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Tips for Working in Your Office

Having the respect of your fellow co-workers and colleagues at work is like social currency. There is no doubt that it is of immense value and can make or break potential career opportunities and relationships. You have the power to brighten everyone’s day, foster long-lasting friendships, and improve the office vibe if you are a beacon of light in a dark work environment.

It’s not always easy to show up to work and be the best you can be each and every day. We’re all human, and we all have hardships, nuances, and things in our personal lives that spill over into our work lives. You will have the foundation and tools you need to become everyone’s favorite employee with these helpful tips and considerations.

Practice Patience and Awareness

Shared spaces, usually cramped ones, aren’t always enjoyable. Shared close quarters can be taxing for many due to the diversity of personality types, energy levels, and stress levels. Several successful co-working teams have found that practicing patience and compassion are the most effective tools to use when faced with unsavory working environments. There are some coworkers who talk a lot and distract others from their work. Using patience and a calm, thoughtful tone, politely remind them that you have deadlines to meet and that you are easily distracted. You take the blame and pressure off the chatty employee by simply reminding them that everyone is distracted at work to varying degrees.

Your job may require you to speak on the phone frequently. See what you can do to lessen the burden on your co-workers by practicing awareness. Consider suggesting to your boss, or to management, that glass wall partitions be installed throughout the office so that phones can be taken in during loud conversations. Essentially, these office wall partitions are room dividers with doors that reduce noise and create a spatial barrier so the person engaged in the call is less distracting. Partitions help to provide visual privacy and curtail foot traffic.

There Is No Replacement For Kindness

Kindness goes a long way, no matter how small. Why not be that person who spreads and shares kindness in your life? A simple gesture like smiling at your co-workers throughout the day, and asking how they’re doing can make a big difference. Taking time to check in on people around you, remembering their personal details about their lives. Maybe sharing food or drinks every now and then, you can start a shift toward a more collaborative environment within the office that inspires others to do the same.

Being Helpful and Pragmatic

Take initiative and talk with your boss about what the office needs, or bring it in yourself if resources allow. There may be a similar feeling of separateness or lack of energy and inspiration among everyone. Start by noticing all the ways you could improve the workplace, and then move forward from there.

There is a lack of natural light in many workplaces during the workday. Many employees can suffer from depression, anxiety, and loneliness due to obstructed visibility and wall cubicles. If you wish to increase visibility throughout the floor plan, consider installing glass office dividers and sliding door room dividers that allow light to pass through. As a result, team morale will be raised and a sense of connectedness will be created.

There are many little ways in which you can make everyone’s day better, including your own. Don’t be afraid to start small with thoughtfulness, consideration, and small gestures. You might be surprised at the results of speaking up about your colleagues’ working conditions and quality of life. Management is often unaware of issues within a system, or employee discontent, until it’s brought to their attention. Space Plus, A Division of the Sliding Door Company can help you craft a desirable workspace. We can help you start the transformation today.

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Creating a Retail Experience Your Customers Will Love – and Why it Matters

We love helping brands with ample opportunity to redesign and upgrade the way their consumers interact with their retail spaces. Men’s Warehouse reached out to us at Space Plus, A division of The Sliding Door Company, to amplify a handful of their retail interiors. With people returning to their passions of shopping in person and getting out of the house, having an attractive retail space is a must. Men’s Warehouse, one of the top men’s suits retailers by Tailored Brands, was an exciting client to work with, as they are widely known for tailoring the finest suits across America. Because of that, we knew how crucial it was to uphold their elegant reputation. Preserving the company’s status and endorsing the high quality of their suit’s aesthetic largely related to their brand’s visual representations.

Glass Wall Partitions for Retail

Our project for Men’s Warehouse made use of sleek black aluminum frames and clear glass office wall partitions for their chic Men’s Warehouse in NY. The idea behind this custom design was to provide more of an interactive and inclusive experience for the tailor to enjoy while in the retail shop – while also being able to maintain necessary working production. The occupant can now easily look out onto the sales floor and see other associates while having a defined space to work in. This not only offers a much more attractive alternative to boxed-in walls or a cubicle sort of feel, but it also creates a working environment that is a pleasure to exist in, increasing efficiency and allowing for natural light to enter the working space.

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Free-flowing and open retail spaces are dominating the market because consumers like to feel included. We want visibility and when we have the ability to visually connect with everyone in our space we feel more connected, uplifted, safer and overall – happier.

Additional Partition Features for Retail

This was one of a few projects done for Men’s Warehouse locations. The others included fitting room enclosures with fully opaque glass. The artistic flourish of clear, frosted or fully opaque glass does wonders for any retail space. With a touch of sophistication and an undeniably modern feel, these Glass Wall Partitions and glass doors instantly update and transform a space – elevating it toward contemporary luxe.

