Blog

Office Interior Design Tips to Make a Great First Impression

Imagine walking into a deserted business lobby, and wandering aimlessly in search of help. This would immediately leave anyone frustrated as well as skeptical of the company’s professionalism.

You certainly want to avoid this situation in your own commercial space. Ensuring someone is prepared to greet clients is the first element in a long list of steps you can take to create a great first impression.

Keep reading for more suggestions to make your office unforgettable!

Create a visually stimulating atmosphere

An aesthetically pleasing entrance will set the tone and improve a guest’s mood instantly. Plants and creative art draw attention and help put clients and visitors at ease. For a modern office, try abstract art or a geometric display along with manicured plants or even a living wall. If the space is more traditional or transitional, consider big, lush plants and more traditional or photographic art.

Greet guests with a lobby sign

Everyone loves a unique introduction (and a hint of flattery). Use a wall-mounted or rolling chalkboard to create a simple message for your guests—something like, “Welcome, Jane Smith from The Company. We’re thrilled to have you here.” It’s a simple, inexpensive gesture that lets clients know you’re excited about their visit. These little impressions can go a long way—and maybe even steer a prospective client away from your competitor.

Show off your mission statement

Posting your mission statement and core values shows your clients that you care. Positioning it where it’s highly visible will also serve as a reminder to your employees of why they come to work every day. Just make sure employees live up your mission statement and that you inspire them by modeling the behavior you want to see!

Offer refreshments in waiting areas

Show you care about making visitors comfortable. With the large variety of single-serve coffee and tea makers available today, it’s easy to whip together a beverage cart for visitors to help themselves while they wait. Individually packaged snacks are a nice touch, too.

Elevate your office space with sleek sliding glass doors and partitions

The drywall is coming down in offices everywhere, and that’s a good thing. Sleek and modern glass office dividers, partitions and sliding doors are taking their place. These versatile glass panels can be used in any number of configurations for conference rooms, reception areas, office cubicles, “huddle rooms” and more. They’re especially useful for adding privacy and creating distinct spaces in offices with open floor plans. Plus, they instantly elevate the look of office space.

Brighten your space

Poor lighting systems can dampen the mood and drain productivity. Along with a good temperature control system, quality lighting and fixtures are a must. Pay attention to areas where natural lighting could potentially grace the space, but something is blocking its path. Clear glass walls may be the right solution to open and brighten the space. If your office isn’t blessed with plenty of natural light, it’s relatively inexpensive to retrofit the space with quality lighting. And, it doesn’t have to be one-size-fits-all. Today, customized lighting systems allow you to personalize lighting and color temperature in individual work areas.

Create an impressive office with Space Plus

The modern workplace needs state-of-the-art solutions. Enter Space Plus, a division of The Sliding Door Company. Our glass office wall dividers and sliding doors can help you create dynamic spaces for every need—from workstations and conference rooms to lobbies, phone booths, common areas and more. These sleek and modern products are constructed of the highest quality tempered or laminated glass, customized to your taste with a variety of designs, glass types and frame finishes to choose form. The best part? Installation rarely requires a permit or major construction, so the process can stay efficient and within budget.

View our gallery for inspiration and reach out to our expert staff today to get started on the office interior of your dreams.

Blog

A New Kind of Necessity

Interior upgrades for your commercial space or retail business that add convenience and offer flexibility are an absolute must these days. If you own and operate any business that interacts with numerous customers per hour, you need to safeguard both your employees and your clients from spreading the Coronavirus by implementing methods for safe separation.

The key to success is finding a solution that is not only quick, affordable, and cost-effective to install, but one that also offers must-need flexibility during the workday. At Space Plus, a Division of The Sliding Door Company, we’re the experts at finding the right solutions for your business. Take our advice, and invest in the best. Here’s a list of some of our safety recommendations if you’re currently operating a business during these unprecedented times.

Be Prepared

To run and operate a safe and effective business or medical practice in the modern moment, you’ll need to arm your place of work with safety measures before anyone even enters the door. This looks like:

  • Hiring a door greeter that is capable of taking people’s temperature or issuing medical questionnaires to incomers.
  • Offering a hand sanitizing table, complete with wet wipes and sanitizer pumps.
  • Keeping the doors closed with a sign on the outside stating your requested protocol such as mask-wearing, social distancing, and store capacity number.
  • Having a time limit for appointments/shoppers to keep the flow of traffic steady and fair to all visiting.
  • Request that visitors to your business make an appointment online or through the phone prior to visiting.

Pass-through Windows

Pass through sliding panels allows you to open or close spaces between workers and visitors, such as a pharmacy counter, medical testing site, or food window! Reception windows are a perfect solution to healthcare waiting rooms, education, and any commercial space where people walk up to a counter. The best part? Your business can select from various glass types, frame finishes, locks, handles, and other accessories to find the ideal solution for your business needs.

