Do you care about your work place design Singapore?

We spend most of our lives at work and yet how much do we really care about our workplace design? How much input do we really have for the space that we spend more than a third of our lives in? How much do we care?

It’s amazing that we often settle for old desks and chairs that have been used by many people of all shapes and sizes before. One size really does fit all.

Same applies to the décor. Neutral, uninspiring whites, greys and beiges tend to rule over stronger, inspiring and more powerful reds, oranges and yellows. Sometimes you see more subtle greens and blues. What say did you have in any of this design? Do you care? What effect does it have on your productivity?

Do you have themed rooms for different brands? Are they inspiring or overwhelming? Are they for internal or external viewing? Does your workplace design motivate you or demotivate you or does it do nothing at all for you?

Is your office feng shui? Do you care if it’s not? Do you care if it is? Does it make a difference to your work productivity? Does it make any difference at all to the way you feel you feel at work?

What happens if you work in an office building that is itself not feng shui but your HR manager insists on your office being feng shui no matter the inconvenience and no matter what this means to your ability to move around be productive?

Do you consider your own desk space the most important part of your office environment and therefore you decorate and personalise that instead? Clutter versus clear desk that the workplace designers who created the look and feel of the office space envisaged?

How much did your HR team and senior managers engage with you about where you sat, with whom, on what? Did you feel that you were listened to? Or did budget determine cheap and spacious that could fit anyone?

Do you look at your seat and surroundings and think, well I won’t be in the job long anyway, 1-2 years max and therefore it doesn’t matter? What happens if that 1-2 years becomes 2-3 years? Will it all blur into one anyway and your office workspace literally becomes background that you just ignore?

Would you be better off with a hot-desking policy if you and your teams are out at meetings? Everyone hates that but actually it’s the most efficient way of designing work places these days.

Do you feel like you don’t belong if you can’t have all your “stuff” surrounding you? Cuddly toys gathering dust and paper mountains you never review and those industry magazines that you just have never had time to get around to read?

When it comes to changing the office it brings out the territorial in many people. They want to be next to people they like and away from those they don’t. Away from the bosses prying eyes so that they can’t see exactly how long you spend on Facebook every day...

They want to be near the window/away from the window, near the pantry/away from the toilets or vice versa. So position means everything but if you spend most of your day out at meetings does it really? What about office furniture?

Would you give up your desk drawers for a locker as the world is moving towards? Do you really need those filing cabinets or will electronic filing do? Do you need a big fancy leather chair or is a Chinese copy of a famous one which isn’t quite so comfortable but looks great the one for you?

What part does your health and wellbeing take part in the design? Anything at all? Minimum to pass your country’s laws and not be sued? Maximum to energise your workforce and make them more productive?

Good office furniture costs and if you’re only there for a year or so do you care or do you want the best? Can you company afford the best? Will the company invest that money in you? Or will you have to get promoted first?

As home working and Starbucks meetings take over from the traditional office are old fashioned work places of larger offices for management and cubicles become an ancient way of working?

Studies have shown that people are much more creative in café orientated environments dues to the low level noise compared with the silence often experience in open plan offices which begs the question why you do need an office at all?