When a retail space is thoughtfully considered and luxurious, it lends an enhanced and viscerally appealing shopping experience for the customer. They need to feel that their time and financial investment is well worth it. Especially when selling luxury goods, designer clothing, footwear, you name it – the store’s aesthetic must match the status of what goods are being sold.

Retail Customer Experience

The interior layout, furnishings, and overall design will make or break a sale. Customers want to feel that they are entering into and enjoying an opulent experience. A recent survey conducted found that 32 percent of customers say that they would stop doing business with a brand they loved after a single bad experience. That bad experience could most definitely come from visiting a retail store and being turned off by an unsavory environment. Feeling overwhelmed by the lack of organization within the store, too many clothes being fit into too small space, no place to sit, etc. will all leave a negative effect on the client. Ample floor space, neatly organized racks and tables, helpful but not pushy sales associates will all garner major points from your clients and result in sales and long-standing customer relationships and brand loyalty for years to come.

We at Space Plus have a genuine care for each and every client and their project-specific needs. We ensure that our clients are delighted with the final outcome of a project and feel proud when that is accomplished. We provide spatial solutions to upgrade any environment, regardless of size or industry. We are here and happy to address your spatial needs to enhance your interiors, and improve your business. Visit Space Plus, A Division of the Sliding Door Company, for ideas and inspiration on how to transform your retail atmosphere. Get a free quote from one of our professionals to get started today!

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Simplify Your Workspace for Enhanced Clarity and Focus

The average worker admits to having difficulty maintaining focus throughout the day, for a litany of reasons. Talkative coworkers, unintended eavesdropping on important business conversations, loud phone calls, cluttered workspaces, and a general desire to be elsewhere can all lead to a lack of focus during the workday.

If this sounds all too familiar, chances are you may be experiencing a detrimental focus problem. Good news: you’re not alone! What’s more, there are a number of simple enough, attainable solutions for your workday dilemma. By using mental check-ins, spatial solutions, and giving yourself breaks when you need, you may be able to regain your ability to focus and enjoy a productive, accomplished workday once more. Read on for all the helpful tips and tactics to get you back on track!

Mental Check-ins

Many people find that having some sort of mental check-in strategy in place can help to keep them on track while also improving their general awareness of time and accountability. One useful trick is setting an alarm on your phone every thirty minutes or so that helps alert and remind you of your current task at hand and encourages you to keep to your schedule. This little

life hack can also help improve your understanding of time and how quickly the day goes by when we aren’t paying attention. Every time the alarm rings, it should signal that it’s time to recenter, reevaluate, and recall what work you aim to accomplish.

The Buddy System

Similar to the alarm method, the Buddy System encourages you to team up with a coworker of yours to create a helpful support system. Every few hours, do a quick check-in for a few minutes to see how each of you is doing, your current productivity, and if you’re staying on track. These check-ins can help each of you work through stagnant blocks or find solutions to problems that you’re experiencing that might be causing you to procrastinate.

Solace in Solitude

More often than not, the leading factor contributing to our inability to focus is our surrounding physical environment and the distractions that come with shared space. Noises, phone calls, through foot traffic in our areas, coworkers gossiping, and more. All of these fascinating goings- on can often distract us to the point where our whole workday feels like a wash. A great way to help with this is to ask your employer or management if spatial solutions could be installed in your open floor plan. Sliding glass doors for the office and glass wall partitions can offer a much- needed sense of solitude, visible privacy, and provides a distraction-free zone to enable a productive workday. Even if these sliding wall dividers don’t block out every little sound, they do offer enhanced privacy and a great physical barrier between you and your coworkers, as well as other distractions. Having your own glass “fortress” of calm and quiet, you may find yourself being able to focus like never before!

Take Needed Breaks

Too many of us find ourselves skipping lunch, staying late at the office, and in general, not allowing ourselves the necessary breaks that we truly need throughout the day. After all, we were not designed to sit still and focus on a bright screen for 8+ hours each day. Do yourself a favor and get up every few hours to walk, stretch, make a cup of tea, and get the blood flowing again. This also helps increase your ability to focus when you return to your desk ready to concentrate. Mental resets are so important when attempting to have a productive workday.

Don’t overlook that vital aspect of your workday.

Putting these tips into play, you can begin to retrain your mind and body to have a super focused, productive day, whether at the office or at home! For more ideas, inspiration, and related blogs, head over to Space Plus, a Division of The Sliding Door Company for all the best in commercial space-saving, sustainable and energy efficient solutions! From Bi-Fold doors to swing doors, wall dividers to suspended systems, Space Plus has it all. Schedule a free consultation with one of our showroom professionals and start your educational transformation today!

