Offices around the world are rapidly evolving. The stereotyped cubicle layout is now becoming a thing of the past and companies are now realizing that in order to keep up with the ever changing environmental, economical, and professional landscape, they must adapt. Workplace analysis is a great step to discovering what space is needed and what space is unnecessary. By working with an experienced designer, businesses will thrive through observing the nature of their employees against the backdrop of their office and making positive changes to better suit their goals. Workplace analysis focuses on accounting for every inch of an office and breaking it down into a statistic in order to show what elements are vital to productivity, and which are unused and wasted. For instance, if your team often spends time in the kitchen having informal meetings, perhaps creating meeting-rooms with a more relaxed atmosphere would better suit your staff. Some questions that a workplace analysis will explore:

• How many desks are used?
• How many chairs are there?
• Which rooms are utilised the most by staff?
• Is every employee needed in the office?
• What do employees like the most about the office, and the least?
• Who in the office cooperates the most? These people should be placed closer together.

Once data has been gathered, an experienced interior design company can translate it so that it will aid in the production of your new space. The next step is creating the design so that it utilizes the space appropriately, cuts down on costs due to the elimination of ‘dead space’ and promotes positivity and well-being. This type of workplace is called an Activity-Based office. These types of workplaces have 40% less space per person due to less walls, room, and dead space, making it easier to furnish and more encouraging of movement and collaboration. Discovering which elements can boost business performance is the most beneficial point of doing a re-design. In addition to the data gathered through the workplace analysis, it is important to bring your office up to modern standards that make sustainability and mental and physical well-being a priority. A good way to gauge whether your design is taking the right steps is to follow the WELL standards, which focus on seven core elements that are proven to make a positive impact on the employee’s health and boost business productivity. Some of the more specific aspects of WELL are incorporating fitness, collaborative furniture, and changing the office desk mentality. Utilising space to create movement will not only benefit the employee’s physical and mental state, but in turn will create an office where there is less solitary areas and more space to encourage team bonding. Assessing the needs of staff and the functionality of an office will create optimal productivity.