How The Color Of Your Workplace Affects Productivity

Posted on July 16, 2020 by Indoff Office Furniture

There’s so much we do to set up the perfect workspace. From the right kind of coffee to kick-start your day, to finding that perfect chair for posture. But have you ever thought about the color scheme you’re surrounded by? Studies have shown that your office paint job can affect you more than you realize. A study done by Color Psychologist Angela Wright proves to show how color can change your mindset. It’s time to reanalyze your efficiency and optimize your productivity. If you’re working from home or heading back to the office soon, here’s how changing the color of your workspace can change how you work.

Color = Productivity

Before you jump up and pick your favorite color for your workplace (let’s not break out the neon scheme just yet), you should know what individual colors mean. Think about it from an artist’s perspective. They pick certain colors to bring out specific moods and emotions in their work. If they’re creating a calming spring meadow, they’re not going to use Hi-Fi reds and oranges. They’ll aim for blues, greens, even some yellows to relax your mind. Let’s look at some of the primary colors and their effects on the mind.

Red: Stimulating And Attention Grabbing

Although stimulating, the color red has its pros and cons for the work environment. Think of a stop sign – it catches our attention immediately. It’s also probably what your teacher used when marking up that paper you spent all night working on. Mostly, it’s a call for attention in the details. It raises our blood pressure and can activate our “fight or flight” instinct. Although the color red isn’t recommended for a relaxing workplace, it’s productive when drawing one’s attention to a key item. It also has two ways on the spectrum it can land on – pink and burgundy. Pink has a light-hearted feel, whereas burgundy takes a sophisticated and serious tone. The verdict? Use it sparingly or just to highlight something important in the office.

Blue: Productivity and Calming

Quite the opposite of red, and known for its calming ability, blue has the most significant productivity boost in the office. If you use blue as the base color for office productivity, you can use other colors as accents since so much goes well with the color. It has the opposite effect from red as it lowers the blood pressure. Creating a calming feeling, it aids the mind for concentration at its fullest.

Green: Relaxing and Peaceful

Hitting that 40-hour workweek can be exhausting no matter what you do. Luckily, green has a significant effect on calming people down. It’s key to relaxation, mainly because green doesn’t strain the eyes. It’s no wonder offices have open windows with plenty of nature surrounding them. You can even place plants around the office to help create this effect as well. It’s perfect for keeping your mind at peace for those overwhelming projects and deadlines.

Yellow: Collaboration and Optimism

As much as we love being relaxed and cozy, too much can put us to sleep. A touch of yellow can bring in some energy and positive emotions into the office space. If you want to highlight collaboration, yellow can help to bring out an uplifting and vibrant mood. It’s also known for stimulating creativity and optimism. Although, too much can be an oversaturation. It’s known as the least favorite color for most adults, so use it sparingly and in key spots.

Working From Home

So, you’ve set-up your at-home office, probably in a room that wasn’t used much before. Or maybe, you’re in the center of everything in your living room. You probably went from spending your early mornings and evenings at home, but now you’re there all day. Take a step back and see what color fits both your living and home working situation. You’ll find it makes a more significant influence than you realize.

Back To The Office

As a business owner, most of your staff might be working from home right now, and that’s okay. It has its pros with everyone out of the building. Now is the perfect time to renovate the office space a little. This doesn’t mean you need to break out the paint buckets either, you can do all of this with furniture as well. Not everyone has the luxury of owning a building or the budget to paint every wall and room in the office. By simply updating the furniture, you can make the entire room come to life.

Also, remember that each color’s tone and brightness take a big part of what you’re choosing. You don’t want to oversaturate your office or pick the wrong color for the wrong room. Our leader, Kim Gregory, can help you decide what message and vibe you’re sending not only to your clients but to your people.

More Than Just A Color

A key thing to remember is the intensity and saturation of each color. Selecting colors in key spots means more than a whole room one color. The CEO having a blue highlighted door can mean trustworthiness and dependability. Green plants bring in freshness and nature into the office, and so on. So, before picking that basic beige or white walls, think about how you can truly optimize productivity with your color schemes.

Office Furniture Trends You Can Expect to See in 2020

Posted on January 29, 2020 by Indoff Office Furniture

Still of the interior of a modern office aligned with wooden features, divided work spaces, office chairs, and office tables.

The new decade is finally here and now, more than ever, companies are becoming increasingly complex in terms of their functions and operations. Those who are on the front line of workplace design are working to anticipate the ever-evolving needs of businesses while creating a cohesive brand that encourages innovation and a company’s corporate vision and culture. The challenges that businesses face today have led to exciting transformations in the way that employees perform, interact with, and operate within built environments. Employees are now working in offices and workplaces that are designed for high-demanding business needs, with the goal to improve performance and productivity, attract talented new recruits, enhance wellness and well-being, and inspire new and innovative ideas. None of this would be possible without the prevalence of specialized office designs and furniture. As we plan for 2020 and beyond, these trends stand to make the most immediate and significant impacts on the future of our workplaces.