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Schools Must Step Up to Keep Students Safe

The past few weeks have been a bit disastrous for schools and universities returning to the fall semester. With pressure to keep students in school and maintain in-person classes, these campuses and grade schools have put everyone at risk. Many of these educational institutions have opened prematurely, welcoming students back onto an unsafe campus, without all the needed safety equipment and precautions to ensure a safer learning experience. Because of this, hundreds of students and faculty have tested positive for the virus, and as it continues to spread on campus and infect hundreds, everyone is looking for answers.

What’s Happening Now

Unfortunately, within the first few weeks back on campus, many students started testing positive for COVID 19 and becoming very ill. Rather than having those who were infected self-quarantine on campus, university staff began sending those students and faculty home, oftentimes out of state. This solution has upset many, and concerned top health officials, as infected students are returning to their hometowns and potentially affecting those in their communities. They also come in contact with many others while traveling home whether by plane, bus, or other public transportation and cause dangerous outbreaks across the nation. If these infected students and staff members were to self-quarantine on campus or at home in their university town, that would greatly help stop the spread.

Solutions To Be Had

Moving forward, all educational establishments need to carefully consider the physical spaces that will be inhabited such as classrooms, cafeterias, lecture halls, libraries, and computer rooms. These shared spaces need to be carefully considered and outfitted with the proper safety equipment to maintain either 6 feet of separation from student to student or enhanced spatial separation to stop the airborne spread. As the owner of an educational institution, your place of learning can take action and make changes to the indoor environments of your school in order to create a safe place for everyone. One solution is to order and install glass wall partitions and glass room dividers to break up space and offer enhanced safety for all involved. Glass wall dividers and pop-up glass space partitions are affordable, easy to install, and help contain the virus from person to person. By setting up private stations for students to work in, you can maintain a safe learning environment and offer comfort for not only students but also faculty.

The Real Benefits

These dividers are very easy to clean as they are scratch-resistant glass and have a sleek, uncomplicated design. Compared with an acrylic alternative like Plexiglass, these glass partitions are more durable and are easier to clean because they aren’t porous like other alternatives where bacteria can settle into tiny crevasses. Highly customizable, you can choose from hundreds of different configurations to meet the needs of the classroom. Additionally, you can stay safe by ordering these glass wall partitions from the comfort of your home. Space Plus, A Division of The Sliding Door Company offers a comprehensive online ordering system and a great wide selection of sliding glass room dividers and space-saving solutions. With each order, you can choose from a variety of accessories like door handles, locks, varied opacity, and frames to make sure that your dividers work for your space, not against it. In a place like a school or a university setting, floor-to-ceiling sliding glass wall dividers are a great physical separation barrier to maintain safe study rooms or enhanced privacy within shared spaces like student libraries and tech rooms.

It’s going to take a lot of effort and evolutions in order to beat this virus and return to a sense of normalcy. Starting with education, you can provide the safest learning environment possible to get us all back on track. For more ideas, inspiration, and related blogs, head over to Space Plus, a Division of The Sliding Door Company. Schedule a free consultation with one of our showroom professionals and start your educational transformation today!

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Fall Fun with Interior Projects

For many, it might seem a bit premature to assert that summer is over. Though in places like Colorado that have already experienced snow on the ground, it may be safe to say that we have started the slow descent into the colder months- complete with shorter days, winter holidays, and increased indoor time. The transition from summer to fall isn’t always welcomed, especially in colder states where preparing for winter can be slightly depressive. Yet despite those factors, this transition offers a wonderful opportunity to recollect yourself, start the new season off fresh, and reimagine your interiors with your family. We all can expect to stay inside more in the upcoming months, so updating and freshening up your interior environment with your kids in mind is a great place to start!

The majority of our youth are currently homeschooling, which means less social interaction with their peers, no playground time, and perhaps too much of the day spent indoors on technology. Not only are they missing out on much-needed playtime, fun arts and crafts activities, and vital afterschool sports and extracurriculars, but they also miss out on healthy time away from home where they can grow and be entirely different versions of themselves outside the house. As a parent, it can be hard and frustrating to try to fill his void without the tools available to make the best out of this unfortunate situation. And although it may not fulfill the same quality as a school playground, or time with their best friends, making a special playroom for them will help remedy some of the lost fun and play they’ve become so accustomed to while being in school.

children reading a book in a tent

First Things First

To start making a “kid zone” in your home, you’ll need to pick out a space in your home that offers enough space for them to sprawl. A spare bedroom would be ideal, but if you don’t have the good fortune of an extra bedroom, pick a spot in the living room or in some larger open space in the home to develop as their new play space. Added bonus: this kid zone will also help you focus on your work and offer a small reprieve from the daily chaos!

