Whether employees are now back in the office or continue to work from home, the furniture and supplies around them are extremely important – affecting both comfort and health as well as productivity.
But furniture is designed to meet the needs of the workplace and employees, so choosing the right office furniture for you will mean you tick all the boxes.
Office layouts
We use CAD planning to plan out the office space for our clients – but it is not only to ensure the furniture fits in the space, it is also to increase productivity and meet the needs of the workforce.
Something as simple as having a printer table large enough for not only the printer but for employees to lay out the paperwork and staple booklets together can make a huge difference.
Ensuring that cables from IT equipment are stored away in cable management compartments that come as part of their desks rather than having them laying across the floor is a health and safety issue.
What furniture should we have in the boardroom?
When it comes to planning out your boardroom you need to think about what it is to be used for.
Many boardrooms now have a screen that those at the meeting are required to view, and in that case, it is important to have a table set-up that ensures everyone can see the screen. This is done with pear-shaped tables.
It is also the case that many board meetings now see each person bringing their own laptop or iPad – which means having access to electrical points in the middle of the boardroom table, and good cable management, is important. Having wires leading from computers across the room to wall sockets is not practical and not safe.
If your boardroom is used for training, where delegates are required to sit for lengthy periods of time it is important to think about the type of chairs you will have – bearing in mind comfort as well as the style.
Does the light in my office affect how I work?
Lighting in your workspace can be very important – especially if you are working from home. A balanced and stable biological clock leads to a balanced mood, a better sleep cycle, improved memory and enhanced productivity – and good lighting is an essential ingredient.
Among the lighting solutions on offer are computer desk lamps that allow optimal diffusion of light into your working space, eye-friendly LED lighting, flexible arms and elliptical heads.
Desk lamps can offer differing light intensities and colour as well as featuring a dimmer switch and you can have uplighter and downlighters, allowing you to cast light where you need it.
COVID-safe offices
Hygiene and safety have never been more important and in terms of office supplies, many new items are now available to ensure your office is COVID-safe.
Laminated signs in corridors, offices, meeting rooms and break-out areas help your employees keep to social-distancing guidelines and can be easily wiped clean and disinfected – and auto-feed laminators allow you to just place the documents in and walk away.
Automatic staplers prevent numerous employees from having to come into contact with small office equipment.
There is also a new product range of staplers, hole-punches and desktop accessories available now that use a ‘Germ-Savvy’ antimicrobial agent to improve hygiene.
The antimicrobial agent is added to the external plastic parts during manufacture and provides protection for the lifetime of each product.
- Kills 99% of bacteria
- Permanently reduces the risk of infection from plastic parts
- Improves hygiene levels in the school, office and home
- Certified by SGS to ISO standards
Talk to us
There are so many options and so many solutions, we know it can be difficult for employers and office managers to know the right options.
This is why our team here at Chrisbeon can help plan your office from start to finish – we have decades of experience and are more than happy to share it.
Please do get in touch with us if there is anything that we can help you with.
We often hear about office romances that turn into office marriages, in fact one of our clients has a husband and wife who met in their last job and are still working together 12 years later – although when we laid out their new office last year we did notice they had their backs to each other!
With more people working from home over the last 12 months, we can’t help but wonder if the loss of daily social contact between colleagues will hurry the end of the office romance….
Love is in the air
The office has been the catalyst for romance since . . . well, forever, really and it’s not too surprising when you think about it. People thrust together for at least eight hours every day, five days a week – not to mention any work-related socialising.
Did you know that:
- Two out of three people admit that they would date a work colleague
- One in 10 meet their future life partner at work
Constantly seeing and speaking to each other, it’s little wonder that one thing leads to another and closer, more affectionate, bonds are formed which often lead to permanent relationships.
It’s the ideal scenario for developing friendships, meeting like-minded people and falling hook, line and sinker for the partner of your dreams.
Then along comes COVID!
The pandemic saw offices closed and a new normal of working from home and with social contact severed, the office romance is now in real danger of becoming extinct.
Colleagues have been denied the face-to-face contact where love can flourish with meetings consigned to impersonal Zoom meetings and any occasional online social gathering.
Gone is the need to look our best for work, or anyone we are trying to impress, as, for many, remote working and Zoom meetings require little effort in terms of dress or appearance.
