Tag: OfficeScreens

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2024 Blogs

Bi-Folding Room Dividers

Printed 3 panel portable room divider

Bi-folding room dividers offer a versatile solution for dividing and sectioning a room with ease. Also known as concertina screens, these dividers can fold in various ways, allowing for different placements and uses within the chosen area. Equipped with sturdy hinges and castor wheels, these screens can be easily moved around, even if the panels are light or heavy weight. The addition of castor wheels is particularly beneficial when the dividers will be moved by a single person or if they are regularly relocated.

The design of a folding room divider allows for multiple configurations, which can be achieved by angling and positioning the panels correctly. Whether you need a straight form or a U shape, the bi-folding panels are flexible enough to provide the desired coverage. To ensure the right coverage for your space, the number of panels and their height are crucial factors. These dividers can cover small to large open spaces, with heights reaching up to 2m for maximum impact.

At Rap Industries, we understand that personalizing your space is important. That’s why we offer a wide selection of finishes to suit any environment. As part of our bi-folding or concertina room divider range, you have access to printed, loop nylon, laminate, and fabric finishes.

The most expressive choice is the printed panel finish, which allows you to add bespoke artwork designed by you. With double-sided printing, you can incorporate bold and eye-catching images and fonts to create a unique feature in your workplace.

Loop nylon is another fabric option that enhances the versatility of portable room dividers. Commonly used on display boards, loop nylon has a Velcro-friendly finish, allowing you to create a small display or notice area in addition to providing privacy.

If you need a whiteboard surface, our high-pressure laminate (HPL) finish with a white gloss is the perfect choice. This finish accepts dry wipe pens, making the divider suitable for use in meetings, training sessions, and brainstorming sessions. You can utilize the divider as both a separator and a whiteboard, maximizing its functionality.

The woven finish is utilized by adding a layer of fabric over the solid panels, aiming to introduce vibrant colors into the chosen area.

Choose Rap Industries for your bi-folding room divider needs and enjoy the flexibility, versatility, and customization options we offer.

Categories
2016 Blogs

Re-Vamping the Office Design: 4 Ways to Rejuvenate

Office Design

Breathing New Life into Office Design for the New Year

With the new year approaching, it’s around this time that we begin to consider changes we hope to make whilst blocking out the incessant ring of Christmas songs. As we all start looking towards the fresh start which the new year brings, the dull and drab surroundings of the office often begin to rear its head. Okay, it hardly falls within the usual category of a new year’s resolution, however rejuvenating the office design can have significant and long-lasting effects for your business. A few splashes of colour or replacing the squeaky chairs alone can go a long way to boosting productivity and re-invigorating your employees in the new year.

Office design is often more complex than it first appears and many modern layouts are often sculpted by professional designers, however with careful planning and consideration, it is still possible to achieve a similar result on a much more agreeable budget. The layout of your office does not have to be fancy and elaborate, instead, removing some pet peeves and making the overall environment more practical can help to breathe new life into the business.

Integrating Practicality into a New Design

Upon entering a room, the first thing which we are struck by is the visual appearance of what we are looking at such as colours, lighting, furniture and so on. However, the foundations of any great design are built upon the practical side of things; natural light, sound and visibility. Without professional help, these aspects are often the ones which get overlooked and therefore ultimately hinders your new design throughout the year. It is important to remember the people who will be working within the environment and tailoring the space to adapt to them. While opening the space up to freedom and collaboration may appear like a wonderful idea, this may not be the case for many of your employees.

While the aim of a rejuvenating office re-design will revolve around how it appears, factors such as the acoustics of the space and how much privacy employees are afforded will have a more substantial impact on employee productivity. Frequent distractions, whether caused by persistent noise or visual interruptions can mount significantly over time, leading to frustration, stress and even potential health issues in the future if left unaddressed. A comfortable design on the other hand creates favourable working conditions, which enables staff to focus and complete tasks in an effective manner.

Finding the Right Blend of Colours

Crafting a new office design provides a great deal of creative freedom to style the surroundings to your own tastes, but it also means they can be tailored to your business. Colours have a subtle yet important impact on mood and the right blend can help to encourage creativity, calmness and even passion when integrated correctly. Traditional offices favoured whites and cream shades which appeared clean and pristine, yet created an atmosphere which resembled more of a prison cell than a working environment. Instead, take the opportunity to look around at other modern offices for inspiration and to see how they make the most of colour to create welcoming and comfortable spaces for staff.

So, if your industry is tasked with creating and designing, then shades of yellow and orange are ideal for encouraging creativity as they trick the mind into the feeling of cosy summer days. Alternatively, if you are looking to push a certain department, for example a sales department, shades of red are excellent for evoking passion as crimson shades inspire emotions which we may commonly associate with anger. Finally, if you aim to simply calm everyone down and keep stress levels under control, then shades of blue evoke the calmness and serenity of water and blue skies.