Ask For Help

After you pick your ideal location, decide what kind of things you want in this new space. Enlist your kids as little helpers to create the ideal sanctuary for each of them. Lead with what gives them joy, and what kinds of fun activities they’re currently into! Perhaps they’re heavily into arts and crafts. Or maybe they flourish in a studious computer/tech/gaming environment. And likely, if you have more than one child, you’ll have to share the space between all of your children. Make this space work for them and divide it up into special zones where they can each have their own fun activity corner. A drawing and painting area for her and a video game zone for him, for example.

Keeping the Peace by Creating the Space

Next, you’ll want to make sure you have spatial dividers. A great way to achieve some physical separation is to install floor to ceiling sliding room dividers or glass wall partitions that you can easily install and takedown. These are a breeze to set up, and also offer invaluable flexibility without the commitment of real walls and major construction. What’s more, you can choose between an array of different glass opacities if you and the kids want some visual privacy rather than a more openly visible play area. You can also choose between a plethora of different handles, locking mechanisms, frames, and accessories to create the perfect aesthetic to suit your home!

sliding interior door to hide television

Once you’ve chosen your ideal glass wall partitions, the fun can begin! Fill the space with all the best things. Arts and crafts supplies, toys, puzzles, board games, hang artwork the kids have made on the walls and pictures of them and their friends to make the space feel like it’s theirs. We can’t underestimate how much this time has taken a toll on all of us. Kids need extra attention and love during these strange and uncertain times so filling their play space with little love notes or personal items will help them feel considered. The best perk of setting up the awesome play please for the kids is knowing that you can enjoy some of your own time while they have their zone to be wild in. Sliding glass doors and wall partitions help create a contained environment that they can clutter and cause messes in rather than overflowing the living room and shared spaces with toys, crafts, and general clutter.

Give yourself the gift of calm this fall with awesome space optimizing solutions offered at the sliding door Company. Hop online and check out our viewing catalog of sliding glass room dividers,  beautiful sliding glass barn doors, and more! Schedule a free initial consultation with one of our knowledgeable experts to get started on your exciting project today! With home delivery and online ordering, it’s never been easier to create a space out of nothing. Don’t wait to enjoy your interiors this fall, call today!

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The Real Importance of Interiors on Mental Health

This past year, in particular, has been a strenuous marathon in mental strength and shear resilience amongst the rapidly changing world around us. Beginning with the unprecedented fires in Australia, the lockdowns, protests, upcoming election and now with the environmental catastrophes across the United States, such as the hurricanes and wildfires we have all been exposed to quite a lot. Perhaps the most extreme emotional turmoil than any of us had experienced in our lives thus far. And now as we begin to reemerge from the confinement of our homes, we head back into group environments that were once places of joy, camaraderie, and integration to find a very changed landscape.

These days, it is second nature to look the other way when crossing someone on the street, if not to avoid crossing the street altogether. It’s normalized to pretend people around us don’t exist because we’re told to remove ourselves from potentially dangerous situations that could lead to the spread of the virus. While these social norms are in place to protect us, they can also be extremely damaging to our human psyche. Feeling mistrust towards all strangers, and in some cases, towards family and friends, has created a collective body of people who resolve to live and work in solitude. So how can we find solutions for reintegration without compromising our humanity in the process? Below we’ll examine some ways in which we can update our interior commercial spaces to protect us from COVID 19 while also regaining some of our human relationships.

The New Open Floor Plan

We’ve all seen them. We’ve probably all experienced them. The Open Floor Plan of the future looks a little different than what is typically imagined. The open plan of today is achieved by bringing the indoors outside. Most restaurants that were allowed to reopen have transitioned to outdoor seating, filling sidewalks and once busy streets with benches, leaving room for 6 feet of separation and plenty of arm room from patron to patron. Investing in pleasantries such as tall, leafy plants and string lights, these businesses have dressed up their establishments in attempts to normalize the very abnormal circumstances. This model, now also adopted by the business world, so far appears to be the safest medium in which to bring people together in a safe, socially distanced atmosphere. The open-air space provides a sense of security for customers and employees alike, eliminating the chance of stagnant, stuffy air that may carry air droplets containing the virus. Even though restaurants and office buildings have begun taking the temperatures of staff and patrons, the vast majority of those testing positive for the virus are asymptomatic. Meaning, a simple temperature test provides little insight about contagious carriers. But with this new model of outdoor dining, open-air office spaces, and outside school lessons, there is less fear about contraction, and as the numbers indicate fewer recorded cases.

