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Office Environments, Layouts, Standards and Guidelines

As a contractor or architect, it’s up to you to design a space for your clients that is well suited to the client’s needs and improves the quality of their experience existing in the space. Getting contracted to design office spaces is not always easy, especially today with a rapidly evolving definition of what an office environment could be. Nowadays, most new offices are multidimensional and act as a home away from home- with kitchens, games, and lounge areas that simulate the essence of a living room.

These workspaces are meant to cater to the worker’s needs, boost morale, enhance production, and increase continuity and communication amongst coworkers or “team members”. By designing a thoughtful and considered layout, and installing the right framework, you’ll be able to craft an innovative working environment that your client and their employees will love. Below, we’ve outlined some things to keep in mind during the design process. Much needed rooms, spatial separation, and exciting elements to employ may help inspire your blueprints.

Office Open Floor Plans

Today, open floor plans have become the new staple or standard in office design. More and more companies are recognizing that allowing their employees to freely communicate, work together and experience closeness actually increases productivity and team morale. Open floor plans also increase visibility, natural light, and breathability throughout the office environment. By starting off your design with an open plan, you make room for a lot of inventive spatial solutions and targeted rooms that will add intrigue and excitement to the space.

bright workplace with many glass divided rooms

Office Phone Booths/Call Rooms

A good way to allow for some spatial separation and privacy is to introduce phone booths or “tiny rooms” into the open swath of expansive office space. While these glass barriers are not specifically soundproof, they do provide a spatial barrier that lessens noise and provides increased privacy. This way, when a team member has a long call (or a loud voice) they can quickly step into these quiet spaces and not feel guilty about distracting nearby workers. A new poll by Udemy and Toluna showed that 80% of workers admit to being sonically distracted while at work.

 “Office noise is the second most cited workplace disturbance, with seven out of ten respondents citing noise as a top bother in their day-to-day workflow” (statista.com).

Outside influences on employees’ working environment take a toll on productivity and cause employees a cumbersome mental reset every few minutes. A great solution to introduce with these call booths is to install sliding door room dividers for the call booth so as to save space in an already tiny enclosure, while creating a stylish design that increases the office aesthetic. Our solutions divide the space, curtail foot traffic and provide visual privacy.

 

Bonus Yoga / Stretching / Meditation Room

A new trend amongst trendy office spaces is offering a yoga or meditation room. People become seriously fatigued while sitting for too long a time in uncomfortable office chairs day in and day out. Not only is a desk job physically grueling on a person’s body, but it also takes a mental toll. By designing workers space for some healthy breaks to stretch, breathe, recenter and improve their physical health, you effectively boost productivity, increase mental capacity and increase contentment amongst a workforce. Consider installing sliding glass barn doors for this room – it will enhance the overall look of the room and offer an artistic flourish your client will love. What’s more, you can choose from six different glass opacities to best suit your client’s needs. For the yoga room, perhaps a more opaque glass finish would be the ideal choice, so workers can stretch and meditate while enjoying a bit of privacy. 

conference room with sliding glass door wall, some panels opaque

Think Tank / Conference Room

While open floor plans are a great way to achieve integration, cohesion, and an overall team mentality, any office environment should come equipped with a full-size conference room for important/private meetings and presentations. Some like to think of these rooms as productive think tanks. Not providing one would be a big detriment to any business. People need to be able to gather around a table, bounce ideas off each other, check-in on progress, etc. To engineer a stylistic balance of privacy with visibility, use glass sliding door room dividers to integrate a conference room amongst the rest of the open floor plan. This way, you’ll provide a “separate yet together” feel that your clients will thoroughly enjoy.

Private Offices

Of course, you’ll want to design your office space with at least one to three private offices to provide distinction for the company CEO, manager or owner from the general workforce. By using floor-to-ceiling glass wall partitions and interior sliding doors, you’ll provide enough spatial separation and privacy while assimilating the rooms into the vast open space. An office with four solid walls on each side doesn’t exactly say “teamwork” the way it should. Rather, it segregates the people below and can make employees feel detached from their bosses or those higher up than them. As the designer, take it upon yourself to create a positive, integrative working environment that will improve the working conditions of employees and drive the business in the right direction.