Making a Comeback with Wooden Interior

By today’s standards, most office environments are built with traditional whiteboard drywall construction and filled with metal cubicles. As brands become more focuses on sustainability and rearrange their workspace to attract top talent, facilities have adopted a more environmentally conscious attitude in recent years to meet their employee and tenant expectations and this is done with the help of wood. Wood is infamous for adding biophilic texture, lines, and warmth to traditionally sterile office environments. Linear wood paneling and slatted wood patterning also help create the illusion of depth.

Utilizing Monochromatic Expression

The Oxford dictionary defines monochromatic as containing or using only one color. Although, this definition doesn’t depict what it can monochromatic color schemes can do in terms of design. Monochromatic color schemes have sparked a color explosion that’s been taking place in commercial vicinities over the past several years. These color palettes only use one color, but they utilize the entire spectrum of shades, tones, and hints of that particular color to depict a uniform and recognizable theme. This design draws people in via creative expression and establishes an image that showcases functions and personality within a workspace.

Implementing Hanging Horticulture and Vegetation

Plants have become more popular in office environments than ever before, with the emergence of walls adorned with green and moss as staples of well-being and branding. With floor space at a premium, designers are turning to new heights to integrate their vegetation: ceilings. Office ceilings are the next frontier for companies striving to maximize space, efficiency, and incorporate the patterns of nature. Hanging vegetation often promotes home-styled environments where the lines of business and leisure are blurred. With plant design engrained in buildings seeking a sustainable and wellness-forward image, green has become and continues to be an undeniable feature in the near future of office design.

Modular Modern Designs

By the looks of it, the open office space isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. In the meantime, businesses are looking for ways to provide their employees with personalized, private spaces in which they can focus on their important projects. Beyond that, functional furniture is a key element to help employees stay creative, active, and extremely productive. This indicates that new studio drafting tables, standing desks, benching workstations, and even insulated phone booths are being developed and reimagined every day to help workers maximize their time in the office.

Dynamic Spaces and Flexibility

The trend of dynamic spaces has begun to emerge, introducing people to the idea of multi-functional workspaces. These spaces typically include indoor-outdoor access via garage doors, movable dividers, and television and video equipment—just to name a few. Dynamic flexibility incorporates an entirely new generation of moveable, multi-functional, lightweight, and ergonomic elements designed to fit any space and purpose. This design trend also focuses on a complete transformation of environments from the meeting rooms, to a production area, to a quiet, semi-private space, with just a blink of an eye. All in all, these spaces are designed to meet the needs, application, and comfort in our increasingly multidisciplinary business world.

Indoff Commercial Interiors: Here to Help You Transform and Modernize Your Office Space

If it’s time for you to renovate your office or workplace, we have all the materials, furniture, and office essentials to help you achieve efficiency and success! Contact us today to learn more about the products we carry and to have a professional help you find furniture to compliment your office environment.

Myths of The Open Office Concept

Posted on September 30, 2019 by Indoff Office Furniture

Since the 70s, the open office concept has gained lots of traction. In fact, in America, it’s estimated that 70% of all office spaces were open office concepts of some degree. Championed by businesses like Facebook and other Silicon Valley giants, the open office was supposed to be the creative, collaborative workspace of the future. The problem—open offices have done just the opposite.

In this article, we’ll discuss some of the pitfalls of such a system, as well as discuss potential alternatives.

Open Office Lack Of Creativity

It’s rare when a concept does the exact opposite of what it was intended to do; unfortunately, that’s what we have with open offices.

According to a 2018 Harvard Business Schol research paper, open offices reduced face to face interactions drastically, promoting emails and instant messages (IMs) more. Perhaps more importantly, workers were less productive, efficient, and quality fell to boot.

Other studies have shown decreases in creativity, productivity, job satisfaction, and attention spans. In an era where everyone’s attention spans are decreasing, the last thing a business needs is even less attention from employees.

If that wasn’t enough, higher stress levels, blood pressure, and job turnover are also associated with open offices. Not quite the office revolution that people were hoping for.

So…Now What?

So cubicles are drab, but open offices are bad in almost every way. What do we do? Well, as with most things in life, the best option may be somewhere in the middle. Some companies are utilizing open office design in small groups. Each group will have its own sequestered space but will be able to collaborate amongst themselves. This boosts productivity and collaboration without having the noise of the entire office distracting them.