Glass Wall Partitions

Indoor Solutions

To accompany the outdoor alternative to coexisting, there are some new and seemingly successful indoor solutions for safe reintegration as well. Glass Wall Partitions and wall dividers are being installed widely throughout office space, schools and waiting rooms to protect workers and customers from spreading the disease. By creating safe, functional environments within larger office buildings we can invite employees back into the office to help readopt a sense of normalcy and collaboration into the workday. People are rightly exhausted from months of working from home. Understandably, many are itching to get back into a healthy home/work-life balance. But we cannot bring workers back into communal environments without updating these interior workplaces to meet the current circumstances. Our collective mental health is has suffered greatly over the past year, and our interiors have understandably become a critical catalyst for our mental happiness or lack thereof. Our commercial interiors should be elevated to compensate for how much time we’re forced indoors. Bringing in plants, more natural lighting, water features, and even pleasant scents all help to soothe our senses and create an elevated place to exist. Stress is caused by so many uncontrollable exterior factors, but interior design is something that certainly can be improved.

Interiors should be designed to spread and enhance beautiful daytime light, drawn in through wide windows and skylights. We aren’t meant to exist for the majority of the day in dark, depressive, artificially lighted indoor environments. By providing light-allowing windows and full-sized Glass Wall Partitions, your office space can bring health back to the workplace. Consider replacing light-blocking interior walls with modern, easy to clean, sliding glass wall partitions and floor to Sliding Glass Room Dividers to improve mental health and morale during the workday.

By providing a more health-centered office environment that integrates beautiful greenery and increased natural light, you can improve the quality of life and health for your employees and customers alike. Visit Space Plus, A Division of the Sliding Door Company online to view our online catalog, and Get a quote from one of our professionals today!

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Finding the Middle Ground; How to Foster Productivity, Collaboration, and Innovation in the Workplace

Finding the middle ground within the workplace has never been an easy undertaking. From startup to Fortune 500, and everything in between, finding this sweet spot is no cakewalk. Ensuring that your team of hardworking employees comes into an office setting each day that allows for creativity, idea exploration, collaboration, and of course, productivity can be an understandably difficult medium to reach.

Now more than ever, we must take all of these factors into account when designing the layout and relative environment of our working spaces. New considerations are beginning to emerge out of this pandemic, such as extra spatial separation, clean fresh air, the ability to work in solitude, and more. So, what are some of the most important interior design elements to tackle in the workplace and how can you provide the ideal environment for your workforce? Below we have all the necessary ingredients to inspire your office improvement plan.

Allow for Space

Creating more physical space in a typically cramped office environment can be challenge. However, with the dangers of the Coronavirus still very serious, it will be necessary in the coming weeks and months to reconsider your office interiors. Not only will interior improvements help keep your employees safe and their minds that ease, but it could also allow for a more comfortable, breathable working environment for your workforce to enjoy in the long term. By installing spatial dividers that allow for visibility and natural light to pass through, you can successfully integrate separation but maintain a feeling of togetherness that your workers will greatly benefit from. The use of glass wall partitions, sliding dividers, and floor-to-ceiling room dividers offer the following:

  • Enhanced safety
  • Curtail Unwanted Foot Traffic
  • Allows for heightened productivity and focus
  • Increases employee concentration

Open Air Environment

The transition away from dark, dim, cubicle-lined offices and into bright, light, fresh, open-air collaborative workspaces have been extremely well received in the work world. Open-air environments offer a sense of ease, comfort, and increased mental capability for anyone working indoors throughout the day. After all, we all need plenty of natural light, visibility, and the feeling of existing harmoniously together with our workmates. Offering a modern glass solution to the obstructing cubicles and walls of the past will foster a much more pleasant, workable office space for everyone. Easy to install modern folding glass doors, and interior sliding doors achieve this medium flawlessly.

  • Allow for enhanced visibility
  • Increase natural light
  • Bring the outside in
  • Breeds feelings of comfort and home

dentist office with office dividers

Create Community

Lean into community within the workplace. Encouraging your employees to talk, collaborate, pass ideas around, and generate an exciting think-tank environment will help to increase group morale, as well as bridge the gap between ideas still in the incubation phase. Most startups and tech companies utilize this structure because they see how beneficial it can lend themselves to the creative process. Here are some of the ways you can integrate community throughout the office:

  • Provide shared desks and large, team-sized tables that encourage discussion
  • Offer communal spaces throughout the office such as comfortable lounges, a communal kitchen, a few conference rooms of varying sizes
  • encourage friendship and collaboration by providing group games, group lunches, and comfortable break room seating that makes employees feel at home

Transition your workplace into a flexible, communal, productivity powerhouse by integrating more community-oriented spaces, sliding glass walls, office wall partitions, and stacking sliding doors to allow for needed separation while still maintaining a community feel. A “separate but together” floorplan will become a crucial element throughout this reintegration process to safeguard everyone in the office from the current pandemic. Visit Space Plus, A Division of the Sliding Door Company online to view our online catalog, and Get a quote from one of our professionals today.

