discussing a few tips that add to make your offices a better place to work in.

poor level of satisfaction with the work place and low moral often results in a greater amount of Job-hopping. Infact research too has proved that such dissatisfaction often results in increased absenteeism with a resultant effect on performance. The major chunk of offices in Bombay can be said to lack friendly designs that would go a long way to boost the moral of the employees despite the fact an individual spends majority of his time in the office and is expected to deliver his best within those settings. One of the earliest revolution in the office design was witnessed late back in the 1970’s when Quickborner Team, a management consulting group introduced the open office system. They sternly believed fixed walls were too static and isolating and needed to be done away with. As per their recommendations every one in the office sat in the open office including its Chief Executive. The traditional desks that were too heavy were replaced with lightweight tables. The total office was designed as per the flow neglecting the building geometry and office landscaping helped to soften the open work areas and care was taken to make offices dynamic and responsive. Today the changing faces of technology and communications have further necessitated changes. ‘New Officing’ and ‘Alt. Office’ are the new concepts to design the modern offices. ‘New Officing’ involves a more intelligent way of using the company’s human, technological and spatial resources. eading architect feels, organisations can only function through the coherence of individuals, of which they are comprised, therefore the need for interaction and working together towards a shared objective has never been greater. The office plan is the need of the hour. The new office must encourage teamwork and interaction and must develop meeting places and settings that encourage this. Many architects support this view and feel meeting areas need to be more vibrant and must encourage interpersonal communication between employees. The office should also provide for more recreational space like food courts, restaurants, and so on for the employees to interact with one another. The rising need of a global presence also necessitates the office design to be of more international approach. A executive may need to book table space in one of his international branch by appointment to meet his clients. A similarity in the interior of the branch offices helps employees smoothly fit into the transitions whenever they hot desk. Besides, the need for planning for high communications for integrated functioning also cannot beignored. With the advent of various technologically advanced communication mediums like video conferencing, sharing of various vital information at very high speed all calls for planning for such facilities way in advance in the design plans. Flexibility also plays an important role while designing the interiors of the office. The need to accommodate rapidly changing teams makes it all the more essential to maintain flexibility. Factory made, modular furniture allows a greater fluidity in design, saves time and can be added upon when necessary, making it suitable for most offices. The client, designer and end user interaction also helps a lot while designing the modern office. This may mean a longer duration spent during the briefing stage, but in the long-term involving the end users results in lesser complaints and disruptions after the move-in.

A few tips for the Alt Office at a glance
1) Design according to the work flow rather than the design geometry
2) Open work spaces to facilitate more intra-office communications.
3) Develop designs that encourage team work and integration
4) Meeting places need to sport vibrancy and colourfulness for better flow of ideas.
5) Similarly laid out branches for making work transitions smooth.
6) Provide for High-tech communications to support integration.
7) Provide for better flexibility in designs to meet changing team requirements.