Peace and Quiet Matters More Than You Think

The most successful office designs are those which can integrate the ideas and opinions of those who will be working within them; the employees. Over the past few decades, all theory has pointed towards the development of ‘collaborative’ work environments which naturally encourage individuals to work together. Therefore, many conventional examples which you can see have these hubs of desks, holding separate departments together in close proximity and quite literally forcing them to work together.

Excellent in theory, a potential disaster in practice. It is true that some people will thrive in such conditions, provided with the social stimulation which leads to a melting pot of ideas while still being able to concentrate despite all the activity revolving around them. Yet for many others, the situation is the exact opposite. Distractions, especially audible and visual, constantly interrupt the workflow, severely hampering productivity and ultimately increasing agitation and frustration.

Consider Beyond What You Can See

As an alternative to conventional designs, an option worth considering are anti-bacterial furniture such as Safeguard screens. Adopting the conventional design of partition screens or portable screens, these serve a dual purpose within modern office designs. First and foremost, they are excellent for providing privacy and an area away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the office, ideal for those who require space to concentrate. As an added benefit, they also provide protection against the spread of nasty bacteria. Especially in larger environments, it can become incredibly simple to spread illness and infection, which ultimately results in expensive sick days and time taken off work.

With any luck, these tips should provide more context on some of the finer details of office design. If you have an idea in mind and are considering creating practical office environments, then as manufacturers of partition screens and more, there is a bit more which we can do to help. Either check out the Rap Industries website to explore some of the furniture we produce, or give us a call on 01733 394941 for more bespoke advice.

Office Design

Categories
2016 Blogs

How to Solve the Biggest Problems with Office Design

Identifying the Issue

The office is somewhere that we spend at least eight hours a day, five days a week for over 300 days a year. For most of us, we end up spending more of our lives in an office than relaxing at home. What a wonderful thought. This fact is made altogether worse when the office is cramped, too hot, noisy and whatever else grinds your gears. When the first offices started to spring up, they looked to adapt the model of industrial revolution factories. Rows upon rows of workers, furiously working for hours while being overseen by the head of the company. Some modern-day companies may even still run this way, but for the majority, times have changed and office designers are showing a bit more concern for the people who must sit in them all day.

When you spend time in the same environment repeatedly, you will begin to notice the tiniest of details. Cracks in the walls, mysterious smells and creaks in the floorboards, your brain naturally begins to process everything around you. When you work in an office, the same process happens. When the job starts out, everything is fine as you try to absorb the new surroundings. But after a few days, weeks or months, you will unwittingly begin to identify all the sights, smells and noises all around you. The colleagues who you try so hard to get along with can quickly become associated with their mannerisms and these will grow ever worse day by day, unless they are resolved.

Addressing the Prominent Issues with Office Design

With no signs that the open office layout will be fading away any time soon, modern offices are increasingly looking to adapt to some of the major issues which arise from these ‘collaborative workspaces’. The whole idea behind them in the first place is that by placing employees next to each other in a block design will help them to collaborate more as they never have to leave their desk. It serves that purpose fine, but what happens when deadlines begin to loom and pressure starts to mount? How collaborative do you think people are when stress levels begin to reach an unbearable amount? If you have worked in an open office, then you will already know the answer to this.

While open style, collaborative spaces have their benefits, it is still necessary to create areas which allow people to have privacy and the conditions to concentrate. Fortunately, it is not necessary to create permanent, separate spaces. Instead, modern furniture and technology can help to transform existing spaces, making them more effective and ultimately more productive. These also need to take into consideration that individuals will often have different work styles. While some may thrive in busy spaces, others can begin to feel overwhelmed and it is important to have those quiet areas where they can retreat to.

Distractions, Distractions, Distractions

There are three main factors which drag the concept of the open plan office down; noise, privacy and comfort. One of the main reasons why the trend of working from home is on the rise is the fact that it directly addresses these three issues. Unfortunately, the nature of the work that many office workers do means that this arrangement is not always possible, which is why interior designers are increasingly working towards replicating the same conditions of a home into the office. In essence, this means cutting down on both audible and visual distractions.

One of the major flaws with a lot of solutions that you find online is that they call for modern office design to create separate areas which are adapted to either a collaborative space or a private space. This is fine for organisations with large offices, but as a result, this hardly leaves many options for small businesses. Fortunately, with products like desk dividers and partition screens available, it is possible to recreate the conditions without making a large investment.

