What can you do to create a comfortable and productive workspace for your team? While it depends on the size and needs of your team, there are some ideas that can work for any sized office. Here are five creative workspace ideas for small offices on a low budget.
5 Creative Workspace Ideas for Small Offices in a Low Budget
1. How Can You Create an Inviting Workspace?
While it’s important to have a solid work/life balance, it’s also important to have a great workspace. When you have a good workspace, you’ll feel inspired and energized. An inspiring workspace will help you do your best work and make you feel better about yourself and your work. The force of your environment will interact with you and your creativity. When you have a comfortable, clean, well-lit space, you reduce the chances of distractions and you can focus on your work more.
You likely won’t be able to afford the latest and greatest equipment to create the perfect workspace. You’ll need to start with what you have. Simple things like straightening up desk legs, using a hand dryer instead of a fan, and having a good work area rug can go a very long way in making space feel more ergonomic, productive, and enjoyable.
An architecturally designed office has, hopefully, given way to more contemporary spaces that require very little effort on your part. Therefore, working from home may not be the right option for you right now. For this reason, a low-budget workspace from which you only get one tool or piece of equipment can appeal to you.
An office is a unique space to work in. Ideas such as a communal work area with multiple standing and sitting spots can be a great way to increase your team’s comfort levels while working in a low-budget environment.
While a low-budget version of an office may seem like a waste of money, it can create a much more comfortable and productive working environment for your team.
Setting up a mobile workstation with just your laptop and a mug of tea can create a comfy and casual work environment for your team. This setup can be ideal for teams that travel together, or work from home and need to produce digital content.
You should consider how portable and usable your workstation needs to be.
2. How Can You Make the Most of a Small Space?
In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it’s easy to forget about the small spaces around us. But the truth is, there are small spaces all around us – there’s even a small space inside you! Here are some tips to help you take advantage of the small spaces around you. Use your Metal Workshops and Carports for your office space.
3. What Are Some Creative Ways to Organize Your Office Supplies?
There are so many ways to organize office supplies and the best way to organize them is to find a system that works for you. A lot of people like to organize their supplies by color, shape, and size, so they can easily find what they need. There are also people who like to have different kinds of office supplies in separate containers.
An office supply system works by keeping certain types of office supplies separate. The liquid containers that hold the office supplies are separated because you want to keep things organized so that everyone knows what they’re getting.
These systems aren’t just for hairdressers, cabinetmakers, and handymen. Anything that has an organized layout and container can fit into this system.
Supplies can range from the simplest things like paper letter sets to more sophisticated items like CAD software and fabrics. The containers are made to hold a bunch of different things so that you can find everything that you need at a time.
The bottom line is that if you want to make a creative workspace for your team, find a system that works for you. While you can take an existing system and repeat certain parts of it to suit your needs, the way that you work at the office is extremely different.
Let’s talk about some of the more popular office supply systems today.
There are two types of office supplies for small-to-medium-sized companies.
If you have a few employees to help you with your creative endeavors but need to move with less staff time, a common system is to use sock drawers. These drawers are like the smaller version of bean bags. If someone brings in a sock, you open the drawer and pull out the sock you want.
When you’re moving around and that’s taking up time, this can take some work. You might have to do something similar to help someone get a sock that’s hanging on by one pair of shoelaces.
Another option for modular office supplies is grids.
4. How Can You Make the Most of a Tight Budget?
Whether you’re a small business owner or just a freelancer, sometimes it can be difficult to pay for the marketing you want to do. Here are some tips for making the most of a tight budget:
- Start with the end in mind. The best way to spend a limited budget is to have a clear idea of the outcome you want to achieve. How will you know it’s a success when you start?
- Discipline. Do what you need to do without asking questions. Sometimes it’s easier to implement changes if you don’t ask questions or push back.
- Organizational distance. Try to avoid building walls between teams. Working from home is a great way to set up your organization, but it can create distance between people working in different time zones. By co-location, teams can rotate spaces at home, and this is a great way to reduce the distance between people carrying out work.
- Purchase a large office chair. For a small office, you may want to keep very little furniture. One chair for one person isn’t a big deal, but a really large chair can become uncomfortable over time. There’s also the risk of losing the chair though because it’s just too heavy. For a very expanded space, a desk and chair will be perfect, and you typically don’t need as much desk space for a co-working space.
- Ask your neighbors about long-term rental availability. As a business owner, I would always find a reasonable price for high-quality space and lease it out after a while to new tenants. This is a great way to hold onto office supplies and furniture during your expansion or remodel.
5. How Can You Improve Communication in a Small Office, even with Limited Space?
The best way to improve communication in a small office is to make sure everyone knows where to find the information they need. In small offices, you can live by the mantra, “If it’s important, write it down.” This is especially important in meetings. There are simple tricks to keep everyone on track, and this is especially useful when everyone is on their phone.
As a team, we all have phone pings to quickly respond to emails or phone calls. These are encouraged to use when everyone needs immediate help. Just don’t sit too far away from your pagers in a large meeting room because their pings can confuse everyone.
The One Room concept is flexible in the size of the space but requires you to have the same setup in all rooms. Of course, this means less furniture and more space for work. The One Room can be a perfect setting for working on shared projects, team development, and team-building exercises. The One Room is on wheels and can be parked in a parking garage or backyard.
This is the pick-up and drop-off model of a workspace. Maybe not as glamorous as your huge conference table, your co-working space can function in a tactical pickup or drop-off model. Or it can be an open setup in the open air. What goes around comes around. You’ll likely get more used to it over time and be more effective with it.
As co-working spaces have become more popular, unpredictable fees have emerged for getting started. While this is a bigger issue for solo entrepreneurs who focus on their brand, it can also apply to small business owners without exceptional tech skills or tech-savvy.