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Ingredients For A Productive Work Day

With most of us transitioning our work from the office to our homes the next couple weeks or even months, many have already found a challenge in simply getting a solid eight-hour workday in amongst the chaos and confusion of our current moment. Especially for those who live with other family members or children or other roommates, it can be hard to find a healthy work-life balance that feels well rounded, yet also productive. Many are currently struggling with working more hours, for less billable time. Fewer hours are being clocked, yet it feels like the entire day is taken up with work. Many are experiencing a diminished capacity right now to concentrate and be productive and inventive, and it has significantly affected our daily schedules.

Because we’re not used to creating our own schedule, there’s a lot of transitional and spillover time throughout our day, yet we’re not necessarily using it wisely. It can be difficult to find the time to simply go on a walk or get in much-needed exercise for the day amid trying to complete as much work as possible. One of the biggest problems that people are facing right now is finding a quiet and productive workspace in which they can settle into and cultivate work. The secret to actually creating a productive workday from home lies in the individual developing a well-rounded health-centered lifestyle. This means starting early, getting enough sleep, securing the time to exercise, having a good work environment and taking breaks when you need them. Below are a few ways to effectively create balance in your workday even through these unprecedented times.

Start Early

One of the best ways to get a head start on the workday is to set a schedule much like you would set during your normal routine as if you were going to the office. Wake up early, make your coffee, settle into the morning without having to rush and scramble to sit down at the computer right when you need to. Use an hour or two in the morning when everyone else is asleep to do the things that will help make you feel your best and to be able to sustain energy throughout the day. Stretch, take the dog for a walk, wash your face, have a coffee, eat some food and psych yourself up for the ensuing hours of concentration ahead. By starting early you can end your day before 5 or 6 and still have the evening to relax, spend time with family, play games or go on a run. This balance is super important and it’s also crucial to get into bed before it’s too late so that you’re getting enough sleep.

Physical Exercise

During stressful times, the first thing that tends to go is our willingness to exercise and respect for our physical being. While understandable, this is perhaps the most important facet keeping us all together and maintaining a balanced lifestyle that we need more than ever right now. It can be difficult to set aside time during the workday even under normal circumstances to get to the gym or go on a run from your house. However, at this moment it’s increasingly more important to give yourself that time to feel good in your body to engage in some heavy breathing and to cut out a solid chunk of time that is just for yourself. When we commit to a work day we are giving up our time to our company and our bosses and a lot of the time it can feel like it’s not our time. So, during your workday, it is key to make sure that you are getting outside to go for a walk or run and knowing that the time is reserved solely for you. It’s also a really great time to mentally reset and clear the mind. Returning to work after a healthy walk is sometimes the best way to feel productive and fresh.

Craft A Work Sanctuary

Although it can be difficult to imagine an office within your bustling home environment, it will make all the difference if you can create a safe and quiet place to lean into your work. Start by designing your temporary office layout. Perhaps you’re one of the lucky ones who has a spare guest bedroom you can turn into a home office. Though if it’s a living room that you have available, consider ordering glass wall partitions to create an at-home cubicle with office room dividers or room divider with doors that will give you enough spatial separation from the rest of the house (and family) to be able to detach and concentrate. Another solution is installing sliding glass doors, that can be either left open for when you’re not working or closed and even locked for those grueling hours when you really need to shut out the outside world. Filling your home office with things that spark joy will also help make you feel at home in your work sanctuary. Bring some plants into your home office to give yourself some fresh air and relaxing greenery. Natural light will also really help bring life into the area, so another benefit of having a glass sliding door room divider is that they allow for the flow of natural light. Consider bringing a diffuser into your space to again freshen up the atmosphere and help you breathe easy.

glass surround in an office space

Breaks and Breath

It’s important to give yourself the gift of rest. Take breaks throughout your work day when needed, the most important thing during this time is to listen to your body and your higher self and make sure that your needs are being met. Don’t try to push through even while uncomfortable as it will only backfire down the road. Creating a healthy work/life balance is key in getting through these troubling times. Remember to breathe throughout your day. Maintaining inner chi is heavily dependent on your willingness to breathe deeply and consciously.