Noise is perhaps going to be the trickier of the two distractions to combat, especially in small spaces. Considering that sound by nature is very unpredictable, creating an environment which combats it can take some testing to perfect. The solution to combating this is to introduce soft surfaces and if your budget can extend so far, ensure they incorporate acoustic foam. This innovative material is increasingly being used in desk dividers, wall panels, padded flooring… you get the picture. On a basic level, sound reverberates by bouncing off hard surfaces, so if you fill the area with soft surfaces equipped with acoustic foam, this will actively combat reverberation time, effectively reducing ambient background noise.

The Benefits of Perfecting Office Design

The perks of creating an effective workspace can often be hidden, however it will begin to reflect on your business long term. While it is perhaps unreasonable to expect all your employees to be giving 110% as soon as the new design installed, the biggest difference will start to appear once crunch time begins to hit. With a work space, which promotes collaboration while still providing privacy, this provides employees with more freedom to concentrate and get on with their work. If working with colleagues is required, then the proximity means that this is easy to achieve. Yet if they require peace and quiet to focus, they can retreat behind the desk dividers and block the most prominent distractions.

For over 40 years, Rap Industries have been designing and manufacturing office furniture which is tailored to meet the changing needs of clients. With partition screens, desk dividers and much more available, each is extensively tested to ensure they can improve any office environment. For more information on the services provided, please visit the site, give us a call on 01733 394941 or send an e-mail to sales@rapind.com.

Office Design

Categories
2016 Blogs

Why Acoustic Screens are the Future of Modern Office Design

Creating Workspaces Which Optimise and Energise Employees

Office design has been the subject of a great deal of study over the past few decades and for good reason. Considering millions of us spend up to and beyond eight hours a day sat behind a desk, it makes sense that we try to understand that environment as much as possible. Our careers and the job we do is often about much more than the work involved and employers as well as designers are constantly trying to find ways to make employees more productive and more effective. Some may take a traditional approach of bonuses and prizes, while others take a more practical approach and attempt to find the means to help employees enjoy their job.

While the design of the office may seem unsuspecting, it can actually have a major influence on employee satisfaction and productivity. The reality is, if we hate the place where we work for just one of a number of reasons, then this crushes motivation and begins to decrease efficiency. Ultimately, it can be a revolving cycle unless the route cause is addressed. Distractions are one of the major causes of disruption, especially within open plan offices and these can often spawn further complications with stress and anxiety further along the road.

The Key for Managing Distractions

In recent years, there has been a huge upswing in the number of people working from home and according to them, this has made them more efficient. The main reason for this is that there is more privacy in the home. You are not constantly interrupted by the constant hum of background chatter or regularly interrupted by a telephone crying out to be picked up. Instead, they are able to take work at their pace, without the constant distractions and this has actually led to improvement. The result has seen modern office designs try to adopt what makes this approach to working so successful; comfort.

Cutting out distractions altogether in open plan environments is pretty much impossible thanks to physics, which is why many of the modern offices that you read about today take a slightly different approach. Often this is to create separate areas; one for communal work, where employees can communicate and liaise while working on a project and then another which encourages silence, privacy and the space for employees to concentrate when they really need it. Sounds simple enough, but for the majority of small businesses, being able to integrate this is not feasible. There is no room for a huge office, instead employees are housed in enclosed spaces which can become a cacophony of noise.

What Makes Acoustic Screens So Effective?

This is where Acoustic Screens are becoming such an effective solution. The cubicle office design of the 1960s may have been an unmitigated mess, but it did strike upon a few key points which have a positive impact for employers. Modern day acoustic screens often come in three different forms; as standalone screens, desk dividers and as wall panels. On a base level, these help to create partial partitions in office environments, which when used correctly, can drastically reduce the number of visual distractions and creating an element of privacy for employees. In particular, this can reduce a common worry of people looking over your shoulder at what you are doing as well as becoming distracted by what others are doing across the office.

But what really sets them apart compared to other elements which are part of modern office design is their introduction of acoustic foam. Tackling acoustical design is often one of the hidden demons in any open environment. It is pretty easy to make it look glamorous when you use your eyes, but protecting against sound waves presents a completely different challenge. They cannot be seen by the naked eye, they are unpredictable and they can niggle away at you every day before they simply become too much.

At the core of solving this is introducing soft surfaces which absorb some of these sound waves, rather than letting them bound from surface to surface until they run out of energy. So if you were considering a stylish hardwood floor for your new office, perhaps reconsider unless you enjoy listening to recurring echoes for eight hours and more a day. Instead, acoustic screens ensure you don’t have to cover the walls with carpet as the acoustic foam integrated within the screen is clinically proven to help absorb soundwaves and reduce reverberation time. While it is impossible to block out ambient noise altogether, an acoustically controlled environment can make life easier for everyone when they don’t have to hear every word of every conversation throughout the day.