Our glass and aluminum partitions are recyclable and perfect for green construction projects. They also assist architects with earning LEED points which is another selling point when contracting clients. Taking into consideration general layout, office partitions, the use of glass, and introducing inventive spaces, you’ll successfully craft a product that your clients will celebrate each day they come into work. An office should be a productive home away from home. Consult the experts in space optimization and check out Space Plus, a division of the Sliding Door Company.

Have a look at our products gallery for inspiration and product images. Schedule a call with one of our knowledgeable professionals to get a free quote and other information on our many available solutions. Simply find a location near you and ensure your office design a success!

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Arming Up With Qubi Glass

The holidays are quickly approaching, meaning the onslaught of festive engagements will undoubtedly put a pause on normal work schedules. Veterans Days, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Hanuka, and Christmas all provide for multiple employee days off, meaning an empty place of business. And as the owner or manager of such an establishment, November and December are perhaps the perfect months to make those interior upgrades you’ve been putting off all year. With the holidays just around the corner, you have enough time to finally plan those interior remodeling/upgrades your business needs in order to meet the demands of the current crisis while everyone is out on vacation. And regardless of what industry you’re in, as a business owner, you can probably guess this pandemic isn’t going away anytime soon. So in order to keep your business afloat during these turbulent times, the best means of survival is preparing your business for the long haul. Ensure that your customers, clients, and employees are all spatially distanced and socially safe when they enter your establishment.

So whether you run a restaurant, an office space, own a salon, or manage a gym, the #1 can’t-do-without staple of your business is your ability to welcome customers in through the doors. And if people don’t feel safe, chances are they’re going to bypass your business and go with one of your competitors. Creating a safe space, offering a clean environment, and installing adequate spatial barriers throughout your floorplan are now your best assets for attaining customers! Unsure how to achieve these? Look no further.

If You Manage a Workspace

If you manage an office environment or a business that requires your workers’ attendance “in-house”, this virus has been anything but easy for you. And with millions across the globe experiencing the same frustrations, being proactive is the best way to get your business thriving again. After all, your workplace should be a safe and comfortable environment for all of your hard-working employees! One of the best means for protecting your employees from the Coronavirus, as well as the seasonal flu, is to implement spatial barriers throughout an otherwise open floorplan. And although in recent years there’s been a trendy transition towards the modernized aesthetic of an open floor plan, most workers are already accustomed to the idea of cubicles or free-standing walls to separate work stations and maintain focus in the office. Installing these pop-up walls should be no tough sell!

The Sliding Door Company has just released a new line of extremely durable, meticulously made Qubi Glass wall partitions. These free-standing wall dividers are a top-grade replacement for cheap cubicle walls. The best part? You can wrap existing cubicles with easy-to-clean Qubi Glass for a swift, inexpensive office upgrade, without needing costly and disruptive construction. This new line of Qubi Glass is offered in an array of different sizes, glass opacities and configurations, so finding the perfect Qubi Glass office divider for your unique space is no problem!

If You Run A Restaurant

If you manage a restaurant, the daunting task of outfitting your restaurant for these unprecedented times is no easy thing! And with many states in the U.S. still banning indoor dining, the future of restaurants looks exceptionally troublesome in the coming winter months, especially for those states with months of foul winter weather on the horizon.

Yet despite the undulating circumstances, one way that you can safely prepare your indoor restaurant is to use these slower times to outfit your interiors with Standing Wall Partitions, and Qubi Glass Dividers. These are absolutely fantastic at breaking up space, while still allowing visibility between patrons and restaurant staff. Plus, with glass partitions, you won’t risk closing off spaces and visibility within your restaurant like standard wall partitions which can otherwise shrink floor size. People want to feel comfortable surrounded by others while also being safely distanced, and Qubi Glass is a great solution for achieving this medium. These glass dividers are also a total breeze to clean, sanitize, and continuously disinfect, which, these days, is a total necessity in the restaurant industry!

