Whether you work from home or have returned to the office, you’ve probably noticed that your productivity isn’t quite where you’d like it to be. The good news is that this isn’t a difficult problem to fix. In fact, the issue most likely isn’t with you at all. Instead, it’s with the setup of your office. Fortunately, we’re here to offer you some insight into the many different upgrades you can do that will immediately boost your productivity!
Best Office Upgrades for 2023
Why upgrade your office? You’ll find out a few compelling reasons in this section. So, before we take a look at the best office upgrades for 2023, let’s first determine how an upgrade can improve performance. If done correctly, your office upgrade should help:
- Boost employee productivity.
- Improve employee morale.
- Provide more employee satisfaction.
How does an office upgrade manage to do all of this? Easy! It all comes down to the type of mood your office creates. If your office feels cramped and dark, people are naturally going to start feeling less motivated. Instead, offer a clean, bright, comfortable, and well-designed office to make people feel much better.
Top Desk Upgrades
When it comes to upgrading your desk, there are a few different ways you can go. The following section will explore the pros and cons of each option.
1) Standing Desk
One of the trendiest options is to trade in your regular desk for a standing desk. Unlike what it sounds like, though, a standing desk has a height variable, which means you can sit or stand. This will offer a variety of different benefits, including:
- Promote healthier posture.
- Reduce fatigue.
- Avoid restlessness.
- Improve focus.
The reality is that sitting all day is not healthy. If you sit for 8+ hours a day, your risk of dying will be similar to a smoker. Giving yourself the ability to sit or stand throughout the day can prevent hunchback syndrome. Plus, standing up sometimes simply feels better. As the saying goes, movement is medicine. Therefore, it’s not surprising that people who use a standing desk have improved energy and feel much better at the end of the day.
2) Ergonomic Desk and Chair
Alternatively, your work-from-home upgrades could include an ergonomic desk and chair set. Remember that the placement of your desk can make or break any ergonomic setup. Therefore, be sure to utilize the following tips:
- The height of your chair needs to place your hips about level with your knees.
- Place your monitor about an arm’s length away from you.
- Put your monitor screen so that it’s level with your eyes.
- Put any objects you regularly use close by.
- Be sure that you can rest your arms on the chair rests. Furthermore, rest them at, or slightly beneath, your elbow level.
Don’t forget that the feel of your chair is a critical piece of your ergonomic setup. Ensure that you can comfortably relax into it and that it supports your spine’s natural curve.
If you’re working on home office upgrades, the only person you’ll have to please is yourself. However, if you’re putting together shared office upgrades, you’ll want to have each employee try out their chair choices. Remember: no two people are exactly alike. This means that purchasing 20 top-of-the-line chairs isn’t necessarily the right option. Be sure to get input from each affected employee.
Best Home Office Upgrades
Do you work from home even part of the time? It’s critical to set up an actual home office – and no, sitting at your dining room table doesn’t count. Depending on your home setup, you might even need to ensure that noise from your spouse and/or children won’t interrupt you. Here are some of the best home office upgrades to consider this year.
3) Plants
Would you like to introduce one simple thing that will boost your productivity by 15%? It may seem a bit odd at first, but introducing some leafy green plants is a fantastic way to hack your natural biology. Even if you have a sparse office on purpose, you’ll derive a lot of benefits from putting some plants in your space.
Having plants can do three things for you:
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Boosts the feeling that your employer cares about you.
- Boosts productivity and your quality of life.
- Provides higher air quality.
If you simply can’t get yourself to take care of a plant, though, you can choose some lifelike fake plants instead. You won’t get all of the same benefits, but it’ll still perk you up.
4) Soft Desk Lamp
Lots of offices have garish overhead lighting, but you don’t have to deal with this when you work from home. Turn to a soft desk lamp instead, and you’ll feel less stressed out and a bit mellower.
Additionally, be sure you pick an office that has a natural light source and let it in! Natural light can do great things for your mental and physical health, including making it easier for you to sleep. In fact, people who have natural light in their office get an average of 46 more minutes of sleep than those who don’t.
If you’ve paid any attention to sleep research, then you know that getting enough of it is absolutely critical. Sleep has the ability to help you in a wide variety of ways such as:
- Staying at a healthy weight.
- Getting sick less often.
- Boosts your mood and reduces stress.
- Makes it easier to get along with people.
