With the holidays coming up, it’s always interesting to see how many different celebrations are recognized at this time of year. In November, there’s Dia de los Muertos (the Latin American Day of the Dead), All Saints Day, Al Hijra (the Muslim new year), and Diwali (the Festival of Lights). Then, December holds Bodhi day (celebrating the enlightenment of the Buddha), Hanukkah, Kwanza, Christmas, and Boxing Day. If you work in a large, diverse office, you might know different coworkers who celebrate all of these great traditions and more.

But diversity is something that can be recognized and supported all year long - especially if you are part of an international corporation. It’s all about understanding expectations for workplace behavior, consumer needs, and work styles in different cultures. Steelcase recently put together a “Culture@Work” article on one aspect of this expansive topic. It’s a fascinating look at how our thoughts regarding appropriate, productive office design need to shift when operating on a global scale. This approach requires looking at what employers value and what employees desire in a workspace.

A Few Examples

Germany is all about maximizing worker speed and efficiency. Acoustic comfort is given top priority and achievement or status is recognized with the provisioning of spacious private offices. In India, technology is king. Companies in this culture are interested in investing in the infrastructure that will support rapid growth in their burgeoning economy.

In the UK, office space around city centers is at a premium. Few new office structures can be built and expansion is limited by strict building codes. So, making the most of available square footage is essential. However, office overcrowding can lead to high turnover as employees seek better working conditions.

Are you opening up an office in a new country? What steps are you taking to ensure the space matches the local workplace culture? Let us know in the comments.

Today’s guest post is by Erik Braunitzer of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, leading agents for Bronx Rentals. Enjoy!

With many technology companies finding rapid growth in the online world, their infrastructure and resources must also expand. Many Chief Executives are looking towards highly contemporary and collaborative design. Apart from choosing a paint & carpet color, they are highly concerned with spaces that encourage teamwork, along with a unique and fresh atmosphere that most traditional law, accounting, or HR departments don’t necessarily offer. For example, conference rooms have become sleeker and less private, at least in terms of visuals. Glass encasements and centralized locations are evidence of such changes. Clearly, people can see exactly who’s working on what, but can’t always listen in on the discussion. Likewise, seating has become more “high-tech” with Aeron Chairs that adjust to fit almost any body type.

Not Every Improvement Translates To Higher Spending

In some cases, conference rooms have been eliminated completely and more open areas have been designated for group discussion. For instance, some modern offices have corners where vertically folded 7 ft whiteboards are viewable via benches that represent something that may be seen in Google Headquarters’ waiting room.

Some companies have even gone as far as to put aside room for an employee spa or gym, including showers and a full array of equipment ranging from barbells to free weights. For smaller, more segmented firms, they’ve utilized extra space for “confessional” type rooms, specifically designed for personal phone calls. Although the idea is to bring team leaders/members together, it’s still important to remember the individual.

The folks over at Facebook actually have a back loading dock that permits employee skating/rollerblading during lunch hours. Although not always practical for cooler climates, it would be interesting to seen an office with a bit of outdoor workspace, whether it be on a balcony, or simply an outside gathering spot.

Breakrooms Get a Makeover

But the most interesting of updates tends to be the company-break room, which can be luxuriously furnished in many ways. This includes anything from a flat screen television to a leather recliner. As it’s still somewhat traditional to provide seating and a couch, some have explored different options like massage chairs and buffet style lunches, catered on specific days of the week. Google has a room entirely filled with massage chairs that face multiple fish tanks filled with a variety of species.

Whether it’s the actual office space, café, or lounge, companies are looking to create a more comfortable and team friendly environment. The idea is to encourage closer relationships and promote integrity amongst all company leaders, all the while encouraging brainstorming and groupthink. At the same time, this makes team members want to spend more time at the office and turns any company into a more attractive place to work.