Integrating Acoustic Screens into a Modern Design

So acoustic screens can be remarkably effective in busy open plan environments, the next step is to fit them in with the design you have in mind in the first place. Options such as acoustic wall panels are clever ways of introducing the acoustic foam without having screens scattered through the space. While they may struggle to absorb noise coming straight towards you, they will help to absorb ambient background noise which is bouncing across the office. Alternatively, acoustic screens excel the most when used in between desks. Creating a collaborative workspace requires tender balance, and quality screens help to achieve this. They soak up soundwaves heading towards you from across the office, while they also provide relief from visual distractions when you are trying to concentrate.

If you approach a specialist manufacturer, there are a huge number of variations available which can be tailored with your office space in mind. This includes straight or curved panels; fabric or glazed panels and a wide range of customisations such as colour and size, meaning they are able to enhance the office environment. Especially in smaller spaces, acoustic screens are an increasingly effective way to create privacy and comfort for employees, providing them with a solid foundation from which to work and concentrate.

As a manufacturer of acoustic screens and room dividers, here at Rap Industries we have a number of ranges which are tailored towards making your office environment more practical. You can check them out online, or alternatively you can get in touch with our advisors who can provide additional information. They can be reached by calling 01733 394941 or by sending an e-mail to sales@rapdind.com.

Categories
2016 Blogs

8 Factors You Must Address When Re-designing Your Office

Open Plan Office Screens

What Makes the Design of the Office So Important?

Chances are, if you are looking into re-designing your office, then you have already begun to understand the impact that it can have on the efficiency of your business. From the colour of the walls to how big the windows are, there are a range of different factors which can influence how effectively employees can concentrate and the length of time in which you can expect them to remain focused. Some of the greatest office designs are simple in theory, but in the planning phase, the design must be tailored and adapted to the space in order to make it as effective as possible.

The key to creating an ideal office design, is being able to balance privacy with a collaborative work space. This means ensuring the means are available for staff to press on with work when required, while still having the means to communicate with others when their schedule permits. Such a setup is challenging to establish, but with the necessary due care and attention taken beforehand, an ideal design such as this is attainable and can provide significant benefits in areas which you may never have considered before.

Lighting

If employees are going to be sat at their desk for the majority of the day, then this first factor is important to consider. While it is necessary to have light of any type in the rooms to stop eyes from becoming strained, it is even more integral to allow natural light to flow through. Large windows, glazed screens or even skylights are all different tools which can be used to allow natural light in. Being exposed to this as opposed to synthetic light helps employees to sleep for longer, concentrate more, think more creatively, thereby helping to improve their mood and reduce stress. All in all, a lot of benefits to be had here.

Comfortable Furniture

If your office is still equipped with rickety old chairs, then they should definitely be the first thing which you throw out. Especially in situations where staff can be sat down for up to 8 hours a day, the prospect of doing so on a seat which is firm and squeaky is hardly going to get their mood up. Ergonomic desk chairs and comfortable seating in break spaces are hugely beneficial long term. Your employees are less likely to have issues with back or neck problems and it can also help to boost concentration as that perennial squeaking noise will finally be thrown out.

Keep The Space Clean and Tidy

It does not take an individual with OCD to become stressed out at the sight of a cluttered office space which makes it impossible to find things. With the advent of computers, there is no excuse for having paper lying around and for offices to be looking like a dump. Encouraging employees to keep their work space tidy can further benefit them as it helps to keep the mind tidy and focused on the task at hand.

Colour

As you are reading this, you probably have not been taking much notice of the colour of the environment around you. The walls, office partitions, and even your mug may appear minor, but colour can have a significant impact on the mood of your employees. Shades of red can help to bring out passion and aggression, while yellows are much better in creative spaces. It all boils down to what we associate colours with. So for example, when we think of green, one of our initial responses is grass and the countryside, which we immediately begin to associate with being calming and soothing. So while your company logo may be red, splattering that around the office whilst people are trying to be creative is less likely to result in the fantastic designs which you may have been hoping for.

Temperature

Temperature is quite obvious and there is no trickery of the mind involved. If the office space is poorly ventilated, then staff will begin to get too hot, stress levels will rise and before you know it you will regret having that fancy floral centrepiece over an air conditioning system. If the temperature is monitored and maintained throughout the day, then that is one thing less for employees to worry about.

