What does your Office Space say about you?
March 2nd, 2008 | by Simon Rattray
Ever wondered what image your office location projects to those visiting and working there?
Perhaps this is of peripheral interest to you? This may be the case if you are not a customer/client facing business. However the condition and style of the office should not be cast aside because of this; the type of office you have is also important for your employees.
I found this interesting article about this topic which has been aptly named, the ‘PR of office space‘.
http://puddingrelations.blogspot.com/2008/02/pr-of-office-space.html
Lets assume you are a client facing business. Your office will certainly form a big part of what your clients will think about your business. It is important to pick an office that projects the right image of your business and industry. Lots of ad and media agencies will pick quirky offices with unusual layouts and bright colours, as they want to project an unorthodox and creative image to their clients. One such office I visited had a fully fledged bar adjoined to the main reception area!
Contrasting to this is what, for example, a private equity firm would want. A prestigious location, high grade office space, a professional reception and no gimmickry. You wouldn’t want your fund manager drinking gin and tonic whilst deciding where to invest your money. These are at either end of the spectrum and for these industries it is easy to identify suitable office space as, firstly, they know the image that they want to project and secondly image is VERY important to their business.
For those in the middle, which would be the majority of businesses, it may be harder to decide as it is (obviously?) of less importance. I once, when doing a summer job, met a salesman whose job was to sell fridges and the accompanying spare parts to student residences. Businesses in this sort of industry will not gain much benefit from having a business centre in Mayfair and would be better with a budget office in
Luton. The purchasers will not expect and would probably be surprised by a company like this having their HQ on Park Lane. If it was me making an order I would be slightly suspicious of why the company was paying so much for an office location, are they profiteering by over-charging customers?
Sometimes, although not in the majority of cases, it is better to look cheap. Turning up for a business pitch in a 911 turbo wearing a pair of aviators is not always the best way to curry favour from prospective clients. However, I would say that you should always try and get the best quality office space that your budget can stretch to. Saving money in the short run may cost you in the long term through all sorts of avenues such as staff retention, recruitment and morale as well as maintenance costs.
When renting a serviced office, more often than not, you will get a good quality office as the providers want to attract potential tenants. If you rent using any of the big players in the industry - Regus, MWB, Avanta etc - you are certain to get a high quality office. Regus did not become so dominant by supplying shoddy offices!
However there are a number of emerging budget office space providers entering the market, adding to the competition. For start-ups these are perfect as they help keep costs low. As your business progresses though, it may be better to seek better quality surroundings, as the condition of your office will significantly affect the productivity and morale of your staff. The temptation is to keep costs to a minimum and remain in the cheapest location but if you want to attract and retain the highest calibre staff as well as woo potential clients, it may pay in the long run to go for a more expensive, better quality office.
What do you think? Do people get too hung up on imagery? Please leave us your comments below..
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One Response to “What does your Office Space say about you?”
By James on Mar 2, 2008 | Reply
Worked in whacky environments and also the most boring environments for different types of companies.
It definitely has an impact on how you approach your job. One thing that definitely seems to work for me is what I call the ‘frantic’ environment. A good example of this is the easyJet offices which i was lucky enough to visit last week. In a small space, 140 or so people used to work (now its down to about 50 for another ‘easy’ venture) and it was very easy to see how the office environment helped the company to be a success in the early days.
In my own job, I have a very creative office, where I, as the boss, am located in the centre of the office, with staff satellited around me, so that we can all bounce ideas off each other.
Different environments work for different businesses, and, even though this blog is about serviced offices, some providers mentioned above can produce the most stale type of office layouts that, in my opinion, do not help to create a ‘buzzing’ environment.
Maybe there is a gap in the market for ‘creative serviced office’ environments?