Now they don't say "organization of the workplace". Experts in this field are trying to bring to the minds of managers and employees an important truth - the productivity of the individual is closely related to his environment. For this reason, a new concept is in vogue these days: "organization of the workspace." This is not a tribute to the fashion for lofty terms, but an expression of serious changes in the design of modern premises for various activities.
Personalization as a trend
In the world of services, a powerful personalization trend has emerged and is rapidly gaining momentum. This trend is becoming one of the top priorities for the modern consumer. The client needs goods and services that will meet his personal needs as closely as possible. This is an essential part of innovation today.
It's about planning and organizing workspaces. Employees and companies spend everythingmore resources for arranging comfortable rooms for certain tasks. The market for such services is well developed, there are real professionals. But there are even more design firms. It is easy to distinguish the second from the first: these guys know right away how to do it, they hardly ask questions. Professionals first carefully study the context and your requests.
No one will give precise instructions on how to organize an effective workspace in general. Because the premises are now equipped for certain people who perform specific work. Or under the corporate requirements of companies. Design diversity and functional precision are the best words to describe these new generation solutions.
To fine-tune the workspace for yourself, it is useful to know and understand some rules and recommendations that may be useful for the very "personalization". Here it is important to take into account the nuance of joint cooperation with other members of the company.
What companies want
When arranging the workspace, a company can be guided by its own priorities. Make it so, for example, that the appearance of the office helps employees feel corporate values.
Any design decision should make sense. In fact, such work is due to two factors - functions and aesthetics. The best option is a balance of both. Sometimes aesthetics also carry a functional load, when a luxurious office interior is designed to hit customers to the heart.
The main thing is that new architectural details and the pursuit of sophistication and exclusivity do not interfere with the convenience of employees.
Open workspace (the famous Open Space) is another corporate innovation. Office cubicles, formed by special partitions in huge rooms, resemble anthills. This approach has been discussed in many places, and in most cases the context was negative. But so far, no better way has been found to accommodate the maximum number of people while meeting the minimum set of requirements for a civilized workspace.
Enabling environment and triggers
Enabling environment is a new and integrated concept. It's about increasing productivity. You will be surprised, but one of the main criteria is the usual order in the arrangement of working tools and objects. Here the logic is elementary: things that you use often should not be kept away from you and vice versa. Note that this is not a "clean" table, it may be littered with tools. The main thing is that there should be logic in these rubbles: what should be at hand, and what can be located on the far shelf.
It's not just order that is an indicator of an enabling environment. Psychological triggers work very well, affecting your perception in a special way. A classic example is the clock on the wall, reminiscent of deadlines (especially if you hear the quiet tinkle of the second hand). Screensaver ona computer desktop, a poster with a meaning on the wall, an amulet, a toy, whatever. It is important that they remind you of tasks and life aspirations. Portrait of Steve Jobs? You are welcome. A little son who wants to give a brilliant education? Fine. Consider what or who is important to you in this regard.
Convenience
The most important criterion is your personal convenience. The main adviser should be only your own experience. There are plenty of productivity and design experts out there who love to give advice on how to redesign the workplace: they know better, they know what's best.
Of course you can listen to them. But if you find it most comfortable to work under the background of the TV on, sitting in an easy chair with a laptop on your lap, and at the same time you can see the excellent results of your work, continue in the same spirit. It will be your personal decision.
It is important to be free from imposed stereotypes to create new and "correct" conditions for your work. After all, any kind of occupation is already limiting, so creating additional frames for yourself on the advice of others is not the best idea.
Einstein order
In the photo you can see Albert Einstein's famous desktop. An even more famous quote is his take on the stereotypical advice to keep your desk in order:
If a messy desk means a messy mind, then what does an empty desk mean?
From the school bench we hear that the place for classes should reigncleanliness and tidiness. It's okay, that's how it is. It's just that people have completely different concepts of cleanliness and order. How things are with this according to Einstein, we see in the photo, we will consider it one extreme. Then the other extreme would be a perfectly clean table without a single object on the surface. It also has the right to life: there are people who prefer to start their working day in such an environment.
In order not to be under the pressure of stereotypes and extreme order options, you can use a criterion that seems more or less objective. If searching for items in the workspace began to take extra time, it's time to sort them out.
There is a lot of research on this topic, and the science is called organizational psychology. The results show that the degree of order in the workspace leads to a different emotional state. For routine activities, conditions of order and cleanliness are more suitable. If new ideas and creative solutions are needed from employees, the environment around can be quite in the spirit of Albert Einstein.
Her Majesty Ergonomics
Ergonomics is the science of human interaction with the environment. One of its main tasks is scientifically based recommendations that allow you to competently organize your workspace and comfortable environment. Whatever type of room is involved, its arrangement must comply with the basic principles of ergonomics. This includes:
- convenience;
- easy to use;
- security;
- aesthetics;
- efficiency oreffectiveness.
Ergonomic recommendations usually consist of extremely detailed and precise descriptions of workspace parameters - sizes, distances, and locations of furniture and other items.
For example, the gap between desktops should be at least 2.0 meters. And the monitor should be placed at a distance of 0.6 m from the eyes.
The depth of the workspace is most often determined by the parameters of the desktop. Its length should fit in the range from 0.8 to 1.4 m, and its width - from 0.8 to 1.0 m.
It is important not to forget about the depth of the legroom. For example, this indicator should be at least 0.65 m.
Light, color and personality
The parameters for the correct use of light are well developed. The main ones are the level and uniformity of illumination. Everything is clear here.
It is believed that the table lamp should be on the left. But this does not work, for example, for the jobs of architects or computer artists. There are very few people left who write in the old fashioned hand, so instructions like "local light only on the left" are hopelessly outdated.
With the subjective perception of color in the workspace, everything is much more complicated. In matters of color, it is best to trust your own taste and experience, because aesthetics do not fit into the rigid framework of rules or instructions. However, do not forget that all color schemes in the office must match the overall design of the room. it's the samepromotes order.
Working triangle in the kitchen
Perhaps, the kitchen can be called the most common type of workspace. These rooms are available in almost every home.
The rule of the working triangle is pronounced in the kitchen. The main directions of movement around the room depend on the types of regular work:
- cooking;
- washing dishes;
- food storage.
The three vertices of the triangle are the stove, sink and refrigerator. Knowing this, organizing a kitchen workspace is easy. The main thing is not to interfere with the movements between the accents of the triangle.
Here are some examples of kitchen space suggestions:
- It is better to place the sink in the middle of the working triangle.
- The best place for the stove is against the wall or in the corner area next to the dining table.
- The doors of kitchen furniture, refrigerators and other equipment should be easy to open, etc.
Conclusion
Designing your own workspace is fun, creative, and extremely rewarding for all human activities. Moreover, the surrounding atmosphere needs to be periodically diversified along with changes in life. So you have at least a few creative sessions ahead of you to redesign the place where you can work best.
Even if a company does the corporate design of the office, you will always have the opportunity to make your own adjustments. It will be the samepersonalization…
