspiring work environment that provides a choice for the ways in which people work will support wellness.  When employees are afforded the option to sit, stand and move throughout their workday, they are energized, engaged and healthier. Not only will an office environment that encourages movement improve employee moods, but it will also improve employee cardiovascular health and reduce their stress levels.
2. Back to Nature. Having greenery and access to natural lighting has proven effects on increasing productivity and efficiency.  Studies have shown that more windows, views of the outdoors and outdoor access increases employee satisfaction with their jobs.   Further, evidence suggests that exposure to sunlight throughout the work day has beneficial effects on health and mood.
3. Mixed Use Space. Including a variety of areas to work will make your employees happiest and lead to increased engagement and productivity.  It is important to provide areas where employees can connect or seek solitude when necessary.  The happiest environments have open and enclosed spaces, comfortable seating areas, conference and break rooms and quiet spaces for focused work.
4. Color.  Color can have a dramatic effect on mood, energy and job satisfaction.  Choosing blues and greens can have a calming effect, while reds can increase energy.  It is important to do you research though.  Check out this article for more information about color in your workspace.
5. Regulating Temperature. There is nothing worse in your work environment than a room that is too cold or one that isn’t cool enough.  To keep employees happy and comfortable, the temperature should remain between 65 and 70 degrees. 
6. Make it Comfortable.  Color choice, regulating temperature and having mixed use space are all ways to create a comfortable environment. But keep in mind that furniture choices also will have a great impact on the comfort of your office.  If employees feel comfortable and content in their workspace, it will lead to positive outcomes in terms of your corporate goals and happier, more loyal employees.

Take a look around your office, is the design meeting everyone’s needs? When a workspace is designed to suit the needs of your employees, your outcomes will be exactly what every organization is looking for.  Your space will maximize efficiency, increase engagement and enhance your organization’s brand and culture.  If you haven’t quite found an office design producing all of these outcomes, you may want to consider activity based working.

What is Activity Based Working?

Activity based working (ABW) is when specific areas are designated for specific activities like meeting, collaboration, focusing or socializing. By eliminating assigned desks, not only will ABW maximize the square footage of your workplace, but employees will feel empowered and engaged by having the flexibility to choose where they will work best depending on the task at hand.

What are the Benefits of ABW?

When employees are able to choose where and when they work, it allows them to be more efficient and engaged in their jobs.  When employees are more engaged, your workforce becomes more productive and effective, helping your organization reach its corporate goals.

Further, having a variety of areas to work and providing employees with flexibility to collaborate and share ideas, will drive innovation.  Innovation within your organization, will not only push you ahead of the competition, but make your company stand apart from the rest.

Another added benefit to ABW is that it forces employees to get up and move around during the work day. Research supports that when you provide an alternative to sitting all day long, employees are healthier.  It elevates moods and creates a more productive staff.

Ways to Incorporate ABW into Office Design

Offer a variety of seating options

Offices have turned to practices such as hot desking or hoteling to allow workers the flexibility to work wherever they choose on any given days. Couches, large kitchen-style tables and other types of furniture are often arranged comfortably, similar to how furniture is arranged in a home or a hotel lounge, to accommodates everyone’s needs.

Movable, reconfigurable furniture

Flexible, reconfigurable furniture will provide spaces to conduct small meetings, phone calls and even casual conversation.  It will fit the needs of all your employees, because it is easy and quickly changeable for private work or spur-of-the-moment collaboration.

Technology Integration

As employees no longer have their own desks, it is important to include furniture that has integrated power.  Laptops, tablets and phones will need to be charged and powered for work to be productive.  Technology should be easily accessible throughout the workspace.

Storage Solutions

When employees no longer have a dedicated space, it is important to consider storage solutions. Some options include individual lockers, mobile storage boxes or shelving units.

ABW is not designed to be a one size fits all approach.  Through careful evaluation and analysis of your business, you may find that ABW will be the right fit for your employees and can be a factor in helping you reach your corporate goals.

In the 1980’s, a scholar named Edward O. Wilson popularized the concept of biophilic design in architecture and interior design. Biophilia means love of life or living things.  As humans, we have an innate connection to nature and the natural world.  Biophilic design incorporates nature and natural elements into workspaces, improving the physiological and psychological health of employees.  This has become increasingly important in today’s world, where Americans are often spending 90% of their time inside.