Noise Levels

Noise levels are a factor which we feel very strongly about. There is nothing more frustrating than having to listen to the IT guy (or whoever else for that matter!) clicking a pen for 6 hours a day. This is particularly an issue in open office spaces where it is very easy for sound waves to bounce around and when there are over 10 people sat in an office, this just causes volume levels to rise and rise throughout the day. The unpredictable nature of sound waves also makes it one of the harder factors to address. While there are some more elaborate suggestions available, as a rule of thumb, introduce lots of soft surfaces like carpet and office screens for example, which can help to soak up the ambient office noise before it becomes too much of an issue.

Ensure The Space is Organised

If your business is growing, then this is great news for your company but bad news for your office design. More employees as a result leads to increasing noise levels, further distractions and it could potentially slow your growth levels down. So when re-designing, consider where desks are going to go, are one team going to be crammed into a corner when the space can be more effectively used by someone else? These are the types of issues which will only arise when the re-design is all said and done.

Brand The Space

Finally, you should treat your office like a showroom, even if you are only having visitors once a month. Having your branding visible creates the perception that you are established, trustworthy and that ultimately they are in the right place.

Office Screens

Categories
2016 Blogs

Why Privacy Should Be a Crucial Consideration in your Office Design

Office Design

When we think of modern office design, the first image that comes to mind is an expansive white space with light bouncing across the room. Picture perfect. The actual practicality of an environment like this is up for debate however. As we have moved away from cubicle style offices as well as series of individual offices, it is hard to escape the fact that the open plan office remains the most popular design available today. For one, it’s incredibly cost effective compared to other designs, all that is really required is a large open space which can be given a lick of paint. But while it seems an easy solution, there are a number of drawbacks which are hard to escape.

The whole idea behind having an open office is that they are supposed to ‘foster collaboration’ and make employees more productive. All your staff, working in close proximity, giving each other gentle encouragement with friendly pats on the back. Idyllic. So what happens when stress levels start to rise? Your account manager’s ‘unique’ laugh was a novelty when you first moved into the office, but now it is grinding you down every time you can hear it bounding across the office. You can’t escape the fact that colleagues flanked either side of you keep rearing their heads to see what you are doing. All of a sudden the idea of working as part of a team goes out of the window as you begin to suffocate from the restrictive nature which a poorly designed open plan office will deliver.

Why Do We Value Privacy So Much?

If you have ever worked in an open plan office… and if you are reading this I would wager that you have, you will probably be well versed in the pitfalls of the bullring style ‘collaborative work space’. If not and especially if you are re-designing your office, please listen in closer for the sake of your employees. Privacy is not something we are thankful for every day, but it is something we very much notice once it is taken away. In a wider context, imagine if your medical records were leaked, your issues at home spreading like wildfire at work or that *thing* you did when you were 18 years old and thought it would never the light of day again. How would that make you feel?

Having a colleague peering over your shoulder at work for 6 hours a day isn’t quite as drastic as these examples, but while it is manageable for a couple of days, the frustration of it all builds up. While you are trying to meet your deadline, all you can hear is the laughter booming from the other side of the office and phones ringing off the hook. When this happens, all you can hope to happen is to block out your surroundings in the hope of actually getting some work done. But simplistic open plan office designs do not facilitate this, they forget the intricacies of human relationships and they neglect the fact that everyone is different.

Office Design Needs Balance

By this point, you may be wondering how large companies such as Google which has set the benchmark in recent years for open office design, has been able to subvert some of these issues. Quite simply, they provide a variety of spaces for staff, some where they can sit with others and collaborate while they work. Then there are others which allow employees to sit in private, shut out the world around them and get on with the task at hand. Okay, so you don’t have a multi-acre estate to create a layout like this, but examples such as this highlights the importance of creating environments which allow staff privacy while still having the option to interact with others.

Headphone usage has been on the rise recently as bosses allow their usage so staff can focus, but this does not eliminate the issue of visual distractions. One solution for this can be to introduce Office Screens. These can add a splash of colour to the space especially if it has been whitewashed and more deluxe versions even integrate acoustic foam which can help to soak up some of that frustrating ambient noise which keeps bouncing over from the other side of the office.

What Should Be Considered…

Every work area is different, so this will require some thinking on your part. However, there is a fine line between giving someone privacy and simply just placing an employee in a box. Ask someone who worked in a cubicle what they thought of that. Open spaces are great when they are tempered with areas where staff can focus on one task at a time. Just because of all the space you have does not mean you need to fit in a desk wherever possible. Crowded offices become very noisy at peak times and can you seriously expect efficient work when teams are constantly trying to talk over each other?

Before you start, it would be beneficial to find out thoughts of those already working in the office, what is their pet peeve with the current design? To enable your employees to work at their optimum, it is important to integrate a design which allows them to get on with work at their pace. It is perhaps unrealistic to expect everyone to work 100% in every minute of the day, so the conditions need to be created so that when they are working, they are not constantly distracted by audible and visual distractions.

