Workplace consultancy is a service that aims at improving the efficiency of your office in terms of both productivity and costs.

This strategic service is typically part of an office design package. Many people believe that office design is only about choosing the right colours and the right furniture. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

At its core, the goal of office design is not to make a space look “pretty”. It’s to keep its occupants happy, productive and comfortable while at the same time the costs are kept under control.

This is where workplace consultancy comes into place. Let’s take a closer look at what this service entails.

What Is Workplace Consultancy?

Workplace consultancy starts with a discussion between the business owner or manager and the interior designer. During this discussion, the designer tries to find out as much as possible about the business. Common topics include:

• Business values and commitments (sustainability, human right commitments, brand positioning and more)

• The people who work for this business (what type of work they do and what motivates them)

• Business goals (financial goals, marketing goals and so on)

• Business processes and needs (how the business is conducted and how the day-to-day operations take place)

• Issues, problems and shortcomings of the current office design

Briefly put, during the discovery meeting, the designer tries to get a glimpse into the life of an employee of the company, as well as into the company’s needs and goals.

Following this discussion, a strategic brief will be created. The brief is comprised of strategies and tactics to boost productivity, create a pleasant working environment and cut costs when possible.

If this sounds too vague, take a look at the practical benefits a workplace consultancy service can bring for your office in Glasgow.

Top Benefits of Workplace Consultancy

The benefits of this service aren’t identical for every business. As stated before, the designer’s job is to help the company reap the benefits that help their business thrive.

Since there are no two identical businesses, neither are there identical benefits of workplace consultancy. But this is what you can expect:

A More Efficient Use of Your Space

We have worked with a lot of companies looking to move to a bigger office because they felt they had outgrown the current one. In reality, all they needed was to use their space more efficiently.

The way the furniture is arranged, the amount of natural light coming in through your office windows, the way your employees can communicate with each other – all these are parts of what makes an office space efficient or not.

For example, your conference room may be too big. When you contract workplace consultancy services, the designer will need to know how many employees typically take part in a meeting, how long the meeting are and how often they happen. All of these can tell a lot about the size of the conference room and how it should be arranged to maximise efficiency.

Better Productivity of the Entire Team

It’s no secret that the space we work in has a direct influence on how productive we are or how motivated we come in to work. The purpose of workplace consultancy is to find out how your staff works, how often they need to communicate with each and whether they need the freedom to move their desk around or not.

Facilitating communication and teamwork is one of the top priorities of this type of service. When your employees feel as comfortable in the office as they do at home, they are more productive, which translates into faster and more sustainable business growth.

Talent Retention and Talent Recruitment

Today’s employees want more than a salary they can count on. They need a workplace that inspires them and empowers them to grow both personally and professionally.

When they find these qualities in an office, they tend to remain with the employer that provides them. We all know that a high turnover rate spells trouble for Scotland companies. If your employees stay with you for less than a year on average, this tells the world that there is a problem within your company. Often, the problem can be easily solved through creating a better work environment.

The same goes for attracting new talent. When potential employees visit your headquarters for the first time, you can impress them with outstanding, human-centric design. Or you can deter them from accepting your offer with a dull design that looks like a 90s bad commercial.

An Accurate Reflection of Your Brand Values and Office Policies

Much like your logo and your website, your office design should represent your brand and the people behind it. For instance, an open-floor office plan, with unconventional furniture and plenty of relaxation places, is usually associated with a young, outgoing team that knows how to have fun and work at the same time. The first thing that pops to mind is a tech startup.

Leather chairs, neutral colours and glass doors and partitions are usually associated with more “serious” businesses, like law offices. 

Whatever industry you are in and whatever face you want to show to the world, you can easily do it through the right office design. Translating your brand values into office design is one of the main purposes of workplace consultancy services.

This is just a glimpse into what this strategic service can do for your business. A personalised plan follows any consultancy. The designer can tell you if your goals can be met and can even recommend additional improvements to help you improve the work environment and/or save money.