In fact, according to the Global Impact of Biophilic Design in the Workplace study, 58% of offices have no live plants and 47% of employees have no natural light. One-third of employees consider these deciding factors in whether or not they accept a job offer. Not only does bringing natural elements in the workplace have an effect on recruitment and retention, there are a number of other benefits as well.

The Benefits

There are many benefits that come from improving the connection to nature in office design including increasing productivity, boosting creativity and decreasing employee absences. Biophilic Design is not only beneficial in office workspaces.  It also has many benefits in educational and healthcare design as well.  Recent studies have shown that biophilic design in classrooms and schools has resulted in 20-25% increases in learning, improved test results, concentration and attendance. In healthcare environments, in areas where biophilic design was incorporated pain medication use was decreased by 22% and patients recovery times were reduced by 8.5%.  

Here are 4 Ways to Incorporate Biophilic Design into your Space

1 – Provide Views to Nature. To give employees a view to nature, windows should be designed and placed to provide easy and unobstructed views of nature and outdoor areas. Try to position workstations so that people can see out the windows and benefit the most from natural lighting.

2 – Blur the transition from Indoor to Outdoor Spaces.  Wherever possible, try to extend the workspace into the surrounding landscape.  This can be accomplished by terraces, courtyards, balconies and porches. Provide seating and pathways that lead to these areas so that people will want to use them.

3 – Decorate with Potted Plants.  Using a potted plants, interior gardens and water features in your workspace will put your staff in closer contact with nature. By connecting employees with the outdoors, they will be more productive, their performance will increase and they are generally happier at work.

4 – Use Natural Materials and Natural Art.  Using natural materials such as wood grain and patterned stone can bring a natural element into your design especially where views of nature aren’t possible. Natural artwork can also have this same effect.  It is important to include both natural materials and artwork that enhances your employees connection with nature, in areas of your workspace that do not have access to windows.

Often times, when a company is considering a redesign or update of their office space, they choose to delay it because they are worried about the upfront cost and the impact that it will have on productivity while work is taking place.  However, when you redo your workspace, there comes with it a significant return on investment.  The investment will actually save your business money.  Here are five ways that an office makeover will save you money!

1 – Increase productivity

When you decided to do an office makeover, it is the perfect time to reevaluate how your floor plan and office layout is impacting productivity in your workspace. While the open floor plan has its benefits, it is important that it is done in the right way in order to increase efficiency and productivity.  Studies have shown that an effective way to optimize employee output is to include a combination of work areas in your space. According to a recent survey conducted by Gensler, creating a work environment that provides employees with the options of collaborative areas and dedicated space to focus results in a high-performance workplace where employee productivity increases by an average of 12 percent.

2. Improve Recruitment/Retention

Many companies overlook the impact that their physical space has on recruitment and retention. When top talent walks through your doors, they are noticing the physical space of their potential employer. Potential employees want flexibility, easy access to technology and comfort in their workspace. Also consider the cost impact of employee turnover.  To replace an entry-level employee, it costs between 30-50 percent of their annual salary, so creating a workspace that is engaging, comfortable and inviting will benefit your business. When workers feel comfortable, they will stay.

3. Create a Positive Work Environment

Creating a comfortable, bright and pleasant space for your employees and clients to walk into, will have a big effect on your business and achieving your corporate goals. The colors that you choose and the office furniture that is in place can have dramatic effects on the profitability of your company.  Also, a welcoming, positive space will spark creativity, energy and motivation in your staff.

4. Your space as a brand messenger

Since your workspace holds the power to be your most important brand messenger, an office makeover that reflects the essence of your brand will have powerful and far-reaching benefits. A branded workspace enhances the attitudes and experience of employees, clients and investors and will drive the success of your business. With a strategic approach to design, your branded space will tell your story to all who enter and connect them to your message. This will lead to positive outcomes in engagement, productivity, recruitment and retention.

5. Maximize Workspace Per Square Footage

As design trends continue towards open floor plans, the amount of square footage needed per employee has dropped.  By designing a workspace with flexibility and adaptability, not only will your workspace allow for future growth, but it will allow you to add to your space as employee needs change. An adaptable spaces maximizes spatial and operational efficiency, keeping costs down to protect your bottom line.