Transition Your Business Online

Many businesses and even medical practices have made the transition to online, offering all the services they can on a virtual platform while COVID cases remain high and safety is a top concern. While not every need can be met through a screen, the majority of shopping, consultations, and medical questionnaires can be fulfilled using a computer. This helps reduce the number of people visiting the physical place of business and cuts back on the number of workers necessary.

With the integration of glass partitions and wall dividers, hospitals, health care facilities, pharmacies, and retail shops will be able to serve patients, clients, and customers in need.  Spatial separation is the most crucial element in this process to safeguard citizens against this deadly virus. Make your facility or place of business as safe as possible for everyone involved. Stop the spread of COVID-19 by integrating glass wall partitions and increasing physical separation between visitors and workers. Visit Space Plus, A Division of the Sliding Door Company online for your commercial needs including glass office dividers, privacy walls, and sliding room dividers. View our online catalog, Get a quote from one of our professionals today, and order the perfect pass-through glass windows you need to ensure safety for all online at SpacePlus.com.

SP 1053 – A

Blog

Reimagining the Workplace Following COVID 19

For many, this is an extremely daunting task to be faced with; reimagining how one’s business should evolve to meet the new normal set by the Coronavirus pandemic. How exactly, can one’s business push forward and arrive at a completely altered working landscape? Will life ever be “normal” again?

For the past six months, normal has become Work From Home. Stay safe, stay home, flatten the curve. But after practicing social distancing and enduring home isolation for the better half of the year, many are beginning to question whether transitioning their team back into an office environment could be possible, and if so, how to keep everyone safe and risk-free during the typical 9-5 workday. To do this, there will have to be many structural and administrative changes to your once well-functioning office environment. This process may not be a cake-walk, and you’ll have to meet this challenge with an open mind, and enough resources to be successful in this transition. Here are the top four ways in which you can adjust to changing times and prepare your business to emerge from the current crisis unscathed.

  1. Spatial Separation

To achieve enhanced health and safety for you and your employees transitioning back into the office, it is going to take some physical reimagining. You’ll need to alter/change the overall layout and respective environment to accommodate the necessity for physical distancing. Remember that many employees are still quite nervous and apprehensive about returning to work and putting themselves in a potentially dangerous situation. With so many people disregarding government recommendations, it can be understandably hard to know if your peers and coworkers are doing the right thing by wearing a mask/socially distancing outside of the office. As a business owner, the responsibility is on you to ensure your employees are safe when they come into work. Consider ordering modern glass partitions, glass office walls, and easy to disinfect glass office dividers. These spatial solutions offer enhanced barrier and boundary for anyone in the office and will help keep your employees safer and more distanced than normal. They serve a high purpose, allow natural light to flow through the entire office and keep a sense of continuity between employees, raising morale and maintaining a team environment even during the most isolating of times.

2. Enhanced Safety Measures

The next best thing you can do to ensure your office is as safe and as risk-free as possible is to continuously clean, disinfect and manage the health of your working environment. Consider hiring a full-time cleaner or if your company is large enough, a cleaning service that is present the entire workday. They will scrub down surfaces, disinfect and wipe down areas that get high use and traffic such as door handles, bathrooms, communal kitchens, and lounge areas. This way, your employees can feel comfortable existing outside of their little cubicle when necessary. Additionally, require each and every one of your employees to wear a face covering, to refrain from coming into the office if they feel slightly ill, warm, have a runny nose or a cough. Some companies and establishments are even requiring compliance of a routine daily temperature check before entering the building (this applies to both employees and clients alike). Additionally, think about the ways you can evolve your communal spaces, such as kitchens and lounges/co-working stations to become more spaced-out and safer. Move couches and chairs apart to maintain six feet of separation, offer reduced food and beverage options in the communal kitchen area, and ask employees to bring in their own personal utensils and cups.

3. Reduce maximum capacity

An effective tactic in crafting a safe workspace is to stagger workers’ schedules in order to reduce your daily capacity. Organize your employee’s schedules so that some work from home half of the week, while others come into the office, then switch through the week and have the WFH group come into the office and send the others home. While this may be confusing at first, people will fall into this new normal and may even enjoy mixing it up during the week.

Glass Sliding Doors

Transition your workplace into a safe, welcoming work environment by integrating new techniques, safety measures, and spatial barriers for everyone to benefit from. Install glass office walls, sliding room dividers, and glass sliding doors to allow for increased separation while still maintaining a community feel. A “separate but together” floor plan will become a crucial element throughout this reintegration process to safeguard everyone in the office moving forward. Visit Space Plus, A Division of the Sliding Door Company online for more spatial inspiration,  to view our online catalog, and to Get a quote from one of our professionals today.

SP 1006 (V2) A