Draw upon more tips and inspiration by visiting the Space Plus online and get started creating your ideal home office today! Make the move towards crafting a desirable workspace, and visit Space Plus, A Division of the Sliding Door Company. Get a quote from one of our professionals to begin the transformation.

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How To Be Everyone’s Favorite Co-worker

It may sound silly, but being well-liked at work by your fellow co-workers and colleagues is like social currency. It holds immense value and can make or break potential career opportunities and relationships alike. Being a beacon of light in an otherwise dim work environment will brighten everyone’s day, foster long-lasting friendships, and boost the overall office morale. It’s not always easy showing up to work and being the very best person you can be, day in and day out regardless of your current circumstances. Of course, we’re all human and we all have hardships, nuances, and things in our personal lives that spill over into our work life, and our energetic exchanges. Yet with these helpful tips and considerations, you’ll have the foundation and tools to employ each day to become everyone’s favorite employee.

office partitions by space plus

Practice Patience and Awareness

Existing in shared spaces, typically cramped ones, is not always fun. With so many different and unique personality types, energies, and stress levels, sharing close quarters can be taxing on many. What many successful co-working teams have found, is that practicing patience and compassion are the most effective tools in which to utilize when confronted with unsavory working environments. Some co-workers tend to talk a lot and distract others from their work. Using patience and a calm, thoughtful tone, politely remind them that you have deadlines and quotas to meet and that you get easily distracted by any conversation. This takes the blame and pressure off the chatty employee and simply reminds them that everyone experiences different levels of distraction while at work. Perhaps you find yourself on the phone often for your position. Practice awareness and see what your options are in lessening the burden on your surrounding co-workers. Because loud phone conversations are a distraction for many employees, consider talking to management, or your boss and suggest the installation of glass wall partitions throughout the office for calls to be taken in. These office wall partitions are essentially a room divider with door that reduces noise and creates a spatial barrier so the person engaged in the call is less of a distraction to others. These partitions help to provide visual privacy and curtail foot traffic.

There Is No Replacement For Kindness

No matter how large or small, acts of kindness go a long way. Everyone could use some more kindness in their lives, so why not be that person to spread and share it? Little gestures like smiling at your co-workers throughout the day, asking how they’re doing. Remembering personal details about their lives, their families, taking the time to check in with those around you. Bringing in food to share, or beverages every now and then could start a shift towards sharing and community within the office, that inspires others to do the same.

office partition in a corner of a room

Being Helpful and Pragmatic

If you notice a need for something within the office, take initiative and talk with your boss about it, or bring it in yourself if resources allow. Perhaps everyone is sharing a similar feeling of separateness, or lack of energy and inspiration during the day. Notice all of the ways in which the office environment could be improved, and then go from there. A lot of people suffer from a lack of natural light during their workday. Obstructed visibility and wall cubicles can cause serious depression, anxiety, and loneliness in many employees. Perhaps talk with your building about installing light-allowing glass office dividers and sliding door room dividers to increase visibility throughout the floor plan. These will create an increased feeling of connectedness, and raise team morale.

There are all just little ways in which you can help improve everyone’s day, including your own. Start with small gestures, considerations, and thoughtfulness. Speaking up about office conditions and the life quality of your fellow employees could yield surprising results. Many times, management is just vastly unaware of issues within the system, or employee discontent until it’s brought to them. Make the move towards crafting a desirable workspace, and visit Space Plus, A Division of the Sliding Door Company for ideas and inspiration. Get a quote from one of our professionals to begin the transformation today.

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Inside Starbuck’s New and Exciting Retail Strategy

Has anyone else noticed the overwhelmingly upgraded Starbucks interiors and improved green measures that seemed to have happened almost overnight? We did. And it’s no happy accident. Starbucks has confidently embarked upon a novel venture- a path towards sustainability and environmental awareness that has everyone pleasantly surprised. This eco-conscious green push paired with luxury leaves us air-clapping everywhere. This green evolution we didn’t always associate this mega-franchise with highlights a defining moment in history. It illustrates novel corporate environmental awareness and the active repair and redefinition of outdated and harmful business practices.

The Proof Is In The Pudding

We know what you’re thinking, can Starbucks truly have the planet’s best interests at heart? Well, apparently (and statistically), they do.

“According to John Kelly, SVP of global affairs and social impact, they could set Starbucks on a path toward greater conservation of resources. Kelly estimates that the program could divert around 50 million meals’ worth of food to people in need in the U.S. per year, and reduce water usage across its 10,000 “Greener Stores” by 30%.” -Fast Company 

How has Starbucks reached this widespread evolution and redesign you might ask? It’s simple; they’ve crafted an excellent retail strategy and sought guidance from the best in technology, infrastructure, and design upgrades.