By putting these spatial solutions into your place of business, you can safeguard your staff, employees, and your customers against the winter flu season and COVID-19. 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 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 order your very own custom Qubi Glass partitions today!

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Bring Your Beauty Businesses Back With These Safety Solutions

Are you a shop owner of a beauty salon that’s having a hard time convincing customers to visit your place of business? Well, you’re not alone. Almost every beauty salon has experienced difficulties gaining the trust of the client because of COVID-19. People are much less likely to go get their hair or their nails done, get a much-needed massage, or get cosmetic treatments during Coronavirus times. Admittedly, beauty treatments fall under the non-necessity category and are often seen as an “extra” indulgence. And while people are starting to attend restaurants again and go to other non-necessities, it seems like there’s still a fair amount of hesitation surrounding beauty industries. With so much online ordering available, it can be hard to keep your business above water while competing companies take to the digital marketplace.

So as a small business owner, what can you do to set your place of business apart from the rest and assure your clientele that your shop is safe and risk-free? We’ve got the top solutions for regaining their trust and business. After all, we could all benefit from some serious beauty maintenance during this worldwide pandemic. Here’s how you can make it out during these tough financial times.

Spatial Barriers

If you have a business like a boutique beauty salon whether it’s nails, hair, facials, or massages, you actually have an advantage over other businesses, physically speaking. And while a lot of these services require physical contact with your clients, it’s also very easy to create a spatial barrier from client to client through implementing partitioned stations. A great way to set up a station within a salon interior is to separate the floor space into individual zones- whether massage tables, pedicure chairs, or the hairdressing seats, you should distance them at least 6 feet apart and then install glass wall partitions to create safer individual environments for your customers to relax in while getting the service. Typically, beauty parlors have an open floor plan, which will come in handy when creating these separate zones. You can even implement a sliding glass wall partition to separate the waiting area from people receiving treatments and services.

Sanitization

In order to maintain the cleanest and safest facility possible for your employees and your clientele, you will need to implement some serious sanitation regulations. Consider having bottles of hand sanitizer available for walk-ins on the front counter and ask all of your employees to periodically wash their hands when switching from task to task or from patient to patient. A lot of wellness facilities are now hiring a full-time sanitation person to go around and continuously clean surfaces, wipe down equipment, clean door handles and windows, and generally, ensure that the indoor environment is kept impeccably clean.

Crucial Client Screening

Before taking new clients and walk-ins into your beauty salon, there are a few things that you could do to screen your customers to make sure that they are safe to enter and not risking others. One of the most effective methods is to take the client’s temperature right away when they walk in. Also have them fill out a form that details their travel background from the last two weeks leading up to the current day, as well as recent medical history, any noticeable symptoms that they might be experiencing, as well as their contact information should an outbreak occur. It’s very important to get all this information ahead of time before bringing them into a communal environment.

Masks

Without a doubt, one of the best ways to safeguard everyone, clients and employees, is to require everyone to wear a mask and keep a mask on for the entire duration of the visit. Your employees should be wearing a mask throughout the entire day and should be regularly switching out their masks for clean ones before each shift. Even though some clients will try to argue the mask rule, as a business owner it’s your responsibility to maintain this very simple rule in order to keep everyone safe as a mask is the best means of stopping the spread from person to person.

Remodel Your Interiors

If you have the time and resources, another way that you can convince your clients that you’re taking the pandemic seriously and providing a well-considered environment for them is to remodel your interiors to suit the current circumstances. By remodeling, you can create more spatial separation, install floor to ceiling glass doors or sliding glass room dividers to create physical space, and tailor your interiors to the client’s comfort level.

By putting these tips and considerations into practice, you can create a peaceful sanctuary for your customers to thoroughly enjoy. Everyone just wants a sense of normalcy amid the crisis, and you have the ability to offer an escape from the daily chaos of COVID. Don’t hesitate to transform your interiors today and check out  Space Plus, a Division of The Sliding Door Company for all of your special solutions! Schedule a free consultation with one of our representatives and get started on your new salon improvements!