- Avoid injuries by making good decisions.
- Reduces your risk of issues such as heart disease and diabetes.
5) Quality Bluetooth Speakers
Why should you invest in a pair of quality Bluetooth speakers for your home office? Well, did you know that people who choose to listen to background music are typically more energized and complete their given tasks with more speed and superior quality over those who don’t? It’s true!
Music can have a major effect on how you feel at any given moment, and listening to soft tunes in the background can also help relax you.
6) Smart Assistant
One thing that drives people crazy is attempting to call a business and not reach anyone. Therefore, turn to your smart assistant to help you stay on top of everything. While Amazon’s Alexa, iPhone’s Siri, and Google Assistant, you can improve your productivity by having your smart assistant schedule meetings, make to-do lists, remind you about an upcoming call, etc.
7) Whiteboard
Sometimes, it’s necessary to take things out of the digital realm. By including a whiteboard in your work-from-home upgrades, you’ll have the opportunity to take your ideas from your computer – the digital space – into the real world – your whiteboard.
There is something about using a whiteboard that can unjam creativity. It might feel like a step backward, but if you use it correctly, you’ll definitely find yourself moving in a forward direction.
8) Super-Fast Computer
Staying up to date on new office technology includes using a computer that is truly fast. This isn’t just a preference, either. When you use a modern, super-fast computer, you’ll also experience:
- Improved productivity.
- Improved morale.
- Better employee retention.
Using a computer that can load each program in a matter of seconds will also provide your customers with a much better experience when they reach out to you. Plus, paying more upfront for your computer can paradoxically end up costing you or your company much less in the long run.
9) Two Large External Monitors
If you usually have several tabs open that you flit between, it’s time to up your productivity by getting two external monitors, instead. Making this one simple change can boost your productivity by 20-30%. That is an awful lot of time saved, so it’s no wonder that it’s one of the best home office upgrades!
New Office Technology
The world of technology keeps growing, and some of the latest offerings can make for a much better life/work balance. If your company isn’t using the following new technology in an office environment yet, it’s almost certainly right around the corner.
10) Health and Safety Tech
Employers have learned that keeping their employees happy and safe is a critical piece of retention. For instance, if your office’s CO2 levels become too high, you’ll soon be dealing with nausea, dizziness, and headaches. On the contrary, if you lower your CO2 levels, your productivity will go up by 60%!
Another important part of health and safety tech is air cleanliness and the reduction of viruses. The cost associated with Covid-19 is estimated at $16 trillion, but imagine if every company had high-quality air purifiers in place. They could have saved a ton of money on sick days, and it also could have helped prevent many, many deaths.
Other things that employers are offering include:
- Smart desks and chairs.
- Wearable technology.
- Wellness coaching apps.
- Health data alerts.
11) AI
Everything from pharmaceutical companies to online shops is using AI now because it has the option to make life easier for all of us. While most of us have used AI to create a piece of artwork or suggest what we should watch next on TV, its real purpose could be to improve data quality. Right now, 77% of IT managers don’t fully trust the data that their company has gathered. By using AI, a business can achieve a much higher quality of data, which will chip away at the current $12.9 million deficit caused by improper data collection.
12) Smart Buildings
Mixing AI with smart building technology is another good way to boost worker performance. Some of the many features that are offered by smart buildings are:
- Temperature and humidity settings.
- Air quality sensors.
- Motion sensors.
- Light sensors.
- Visual sensors.
- Acoustic sensors.
- Power consumption sensors.
- Proximity sensors.
- Water quality sensors.
Having all of these items in your workplace can make a tremendous difference in employee morale, retention, well-being, and productivity.
13) Freedom to Roam
Your office should provide you with several different opportunities. Rather than simply being a space where you’re tethered to your desk, you can now roam the entire office thanks to portable batteries. This allows you to walk for at least five minutes every half an hour, which is the minimal amount you need. The advantages of giving employees the freedom to roam include:
- 60% reduction in blood sugar spikes after a meal.
- Improves your metabolic profile.
- Boosts employee mood.
Again, this new office technology may not seem like it will work great for employers, but it actually provides employees with more of the skills they need to maintain a solid work performance.
14) Sound Masking Technology
Every office has its own specific hum – and it’s hurting your workers. Fortunately, you can incorporate sound masking technology to reduce this level of harm. It won’t help eliminate all the noise, but it will give your employees a much-needed reprieve from too much noise. Without using sound masking technology, your employees can suffer from:
- Mental and physical stress.
