Hiring new staff can often place pressure on the space in which a business resides. Businesses are often restricted by the fixed, inflexible nature of the buildings in which they work, which makes expanding the workforce a juggle between business growth and cramped work quarters.
Commercial businesses may have limited opportunities to relocate. It can also be prohibitively expensive to relocate a business, or even expand it. Bigger premises mean spending more money on services, utility costs, insurance, telecommunications, and higher leases, which leads to smaller profit margins.
Finding a way to use business space more efficiently can save on costs, and ensure that businesses can stay in their current location. However, this may necessitate using outside expertise. Companies that are situated in the same work environment for a number of years may be too used to their current layout to be able to envisage an alternative design to their office layout. Office spaces are often laid out by business themselves without considering maximum efficiency.
An external expert can provide a fresh perspective when analysing spatial usage and often discover previously unconsidered options for using space more efficiently. There are a number of ways to accomplish this.
The first step is to measure existing space, as well as the space that businesses have set aside for supplies and employees.
Often commercial businesses will separate groups of employees simply because they belong to different parts of the business, which may be an inefficient use of space. However, businesses who are questioned about these assumptions may realise that they don’t need to separate these employees at all. Departments that communicate frequently between each other, or have similar or complementary business functions, could benefit by being placed close together, while others can be separated.
Storage areas for office inventory and supplies are often located in close proximity to employees. Space could be reclaimed by more efficiently storing such supplies in the same area. For example, specially designed storage solutions could maximise space. Off-the-shelf products often don’t fit the exact space being filled, and space could be wasted as a result. Better solutions can free space for employees and business essentials.
Space can also be maximised by using communal work spaces more efficiently. For example, employees may be using large meeting rooms for a small team meeting, when a smaller space would suffice. Many buildings also have a set number of uniform meeting rooms, when a variety of different size spaces would be more efficient. A building projects manager can help determine if the existing space is being used in the most efficient way possible.
If you are thinking of expanding your workforce and want to see how your business can use its existing property more efficiently, then contact a Programmed Property Services expert today for a fresh perspective.