Office Design

Categories
2016 Blogs

Privacy and Why It Is Crucial for Concentration – Next Day Screens

Office Design

If you are reading this at work, then take a minute to look around you. Chances are that if you are reading this, you are probably procrastinating. No worries, we have all been there, but consider why you are procrastinating? Is the work mind-numbingly dull? Are you looking forward to going on holiday next week? Or are you feeling a bit overwhelmed by the buzz of chatter emanating from across the office? Whatever it is, it’s safe to say procrastination is often the direct result of becoming distracted.

The best working environments are those where we can get on with work in peace and quiet, not having to listen to what your colleagues did on their weekends or the seemingly perpetual phone ringing. This is a very common issue with the most popular design of office space – the open plan office. When interior designers first conjured this idea over 40 years ago, the ability to combine semi-private spaces with collaborative work areas appeared like a stroke of genius. The reality has been quite the opposite, in fact, in the UK alone, approximately 1.5million of us work from home as a result.

What is Privacy?

Privacy is quite a broad term and it means to be able to seclude yourself and then express whatever information as you please. In the world of CCTV cameras and supposed tracking over the internet, the whole idea of privacy has come under threat. That’s a whole can of worms which we won’t be looking into, but the same premise which causes us to feel unease at the thought of being watched, is the same reason why privacy is so important for concentration. Unless you have a magic switch which can flick off the environment around you, chances are your productivity is being hindered by loud voices, slamming doors, phones ringing, children screaming, and a whole myriad of other factors.

While many people claim to be able to multi-task, the fact is that while it may be possible to do two things at once, it is incredibly difficult to concentrate on one without neglecting the other. Being able to focus is something which some are able to grasp better than others, and it is the others in particular who are most affected by audible or visual distractions. Whether you are studying, working or even just planning, the ideal environment would be a controlled space with nothing but you own thoughts.

So Why Do We Become Distracted?

Distractions and concentration are complexities in the brain which we are only just starting to get to grips with. Just like a machine, everything we do takes up resources so when we start to get hungry, those resource levels are low and we lack the necessary fuel to complete what we are trying to do. For example, if you slept less than usual last night, then as a result you are more likely to become distracted as your body has not had the chance to rejuvenate those resources and you are being hindered because of it.

Another major issue outlined by David Rock, explores this ever connected world which we live in. While workplace designs are gradually improving to help individual efficiency, things we may consider minor such as our mobile phones and the internet are soaking up a huge amount of our time. This all leads to a pretty vicious cycle; lack of resources means we struggle to focus, which then leads to becoming distracted, but by the time we get back to working, we have exhausted a lot of those resources on time wasting activities such as social media.

What Can I Do About It?

Just because you regularly become distracted easily does not mean there is no hope for you. As mentioned earlier, there is a growing number of people working from home who can control the environment around them, cutting down on the number of temptations and distractions. Therefore, providing an optimal environment for concentrating. Unfortunately, many of us do not have the luxury of completing our work whilst sat on the sofa wearing pyjamas. So, the trick is to plan ahead to attempt to stop the distractions before they begin.

If you can’t help but look up the instant there is movement in the office, then look into adding Office Screens to help keep your mind focused on your work. If the noise around you is simply becoming too much, then try out listening to music through some headphones (calming music with no lyrics, the latest hit single or your favourite 90s track are going make the distractions even worse). If your phone keeps vibrating all over your desk with all those group chats you regret joining, then now is the time to switch your phone off for an hour or two so your mind can focus on one thing at a time.

There are many tools out there to help you to stay focused. If you have ever found yourself searching for a blog online only to find yourself mindlessly logging into social media every day like you have done for the past 365 consecutive days, then there is help out there. For example, StayFocusd can be tuned with all the sites you visit and once you have spent long enough browsing through Twitter, the app will block you for the rest of the day. Pretty handy when you are used to watching hours slip by in a day!

So to put things simply, identify those factors which constantly leave you distracted and learn to ignore them or get rid of them altogether. Some are unavoidable, so look at your options to cover or mask them and with any luck, you should see your productivity soar!

If visual distractions are becoming a constant thorn in your side, then we can help. Here at Rap Industries, we manufacture Next Day Screens which can provide instant relief in the office so you no longer have to have your concentration broken by activity in the office. If you need any more information, you can give us a call on 01733 394941 or send an e-mail to sales@rapind.com.

