Create More Office Space

Maybe your company is experiencing rapid growth, or maybe your facilities plan overlooked a few angles. Whatever the cause, what do you do if your company is growing too big for your current office space?

Often—and ideally—the answer is to relocate your business. However, upgrading to larger space may not be possible due to budget concerns or lease commitments.

But doing nothing can have a negative impact on productivity, employee retention, and even professionalism. There are easy solutions to help you make the best of your existing office space, even if it’s small. Usually, these fall into do-it-yourself and professional options. Let’s take a look at both.

Do-It-Yourself Options

So how can you make an immediate impact on overcrowded office space? Consider the following ideas you can implement on your own:

Employ lighter, brighter colors.

While neutral tones may strike a more “professional” look, they actually make a room feel smaller and devoid of energy. Go bright: Paint a single wall with an accent color. Pick lively furniture, fabrics, artwork, and even desk accessories. Even a plant can liven up a stuffy office.

Declutter your desk.

Personal mementos add character and comfort to workstations. But they should be judiciously curated to only essential tchotchkes, coffee mugs, and a digital picture frame to store hundreds of vacation images and children’s artwork. Limiting physical files on your desktop to current projects keeps things tidy too. With just a few tweaks, you can turn any ordinary workstation into a cool workstation.

Redefine conference rooms.

Using dry-erase paint on one wall in every department’s area gives employees an easy way to gather and collaborate, and open ideas up to everyone in the company who might not normally see them. Open meeting space also has the side benefit of creating shorter meetings, so people quickly get to the task at hand—and then back to work.

Reimagine existing space.

That former conference room you’ve replaced with floating meeting spaces? Make it your employee break room, where they can gather for lunch or a quick phone call.

Professional Services

Hiring a professional to help you get the most of your small office space doesn’t have to be an expensive, overly complicated, or an ongoing process.

Store bulky items and inventory offsite

Warehouse storage can free up needed room taken up by inventory, items you use infrequently, or things that are in the way if you’re renovating. Look for a facility that offers flexible lease terms so you only pay for the space you use when you’re using it.

Take another look at your office furniture.

It might be a matter of scale—your office furniture is too big for your office space; or it simply can no longer meet your workforce’s needs. An ideal vendor will not only provide numerous space-saving options to furnish your workplace, such as compact workstations and benching, but also offer you a plan for the disposal, re-use, or decommission of existing furniture assets.

See the potential in your current office space.

Sometimes, an outside set of eyes can help you find more room. Creative office space planning can provide the reconfigurations and solutions that may already be under your nose.