How to Create a More Effective Office Space for your Creative Agency

An office environment can say a lot about a company. For creative agencies in particular, office design has always been an integral part of their brand presentation. Think: bold colors, quirky designs, dedicated play space. 

But as the office landscape changed with the advent of hybrid and flexible work, many organizations were left wondering what role the physical workplace would play in modern business. After a lot of experimentation and questions, we now know two things for sure: flexible work isn’t going anywhere and neither are office spaces. 

Flexible work enables everyone to have more freedom in how they shape their workweek but the office remains an important meeting ground for collaboration, client meetings and company connection. In fact, according to PwC, nearly 90% of employees say the office is important for collaborating with team members and building relationships.

So how can you set up a creative agency space that reflects your brand, inspires your clients and supports your people? Here are our top tips. 

How to Build a More Effective Office Space for Your Creative Agency 

There are a lot of pieces to this particular puzzle. You want to make sure you are making the best use of your office space without going over

When people make the trek into the ad agency office for more face-to-face time with their teams or clients, you want to make sure you are delivering an exceptional experience. Let’s explore how to get started. 

Infuse your Brand into Your Office Space

Think of the clothes you wear each day. They are an outward expression of who you are. The same goes for your office design. The way you outfit your space is indicative of who you are as a company. An engaging office space starts with design, so make sure your brand personality is infused throughout your workplace.

Pay attention to the small details, things like lighting and plants can have a real positive impact on employee experience in the office. In fact, according to Dr. Chris Knight and other researchers at Exeter University, employees are 15% more productive when there are houseplants and decor around. 

Set the Stage for Exceptional Client Experiences 

Client visits to the office are on the rise again. According to our recent workplace research, there’s been a 147% increase in guest visits since January. As the saying goes: you never get a second chance to make a first impression, so make sure your office is something you’re proud to show your customer base. 

Your branding and design will wow your customers but what might wow them even more is their experience interacting with your workspace. Make it easy for guests to find their way around with digital wayfinding. Send automated emails before their visit so they know the check-in process. Alert the hosting team members when their client gets to the lobby. All of these visitor management considerations can go a long way in leaving a good impression with your visiting clients.

Optimize Resource Management to Support Productive Teams 

From desks to meeting spaces to office technology, you want to ensure your teams have the tools and spaces they need to do their best work. In a more flexible world, having tools for booking desks or workspaces are super helpful for employees looking to plan their workweek. Keeping track of what technology team members need at their workstations or in conference rooms is also critical for supporting productivity through the day. 

Meeting room management is particularly important in the modern office, for both the client and employee experience. According to research from Gensler, meetings with colleagues or customers are among the top 3 reasons employees want to come together in the physical office space. People are looking to connect and collaborate in-person, make it easy for them with a simple, streamlined room booking process.

Invest in the Right Technology to Support Your Office 

Now that you have your marching orders, you’re probably wondering how you can better facilitate all these ideas. Luckily, there are workplace experience platforms (That’s us!) that help you streamline everything from resource management to measuring workplace engagement. 

The manual process of coordinating room bookings, assigning seats and doing the mental math on how it all comes together bogs workplace leaders down. Free up their time with a consolidated way to manage the entire workplace experience. 

On the employee side, make sure you have the right tools in place to support collaboration and coordination. For example, giving teams visibility into who’s in office and when makes it easier to plan their work week around collaboration. Things like an employee mobile app for room and desk booking also make it easier for people to schedule the resources they need. 

Measure the Effectiveness of Your Space 

How will you know if your space is truly more engaging than before without some measurements in place? You can’t improve what you don’t measure. 

Using workplace analytics, you can better understand how your office is being used and what is (or isn’t) working for your teams. Are there particular meeting rooms with low utilization? What do spaces with high utilization have in common? Do people tend to come in more on Wednesdays or Thursdays?

The answers to all of these questions can help guide your strategy for building an office space that your teams actually use. Make time to continually review your office data to make more strategic decisions about your space. 

Build Better Offices with Better Workplace Solutions 

Better workplace experiences start with a more dedicated focus on office design and processes. Interested in learning more about how focusing on workplace experience can take your office space from good to great? Check out how we helped leading digital media agency, DEPT, transform their office spaces.