Getting the Most Out of Your Office With Indoff

If you want the most productive office space for you and your staff, you’ll need to get the best equipment for your staff. Here at Indoff, we ensure that our collection of office furniture and equipment is of quality design and functionality. Contact us today to find the best office furniture for your goals!

Tips for Optimal Workplace Productivity

Posted on May 28, 2019 by _indoff

woman being productive at work Do you find yourself taking work home, wondering why you couldn’t get done at work? So many of us do! The reality is — there are only so many hours in a day and time can easily get bogged down with small, often unproductive tasks. Being productive requires work. It requires strategic planning and most all, it requires discipline. It’s easy to arrive on time (or even early) and have your day’s plans get thrown out the window with one interruption, which often leads to another. By the time you know it, it’s 5 o’clock.

But being productive isn’t necessarily a science. There are small but effective changes you can begin applying that will cut down five minutes then ten, 20, and eventually, you will find yourself with an extra hour to accomplish those tasks you’ve put off for a lack of time.

Here are 7 effective strategies to being more productive at work that you can easily begin applying today:

1- Track Your Time

Do you know how long you spend in the break room getting coffee each morning? What about the time it takes to send out emails to your staff or replying to those emails? If you’re not currently tracking your time, it’s time to start today! Estimates don’t count. And if you’re thinking won’t tracking my time take time? It will only take TWO MINUTES out of your entire day to track what you’re working on every 30 minutes. We suggest starting off with the 30-minute interval. This way you can get into the habit of checking in with yourself every 30 minutes. Once you get used to jotting down what it is you’re working on, you can extend it to an hour or every time you change tasks. There are tools like Rescue Time that make it easier to track specific tasks including checking email, talking to coworkers, going to the bathroom, and meeting with clients, all of which make up your entire day.

2- Always Take Breaks

Okay now you’re probably thinking so in addition to tracking my time, you want me to take breaks? The simple answer is yes. While it sounds counterintuitive, taking breaks will help improve your concentration. Keep in mind, these breaks should be short. You also don’t want to take too many frequent breaks. Rather, every 90 minutes take a small productive break. What do we mean by productive? We mean, grab some coffee, go to the bathroom, stretch, take a “smoker’s break” even if you don’t smoke. Essentially you want to use this time to step away from work and reconnect with how you’re feeling. Give your eyes a screen break and your body a reboot.

3- Place Deadlines on Yourself

Ah, deadlines. Whether you love or hate them, deadlines help us stay on pace and they give us the right type of stress. By setting self-imposed deadlines on yourself, you’ll be able to stay focused on what needs to be accomplished and by when. Deadlines will also give you the ability to visualize a finish line. In return, your time will be planned out. Many people are surprised at how self-imposed deadlines force them into mini-athletes where it’s them vs. time. Be realistic about how long tasks should take and also don’t afraid to challenge yourself to some more strict deadlines.

4- Avoid Multitasking

Multitasking can essentially decrease productivity. How is that so? It’s been found that multitasking results in lost time because people cannot devote their energy to competing tasks. For example, the old cliche and driving while putting on your makeup. This can easily result in an accident. There are some tasks that can be done in unison but you want to make sure they don’t compete with one another. For example, while you can’t put on makeup and look at the road, you can drive and mentally plan out your day or visualize what it is your day will entail. Remember to remain positive about it. Visualize being the most productive possible.

5- Minimize Interruptions

Interruptions are inevitable but do your best to let others know that what you’re working on is time-sensitive. When your colleagues respect your time, they’re less likely to interrupt you. If you have your own office, close the door to tackle those projects. You also want to consider mapping out your time to meet with people. Resist the temptation to give away your time as this often leads to staying late in an effort to make up for it or taking work home.

6- Stay Motivated and Determined

Motivation is the key to all of these tips. You know yourself and you know your work habits. Add in determination and you’ll see that work is feasible. Don’t allow feelings of worry to take over. Even if you know something may not get done “on time,” knowing it needs to be accomplished, just get to work on it! Eliminate all feelings of doubt and productivity will follow.

7- Keep Your Energy Level High

Once you have time management down, it’s all about your energy. Your energy level is essential to not only remaining productive at work but also outside of work. We’re not robots. We require exercise, connecting with friends and family, and doing the things that motivate us. Where does your source of energy come from? It may be your morning run, a 10-minute meditation, or a mid-day walk. No matter how you get energized, make sure to prioritize these rituals. They matter your mind and body.

“Action Expresses Priorities.” — Gandhi

How you choose to spend your time says a lot about who you are and what your goals are. We are given the same hours in a day but how we spend those hours will determine our legacy. What do you want your legacy to be?

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