“The Greener Stores Framework, as Starbucks is calling it, lays out six key standards the more sustainable stores must abide by, ranging from waste management tactics to design upgrades. And the company is making its new framework open-source, in the hopes that other retailers will follow their lead.” -Fast Company 

These six standards are as follows:

 

  • Energy and water conservation
  • Renewable energy
  • Responsible materials
  • Waste diversion
  • Healthy environments
  • Engagement

 

Today it’s no secret that the majority of people (that means us, too) want a top-quality experience with each monetary exchange and everywhere we go. That means every establishment visited from the moment we awake to the time we hit the hay must be in alignment with our expectations- after all, we are creatures of habit and comfort. With the latest and greatest in technology, there’s no reason to waste our invaluable time in uncomfortable experiences anymore.

For any and all businesses looking to follow by example, and jump on the eco (and financial growth) train, here’s a simple breakdown of how Starbucks redesigned their entire brand and brought their company into the ‘20s, in four key steps:

Inspired Interior Design

Our everyday collective environment is very important to us- our favorite coffee shop that begins our day, our hairdressers, the restaurants we dine at, the hotels we visit, the salons we frequent, our grocery stores, and our local cocktail bars. We’ll happily pay the extra cost of an aesthetically pleasing business over a less expensive underwhelming establishment. We are strikingly good these days at discerning businesses when choosing where to go. Because of this, interior design aesthetics has become a crucial, if not the crucial aspect responsible for drawing in customers and retaining positive client relationships.

Starbucks was not naive about this facet of business. In fact, we’re surprised they took as long as they did to upgrade their interiors in such a rapidly evolving market. What they did, was successfully redesign their interior stores and cafes to resemble chic, contemporary social parlors much like a hotel lounge- complete with stylish yet ultra-comfortable modern furniture, upgraded tables and flooring, and artistically inspired accent pieces, art, and enhanced lighting.

What’s more, Starbucks has intelligently personalized store interiors based on location-specific demographics, surrounding industries, and consumer relationships. They cater to the demands of their relative location. Because of this, they contacted us at Space Plus- A Division of The Sliding Door Company to integrate glass phone booth style solutions into a number of their stores in tech-heavy locations. They wanted to offer enclosed spaces in which customers could step away from the hustle and bustle of the open cafe to make a phone call, get some quick work done and enjoy some privacy amid a crowded store. These have become quite popular globally now, with room for 1 – 3 people to sit and collaborate or just have some much needed visual privacy. Our glass wall partitions and glass bifold door system worked great for their needs and we were happy to help attain their goal of added privacy as well as an increased personal interior design approach.

bi-fold door in a workplace setting

 

Convenience Driven Technologies

Starbucks has made strides in offering user-friendly technology within the past decade that all cater’s to the individual’s unique tastes, needs, and preferences. They consistently improve their app features, convenience-based online or in-app ordering systems and data collection to optimize customer experiences. With the growing consumer demand to know where our food and products come from, Starbucks rightly offered a super exciting app that actually allows the consumer to trace their beverage or food item back to it’s the source via a scan code, and see where it came from. This innovative “farm to cup” take on accountability garners them big trustworthy points amongst their customers and environmental/animal advocacy groups alike. They also offer competitive loyalty membership benefits that make you feel more appreciated and involved in the company.

 

Sliding glass door in a workplace

Pledging Green

Starbucks is currently making massive strides in their environmental impact reduction efforts and is moving forward with as much green gusto as possible. Their CEO is intent on setting a standard in green business, a model that he hopes other large franchise companies will soon follow. With this new and much-anticipated emphasis on sustainability, Starbucks is introducing things like no straws, investing in smart HVAC technologies for their stores, aiming to reduce their water usage by 30% by 2025 and diverting about 50 million meals worth of food to people in need in the U.S. alone through Food Share, a partnership with Feeding America. In addition to that, they plan to build education platforms to inform their partners and employees on sustainable practices during and outside of work. They pledge to only buy sustainably-sourced materials for any and all building needs, construction as well as for their packaging materials.

modernized starbucks locations with glass doors

We were very impressed with their ambitious changes and upgrades that Starbucks has recently made and continues to employ, and we hope to see more and more businesses follow suit in the months and years to come. Most companies have come to understand that by “going green”, it’s actually more economical than continuing down a path of unsustainability. It keeps the green in their pockets and works with our planet, rather than against it.

To upgrade your business, get on track with the green movement, and improve your interiors, consult us at Space Plus- the experts in commercial spatial optimization. For more exciting solutions and inspiration, visit Space Plus to browse our online viewing catalog and Get A Free Quote from one of our team members to actualize your design dream today.