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Solutions for Social Distancing During early Stages of Re-openings

Restaurant Industry Greatly Affected by COVID 19.

While expected, it appears as though most Americans are still grappling with digesting the new normal, being that many public establishments, restaurants included, are beginning to open their doors at alarming rates. Beaches, parks and other recreational, or “non-essential” businesses are also slowly reopening to the public. Though most are uncertain whether this is a wise gamble, others are overjoyed with the recent developments. Over the course of the last two and a half months, the food and beverage industry (including restaurants) has seen an unprecedented rollercoaster of highs and lows, of prejudices and judgments, of swift evolutions and unfortunate pitfalls and foreclosures. Of course, there is really no telling at this point, how successfully the industry will be able to regain its footing and return to “business as usual”. Likely, things won’t look or feel the same for months, perhaps even years. Though,  if there is one certainty, it is that during the coming weeks and months, health, safety, and comfort will be taken more seriously than ever before. As a restaurant owner, it will become imperative to not only provide a safe and sanitized setting for your valued patrons, but your future success will hinge on your ability to convince the public that your establishment has taken serious measures to safeguard your visitors. There are a number of ways that you can ensure a clean, healthy restaurant coming out of this pandemic, so perhaps the ideal restaurant is one which utilizes all of the solutions simultaneously. Below are the top health and safety solutions to implement coming out of COVID 19.

 

Limit Your Available Capacity

Many restaurants are choosing to reopen as safely as possible, to guard both their working staff, as well as their customers. One sure way to reduce the risk of person-to-person spreading, is to significantly reduce the number of available seats in the restaurant. Additionally, outside seating is encouraged, as fresh air is said to help reduce the risk of air transmission from those in close proximity to one another. By halving your normal capacity, you can effectively create distance and space between your patrons, allowing them the peace of mind of a non-crowded atmosphere, while ensuring a no-contact dining experience.

Indoor Social Distancing

Similar to limiting the establishment’s overall capacity, the main idea is to encourage indoor social distancing within public spaces that are normally overflowing with people. In regards to reopened businesses and restaurants alike, it will be very important to discern which tables should be seated depending on how much space they allow from the next occupied table. People want to know that they can remain a safe six feet apart, so it is the restaurant’s responsibility to grant that. The host or hostess must be aware of the current circumstances, the social distancing recommendations, and be able to plan accordingly when seating guests. 

Wall Partitions and Room Dividers

Another solution that businesses, educational institutions, and restaurants are starting to utilize, are wall partitions and room dividers. Easy to install partitions can effectively create additional spatial separation and enhanced safety within indoor environments. No restaurant wants to see their customers feeling uncomfortable or worried about their health while out for their much anticipated, long awaited dining experience. As the owner of a food establishment, make use of the available spatial solutions and integrate easy to clean glass room dividers or breezy sliding room partitions throughout your business to create enhanced separation from table to table, or to limit the restaurants available seating. Some restaurants are now even using glass wall dividers to create see-through waiting zones where customers can wait to be seated in a safe, risk-free enclosure, apart from foot traffic and potential contact. Glass walls are not only antimicrobial, but they are also exceptionally easy to clean and disinfect within seconds. Additionally, glass walls are resistant to damage and water, and conveniently offered in a wide range of glass opacities, from completely opaque, to see-through transparent. They require no construction, and take less than 24 hours to be installed by our team of professional installers.

Continue Encouraging Customers to Take Out

Without a doubt, the surest way to continue providing a safe dining experience for your patrons, is to continue encouraging take-away food, deliveries, and made-to-order items that passersby can easily walk home with. By reducing the number of people dining inside the restaurant, you can maintain maximum health and safety for everyone involved.

Spatial separation will be the most crucial element through this reintegration process to safeguard patrons, restaurant staff, and delivery workers against this deadly virus. Ensure your establishment is as safe as possible for everyone involved! Stop the spread of COVID 19 by integrating glass wall partitions and increased patient separation. 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.