Today, we have a guest post by Susan Black from SofasAndSectionals.com. Here, she shares some food for thought for first time office owners:

Decorating any office or workplace can seem a rather foreboding task on the surface, particularly if inspiration is somewhat lacking from the onset. That being said, the positive effects that a well decorated workplace can bring for the staff, customers and visitors alike are huge. Needless to say, those new to the world of business or perhaps looking to decorate an office for the first time would be wise to carry out a little research. Creating a home from home may seem appealing on the surface, but a reclining sofa in a reception area may not convey the most professional image to say the least.

Approaching

As with all design and artistic projects across the board, the hardest part by far is often getting underway in the first place. It is not uncommon to find individuals spending weeks and months looking into the most complex and comprehensive design ideas imaginable, only to come out of the process completely empty-handed. Of course, as common-sense would dictate, those looking into their first foray would be wise to keep simplicity at the forefront of all decisions and approach the process with exactly this attitude from the very word “Go”.

Themes

One idea that has the potential to see the rest of the process smoothed over is to consider a theme for the decorating project as a whole. Once the theme has been decided, this naturally limits the rest of the possibilities enormously and therefore can aid the decision-making process no end. Some of the more popular ideas for keeping a theme simple include nature, minimalist and those related to the actual purpose of the business in question. A simple theme can see the whole project fall into place quite beautifully

Style

Rather than a specific theme, it is also a good idea to perhaps consider a style to be used throughout the whole workplace being decorated. Popular suggestions for such styles include sleek and futuristic minimalist designs, rustic and warm looks, or those inspired from another country or continent. Again, choosing a theme not only breeds natural consistency but aids the rest of the project considerably.

Textures

The choice of appropriate textures may depend on the theme chosen or the nature of the business, but should always be extended far from just the basic trimming and instead to each and every surface. Materials such as wood, glass, leather and chrome can give quite strikingly different feels when used across an office either alone or carefully combined. Whichever happens to suit the space best, consistency is once again key to the overall result.

Colors

The color palette chosen can be one of the most difficult decisions of them all, but is essentially the single decision that decides on the majority of subsequent elements of the process. It is entirely possible to establish a theme and then decide on a color palette to match or indeed carry out the process the opposite way round if so wished. The appropriate colors will always vary depending on the purpose of the business. But this does not have to be a really complicated decision to make if general common-sense considerations are kept in mind.

Lighting

Probably the one aspect besides physical space which garners so much attention, the lighting of an office not only provides the necessary means by which to work, but can have profound effects on the overall theme and decorating style. For example, direct lights with intensive bulbs do not always mix well with reflective surfaces such as chrome. Likewise, low-level natural lighting can work wonders with bright walls, but can be entirely redundant when used in an office with dark wood and leather.

Traffic

Never at the forefront of the mind of the amateur designer, but of key importance, think carefully about traffic patterns and establish exactly how the area should be organized and furnished to suit such requirements. Ornate carpeting and a single mahogany desk would serve an office which is never frequented by more than a single person well, but would of course be inappropriate for rooms welcoming many visitors each and every day.

Primary Use

It is always tempting to look at decorating the office for ‘ifs’ and ‘maybes’, but the simple fact of the matter is that the only way of going about a successful decorating process with ease is to establish the primary function of the office as of NOW and decorate it accordingly. Obvious perhaps, but enormously overlooked.

HON recently put together a new software tool that lets you look at different Voi desking designs instantly based on 6 different user-selected criteria. You can pick the footprint, storage capacity, and location (private office, open plan, etc.) to fit each area of your office environment. HON’s main selling point for this laminated worksurface solution is that it can be specified for all the different spaces in your office to create a cohesive look, so they want to make it easy for you to visualize this.

Since branding is also important, HON’s online tool lets you determine the aesthetic of your worksurfaces. For example, you can go warm or cool, conventional or contemporary. The basic shapes stay the same (Voi is all squares and rectangles), but the effect changes based on your preferred materials and colors. It’s not a space planning tool, but it does give you some ideas about what look you might like. For a free space planning consultation using professional design software, contact San Diego Cubicles Office Environments any time.