Creating An Agile Workplace

Many people dream of being their own boss. Some even make the jump to turn their ideas into a reality, and often find they’re faced with a number of challenges – the most common of these are the business overheads associated with renting a professional premises. Not everyone can work from a desk at home, as they may need to employ other workers to achieve their goals,  and some small production businesses need to hire contractors to do piece-work in order to create their products. It is possible however to utilise even the smallest space, and with a little hard work turn it into a functional and flexible environment that can serve all your business needs.

Key Factor

There is no reason why your business cannot grow in a limited amount of space. With the right kind of management it is possible to allow part time workers and contractors to come in to your place of work as they’re skills are needed in accordance with your work-flow. It may be that you have a regular flow of production to a rigid weekly schedule, or it may be that you need to create bespoke digital presentations, such as websites or video on an ad hoc basis – whatever your plans are, then with the correct amount of time management you can book workers to come into the office as they’re needed. However, you will need to have a really solid idea of how long different facets of your work will take and not push people for time, as this could lead to the production of substandard work, which is bad for any business’s long term strategy. Your ability to provide good planning will be a key factor in creating a flexible workplace.

The Right People

If you are going to implement a flexible office scheme where contractors will come into your office as they’re needed on jobs, then it is really important that you find the right people. As every single part of your work-flow process will need to take place in a timely fashion then you’re really going to need people you can rely on. For instance, if you’re making clothing and you have a designer scheduled to come in every Monday – and they fail to turn up, then this will have a massive impact on your work, as they won’t come in for another week, and all the workers you’ve booked for the four remaining working days of the week may have nothing to do. In an environment where everyone has a desk, and the aforementioned designer is a full time employee, this would only slow things down by a day. It is therefore vital to find staff who you can trust to fulfil their obligations in even the most difficult circumstances, or if they know there is a problem – then they will call many days in advance allowing you to make alternative arrangements.

Multi Purpose Units

If space is incredibly limited within your business premises then you can actually purchase a number of quality out of the box products that can help you maximise your working area. The simplest of these has to be a strong work desk, which can not only support a desk worker, but is also strong enough to handle production tasks, such as dress making or electronics work. Special shelving units are available on rails that allow you to compress many rows of shelves into a single unit, which can then be pulled out and searched individually as you look for the item you require. As we move into a future in the UK where space is only going to become more limited there are only going to be more of these innovative new office and workplace furniture solutions.

Be Inventive

There’s nothing stopping you from being creative with your business space. If you’ve got room on the ceiling then you can always install a special hanging box system where you can store all kinds of items, from screws and bolts through to scissors and measuring tapes, or you can put up a rail system where you can store document tubes, or even rolls of fabric. Walls can be converted using a pegboard to hold almost any small items, such as computer repair tools. You can use old pieces of flat board to turn regular desks into workbenches and so on. By using a little bit of ingenuity, you can turn even the most constricted environment into one where everything has its place and is stored away when it is needed.

Hot-Desking

Gone are the days when each individual worker in an office had to have their own desk, complete with in and out trays and a large amount of document storage folders. It is now possible for most office workers to simply use a computer and save for the few times that they may actually have to send a real physical letter, they should never have to use paper. This means that you can use the same desk in your business workspace for multiple workers at different times. This practice is known in the industry as hot-desking. It allows you to have a company accountant in one day a week, a social media or web person on another day, or even a sales and marketing person to help you boost your profits – whatever your business needs in order to help it grow.  With the large range of office chairs available too you can spend a little extra on an adjustable model so that all your contractors can sit comfortably at such a desk.

IT Set Up

If you want to have multiple workers use a single workstation or laptop then this is possible if you are savvy with your IT set-up. It is possible to create user areas and password for each person who uses a computer and you can even use administrator privileges to make sure that only the software programs appropriate to each kind of worker are available in their user area. This way you can guarantee that workers don’t accidentally delete one another’s work or change the settings on their programs. It is also possible to use cloud based storage products such as Google Drive and Dropbox, which allow workers to access data even when they’re not in the office, so for instance if you’re a production company that has a sudden rush on goods, then it may be possible for you to ask your accountant to work from home on a day where you need all available space for manufacturing.

Evolve To Survive

If you manage your workplace successfully then hopefully your business will grow. You should always take time to review all your practices and establish whether or not they are good for long term growth. Workers may be prepared to put up with make do solutions in the short term, but if they feel the company is making money through their hard work and they are not given a more professional working environment then this may cause tension. Always see space saving measures as a resource saving exercise that’s vital in the early days of business, but don’t forget to reward you and your co-workers when you all achieve success with a bigger and better workspace.