Clear acrylic modular protection screens

Categories
2016 Blogs

Top Techniques for Making the Most of Your Office Space

Delta acoustic office partitioning in office

Those who have worked in offices throughout their careers will be able to sympathise with what makes a great office and what can make one so bad it may well drive you to quit. If you have ever seen the offices of major technology companies, then it quickly becomes evident what a world away your office is and what makes those offices great is the design. Now, while installing a slide between floors does not seem wholly practical, it’s benefit for those workers is to help reduce stress and to help them to be in the optimum mental and physical condition when it comes to completing work. It’s unlikely that we will all be installing slides into our offices over the next few years, although it has set a premise which all of our office designs can be built around.

While some of these offices look complex in design, the concepts that they draw from are relatively simple. The ultimate goal is to create conditions which are comfortable and calming for staff and providing them with space which is free from distractions and allows them to completely concentrate on the task at hand. So even if your office space is fairly compact, there are a variety of techniques available to help keep noise levels down and keep your employee’s satisfaction up.

Nurture an Environment Which Helps Employees to Focus:

Open offices are great in theory as they act like melting pots for ideas, where staff can interact and collaborate throughout the working day. However, when deadlines approach and stress levels begin to rise, there is nothing worse than being surrounded by colleagues shouting down phones and drama taking place in every different direction. The solution for this is to create a space which provides privacy for employees and this means targeting both visual and audible distractions. This can be achieved through the arrangement of the space, opting to separate areas so everyone is not facing each other. An interesting alternative however is to add office screens between desks.

These are available in a variety of designs, such as with acoustic foam, glazed panels or a pinnable screen, which means they are able to adapt to a variety of different environments. At Rap Industries, we design and manufacture a variety of office screens, including our Delta Cloud Acoustic Screens as well as the more professional Morton Office Screens. Each feature different designs which can introduce more privacy where required.

Natural Light is Crucial:

Studies have revealed the medical benefits of being exposed to natural sunlight, not least because it is our main source of vitamin D. But when you consider that many employees work in offices for at least 7-8 hours every day, then it can do much more than have a physical impact. Being trapped inside an office all day can have a mental impact, especially when you are seeing exactly the same surroundings five days a week. It can also hinder staff when they get home too. A lack of natural sunlight can cause sleep disturbances and further difficulties when it is time to rest, which can lead to a whole array of further problems due to a lack of sleep. Quite simply, sleep and rest are crucial for keeping a workforce motivated.

Think Vertical:

If your office is looking quite cramped, and this is definitely a problem faced more often by small businesses, it can really begin to feel like the walls are closing in around you. Fortunately, thanks to advances in technology, most of your data can be stored in that fancy box called a computer, meaning that filing cabinets are finally leaving the office. However, if space is still restricted, there is a way to get around it. The trick is to think vertically – introduce shelving to house files and folders. Clutter is an issue not only on your desk but also in your mind, so endeavour to keep things neat, tidy and organised in order to keep your staff’s focus on the task at hand.

If you would like to learn more about how office screens can help to improve your office space, then please feel free to give our team of advisors a call on 01733 394941 or send an e-mail to sales@rapind.com.

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Categories
2016 Blogs

Why Introducing Office Screens Can Enhance Productivity…

Motivating staff and keeping them motivated is just one of many challenges that a business faces. At the core of any organisation is the employees who operate like the cogs in a machine and should one of those cogs ever grind to a halt, it can bring every other function to a standstill. In the business world, exterior issues affecting individual staff or whole departments can certainly hinder or even prevent others from being able to complete their work. This is why industry experts keep talking about ‘company culture’ and neglecting it can at best stifle growth, but at worst it can sign the death knell for the organisation. Regardless of how talented employees may be, if they are not motivated to contribute towards the organisation, then those skills will ultimately go to waste.

The concept of workplace culture encompasses a variety of different factors which are intertwined with the ideology of the company itself. One element which can often be overlooked by business owners is the design of the workplace. Nobody likes staring at a blank white wall all day and clinical studies have revealed that furniture, paint colour and even how big your windows are can all have an impact on how your employees operate. For some context, be sure to have a look at the Steelcase study in collaboration with research firm Ipsos which revealed how approximately only 11% of people were highly satisfied with their office environment.

Open Offices Look Great But Are Highly Impractical:

Office design has come quite a long way from the cubicles that used to litter offices fifty years ago and now the most common designs are geared towards collaboration and teamwork, rather than restricting staff to small boxes. The reality is that office design needs to strike a balance between the two. This means treading the line between creating an environment which is open enough to allow staff to communicate both professionally and socially, but also have room for privacy so that they can focus when deadlines are encroaching.

The solution is the office screen. An evolution of the office cubicle, these are designed to divide and distinguish open offices, while maintaining the open office appeal. They are no longer made out of a thin piece of cardboard either, as modern designs increasingly feature acoustic foam, pinnable boards or a variety of other accessories to enable them to be more adaptable within the overall design of the office space. If the space is available, then an ideal arrangement incorporates professional and personal working areas, offering space for employees to focus when working and another to let off steam.

