A recent report by Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment (CABE) along with the British Council for Offices (BCO) have revealed office interior and office furniture design directly affects staff satisfaction, motivation and retention.

Not only this, it also affects productivity and the responsiveness to certain technological change along with their knowledge and levels of innovation.

CABE commissioner and president of the BCO, Paul Morrell, said:

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 report called, “Impact of Office Design on Business Performance”, also found that the workplace design and office furniture layout is actually responsible for 24% of job satisfaction which can affect staff performance by 5% for individuals and a scary 11% for team workers.

Researchers at Calgary University have found that open working spaces and more space around office desks and chairs do help workers feel better. However, on the flipside it was also having their co-workers nearby that pushed their productivity up. Tim Welsh, who is the assistant professor in kinesiology at the university, noted just how important it was for people managing any office moves to consider office design carefully.

If they’re looking to maximise 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.