When we think of office partitions, many of us immediately conjure a vision of drab, dreary cubicles that make for a thoroughly depressing work environment. However, when used intelligently, office partitions can make your office or other place of work a significantly more pleasant place to be.
Vista Visuals Australia offer a variety of partitions varying in size, type and colour, and these simple mobile ‘walls’ have a number of benefits when installed and placed well, including some advantages you may never have considered.
Increased Productivity
The main reason partitions are used in offices is to increase productivity, primarily by decreasing the amount of distractions your employees are subjected to during their working day. However, partitions aren’t merely a draconian measure to prevent idle chit-chat; they also block out visual distractions and other office goings-on that can dent productivity, and provide valuable sound baffling to muffle distracting ambient noise. This is a particularly useful quality in very large or busy offices.
Increased Privacy
However, partitions aren’t simply used to keep your employees working, but also to afford them a sense of privacy they may not have in an open-plan office. Partitions are especially useful in offices that routinely handle sensitive information, such as financial or customer service offices, as they allow employees to make phone calls and work on private paperwork without voyeurs and eavesdroppers gleaning the valuable information they work on.
This increased level of privacy is also helpful for the state of mind of your employees, giving them a quiet, secluded area to retreat to after a fast-paced meeting or particularly trying sales call. If your offices are amenable to displaying personal items, the chance to decorate a partition with photos, pictures and employee awards can also create a more comfortable and familiar working environment for long-term employees.
Versatility
Permanently installing floor-to-ceiling partitions may be efficient, but if you should ever need to change the layout of your office you can be stuck with immobile partitions exactly where you don’t need them. Choosing mobile partitions allows you to reconfigure your partition layout as your business needs change, while still providing virtually the same level of privacy and sound insulation as permanent partitions.
Extra Working Area
It may seem counter-intuitive, but erecting partitions in your office can actually increase the amount of space your employees have to work with by providing them with valuable extra surface area. Simple, modular partition walls can be used as pinboards for collating important paperwork, or as noticeboards for displaying daily information or goals.
Partitions that also double as whiteboards are also available, and can be a great benefit for collaborative teams without reducing their floor space by installing a free-standing whiteboard.
Office Aesthetics
In contrast to traditional, dull grey office cubicles, mobile partitions from Vista Visuals Australia are available in a wide variety of colours and materials. As such, a well-partitioned office can become a much more attractive place to be, granting even aged offices a modern and contemporary look.
Shade From the Sun
A particularly pressing problem during offices hours in a typically brutal Australian summer, mobile partitions make for excellent sun screens and allow employees to keep the sun out of their eyes and away from sensitive skin without having to close window blinds and plunge the whole office into darkness. Thicker partitions can also offer a certain measure of heat insulation, keeping employees out of the uncomfortable heat of direct sunlight.
Compartmentalisation
With a little planning and forethought, mobile office partitions can also be an extremely effective way of segregating different departments of your office, while keeping them in close enough proximity so that they can collaborate when required. Besides nullifying inter-departmental rivalries and prevent sensitive information from getting into hands it shouldn’t, this compartmentalised layout also allows visitors and inspectors to navigate your office much more easily.