- Feeling tired and/or irritable.
- 9% of high cholesterol cases are caused by workplace noise.
- 14% of high blood pressure cases are caused by workplace noise.
- 58% of hearing difficulty cases are caused by workplace noise.
Boost Employee Health and Workplace Benefits
One of the results that came from Covid-19 is the fact that more workers than ever are aware of their worth. Running a company that not only acknowledges this but actively leans into it is the best way to improve employee retention. In other words, it will boost productivity while also boosting personal workplace satisfaction. If you were to add up the cost involved in onboarding a new employee, you’d see how worthwhile it is to keep your current team happy and productive!
15) Install Personal Partition Screens on New or Existing Desks
In the drive to prioritize employee health and safety, businesses can consider installing personal partition screens on desks. These protection screens serve as an additional safety measure to help reduce the spread of viruses, such as COVID-19, fostering a safer working environment.
By incorporating these screens into new or existing desks, business owners demonstrate a proactive stance in mitigating person-to-person transmission of the virus. This measure not only safeguards employees’ physical health but also contributes to mental well-being and productivity, underlining the importance of caring for your team in these challenging times.
A Few Things to Consider When Upgrading to a Larger Office
A successful office upgrade goes beyond just securing more square footage—it involves a holistic approach that accounts for the dynamics of the new workspace, technological requirements, accessibility, environmental impact, the potential for future expansion, and budget constraints. The following sections delve into these aspects, providing a comprehensive guide for businesses planning to take this significant step.
Spatial Planning
The layout of a larger office space requires careful planning to foster productivity, creativity, and well-being. It’s essential to create an environment that facilitates both collaborative work and focused individual tasks. Consider incorporating open areas for team collaboration, quiet rooms for focused work, and recreational spaces for relaxation and casual interactions.
Technology Infrastructure
When upgrading to a larger office, it’s crucial to ensure the technology infrastructure can support your business operations effectively. This means investing in high-speed internet connections, reliable IT support, advanced communication tools, and data security measures. Keep in mind that technology will play a key role in enabling seamless collaboration and efficiency in a larger workspace.
Accessibility and Location
Location is a crucial factor when upgrading to a larger office. It’s important to ensure the new location is accessible for employees, clients, and suppliers. Consider factors such as proximity to public transportation, availability of parking, and access to amenities like restaurants and gyms. The location should also be safe and fit the image of your company.
Environmental Considerations
Increasingly, businesses are recognizing the importance of sustainability and environmental stewardship. When choosing a larger office space, consider its environmental impact. Is it energy-efficient? Does it have effective waste management systems? Are there green spaces nearby for employees to enjoy? These considerations not only contribute to your company’s sustainability goals but also enhance the quality of the working environment.
Expansion Potential
The office space should be able to accommodate future growth. If you’re planning to expand your team in the future, ensure the new space has room to grow. It’s more cost-effective and less disruptive to choose a space that can cater to your expansion needs than to move offices again in a short span of time.
Budget
While a larger office brings numerous advantages, it’s important to keep in mind the costs involved. This includes not only the rent or purchase price, but also the costs of moving, furnishing, and maintaining the new office. Establish a realistic budget that factors in these costs to avoid financial strains later.
Control Consoles and Technical Furniture
Control consoles and technical furniture play a pivotal role in the functionality and efficiency of larger office spaces. They offer a structured approach to space management, helping to organize equipment, cables, and employees effectively. Control consoles, specifically designed to accommodate various equipment like monitors and keyboards, provide a centralized area for controls, thereby increasing operational efficiency.
Similarly, technical furniture, including specialized desks, ergonomic chairs, and storage units, are tailored to meet the demands of specific tasks or industries. By prioritizing comfort, accessibility, and adaptability, these pieces can significantly enhance productivity and employee satisfaction, which are particularly important in a larger office environment where efficient use of space and ease of collaboration is key.
Office Upgrades for Better Productivity
Is outdated office equipment holding you back? If that’s the case, it’s high time to upgrade your office or home office with Sarval Industries. We have the furniture you need to make your office look and feel modern, and yet we can also offer you a discount! That’s because we provide new and used technical furniture. Buying used will save you a ton without upsetting your employees. Contact us today to get your free quote!