BCO, the British Council for Offices, recently issued a report that showed both office furniture and office interior has a direct impact on staff retention and motivation.

The report also showed that office furniture and décor also directly affected productivity, innovative ideas and responsiveness from staff.

Paul Morrell is the president of BCO, he commented on the results of the report:

"Those employers who continue to ignore the evidence of office furniture and general office design as an enabler of staff satisfaction and performance risk the loss of key staff and ultimately business success."

The BCO report was named: “Impact of Office Design on Business Performance”, it concluded that office furniture layout and décor was directly responsible for 24% of employees’ job satisfaction.

Research carried out by Calgary University also found space around office desks and open plan work spaces helped workers to concentrate better.

Professor in kinesiology at Calgary University, Tim Welsh, highlighted how important it was for employers who were planning office relocations to give priority to office design and office furniture layout.

He said: 

"If they're looking to maximize idea generation, communication and just a general feeling of social well-being, then open-concept offices with well spaced office desks would be the better way to go."