Natural Light is More Important Than You May Think:

Okay, many of us are not blessed with an office which is surrounded by large glass panes which allow natural light to immerse the room, but there are lots of reasons to make the most of the light sources that you do have. In the same way that sunshine tends to boost our mood while rain can bring it down, natural light influences many physical aspects of ourselves which you probably did not realise. While sunlight provides us with vitamin D, a lack of it can also lead to issues with sleep efficiency, sleep quality, daytime dysfunction and sleep disturbances. Summarised into one, that means a lack of natural sunlight can severely hamper that one period in the day which people take to rest. Interruptions to this can lead to high stress levels, exhaustion and an ever-growing list of mental conditions caused by poor sleep.

So how can this be achieved considering open offices are also bad for employees? Well, Glazed Office Screens can be designed with this in mind, by incorporating a Perspex panel, these can be located in crucial locations by light sources to ensure the environment can look towards the outside world throughout the day.

Even The Colour Counts…

So, you’re finally committing to upgrading the design of your office and it is time to get rid of the grey scale appearance that encapsulates the whole room. However, even if your logo is pink, that is not a reason to buy all pink furniture and paint the walls the same to boot. No really, please don’t! Colour is great for subtly influencing people’s mood, and while you will want to introduce your brand in there somewhere, there are a variety of ways of incorporating colour without making the office look like Van Gogh’s pallet. One idea we have loved to see being incorporated with office screens, is them being used with different colours to indicate different departments. Yellow helps the creative juices flow, so it goes well with marketing teams, while red evokes passion which has made it a great addition to sales teams. Whatever industry you work in, be sure to research which colour can benefit your staff the most.

If you’ve been thinking that office screens could be exactly what is required to upgrade the office, then we have a team of advisors on hand who can provide more information on the various ranges that we manufacture. To get in touch please call 01733 394941 or send an e-mail to sales@rapind.com.

Morton Vision Top Screens

Categories
2016 Blogs

How to Create Professional Reception Areas

Reception areas are the first impression that potential clients and partners are going to have when entering your building. Even though they are likely to have prior experience with what your company does, this is often the very first time that they will experience what your organisation is all about, which is why creating a professional waiting area is important in making a positive initial impact. When people arrive, they will be expecting to find a clean space with a welcome desk clearly marked, but finding the balance between a white box with a desk in the middle and a genuinely inviting reception area can be a bit trickier.

Perfecting the design for a professional reception area will require an environment which is sustainable, comfortable and engaging. It is important to remember to allow the company’s identity to flow through into the reception area and this includes colour schemes, relevant magazines for browsing and even televisions if you have promotional content which you would like to show. Not only does this allow guests a detailed insight into your company, but it can also have a positive influence on their initial impressions.

Allow Natural Light to Flow Through:

Interior design can be quite tricky, but as any homeowner will know, there is no better light source than natural light. Now, I can appreciate that not every reception area is equipped with large glass panes or even a skylight, but that is no reason why natural light cannot be allowed in to brighten the mood. If you need to get the most from the small source of light that you have, then consider introducing Glazed Office Screens, which allow open spaces to be separated without compromising on natural light. Ultimately, at the minimum this will reduce the electricity bill as lights will not be required to be on 24/7.

Guests Like to Feel at Home:

While there is a fine line between a professional reception area and a lounge, there are lots of elements that can be taken to enhance the profile of your environment. For example, sofas can enhance not only the design of the area, but they may also come as a welcome relief for guests who have had to travel a long distance to visit you. Furthermore, plants are a simple yet effective way of adding detail to the environment without making it feel like the space is cluttered. They’ll also do their bit to help the environment outside of the office!

Take the Opportunity to Engage with Them:

Before you get the opportunity to sit down with guests, they will have already begun to formulate an opinion on your organisation before they even get into the meeting room. Even though they may only spend a few minutes in the waiting area, it is a great opportunity to occupy them with some of your promotional material or even demonstrate your knowledge of the industry that you work in. A great way of achieving this especially when you have promotional videos waiting to be used, is to introduce TV screens, providing a snapshot of the products and services that your organisation provides. Alternatively, laying out magazines (that are in date!) regarding industry news on a table gives off the signal that you understand the industry around you.

If you are looking into re-designing your reception area and think office screens could be the ideal way to make the most of your space, then please give us a call on 01733 394941 or send an e-mail to sales@rapind.com and our team of advisors will be able to advise on which will be the most effective in your space.

Morton Vision Top Screens


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