The art of being alluring, flirting and becoming sexually appealing to the colleague you are keen on faces being lost in the trials of Covid and restrictions of lockdown, so just how can the office romance survive?
We believe that staying connected with others during enforced isolation is vital to good health and wellbeing and it’s important that we all make every effort to maintain contact with people outside our immediate bubble. It really is good to talk!
And that will keep potential office romance alive too….
We hope love in the workplace will see a revival as things return to normal. The office romance isn’t dead, it’s just been put on hold for a while!
Next in our series of blogs about our amazing team here at Chrisbeon, we are chatting with Ben Atwal, manager of Warehouse, Logistics and Installation, who has worked at the company for more than 18 years.
Ben started working for Chrisbeon when he was 29-years-old after previously working for Epson as a team leader.
An integral part of the team
We knew he had great experience and immediately knew we wanted him to become part of the team here at Chrisbeon.
Ben started as a delivery driver, had a great rapport with all of our customers, and worked his way up to warehouse manager. He works in furniture installation and also sorts out all the orders that come in and go out.
“My main role is logistically sorting out all the jobs we have,” Ben said. “I’m very organised so I enjoy making sure the jobs are on time.
Job satisfaction
“I also organise swift replacements if there are damages and just enjoy everything I do all round.
“I have always been organised as far back as I can remember and I like the order of everything and making sure our customers get exactly what they need at the right time.”
Organisation skills
Ben, who enjoys relaxing and walking his dog in his spare time, also uses his organisational skills to make sure everything runs smoothly in our warehouse.
“I do everything as if it was mine,” he said. “I never cut corners. I’m a perfectionist so when a customer is happy with an installation, it’s very good to hear.”
Product knowledge and experience
Ben’s wealth of experience means he knows the products really well and how to build them exactly as the customer imagined.
We really appreciate the way Ben takes the time to make sure everything is correct and perfect for all our customers.
Thank you, Ben, from everyone at Chrisbeon!
Have you noticed anything missing from your desk?
Something that was always there, perhaps with a cute photo of your child, your dog, your favourite holiday, printed on it but now, it’s vanished without you really noticing.
Mouse pads? Anyone?
It seems these handy, smooth yet squishy rectangles made to control your mouse more easily have fallen out of fashion.
But should you still use a mouse pad?
The answer is yes!
It used to be, way back in the day when your computer mouse was driven by a little ball inside it, that everyone had a mousemat. It was part of the whole computer set-up but slowly they have disappeared from the home and the office as mouse technology has improved.
But here at Chrisbeon we still sell a lot of them because they are vital for an optimum performing computer mouse. And they look smart too.
A mouse pad allows the computer mouse to work far more smoothly and without jittering compared to using a mouse directly on a table or desk…even with the latest technology.
Mouse pads also help protect your desk. The repeated motions of the rubber or plastic underneath your mouse will wear away the finish on your desk over time and you will rue the day you got rid of your mouse mat. It’s much cheaper to replace a mouse pad than to replace your desk surface.
Without a mouse mat, dirt and oil from your desk will also be transferred to the feet of your mouse as it moves over the surface. A mouse pad will keep the feet fresh for longer.
We would also recommend using a mouse pad for playing games as it is better for those actions requiring fast movement and for performing big, sweeping motions.
Some gamers will even use speciality mouse pads, which cover a whole desktop, and we can source those for you too at Chrisbeon.
It’s better with a mouse pad!
Yes, your new high-spec computer mouse will generally work fine without a mouse pad but it’s still better for your desk and the mouse’s overall performance to have a mouse pad.
Which is why we stock a wide range at Chrisbeon from our microfibre mouse pad to others with matching coasters…another essential item for protecting your desk! The microfibre mouse pad also handily acts as a screen cleaning cloth.
We can personalise mouse pads with your company logo and they make a great gift to brighten up any home-working computer area.
Do get in touch with us if you would like to know more……
Covid and remote working. Two subjects which have dominated our lives in 2020, but what effect are they having on how we think offices will look in the future?
The lengthy first lockdown showed that most of us could work efficiently from home – something a lot of firms have taken on board and is a policy they may continue with in the best interests of their business and employees.
Uncertain future
Covid remains the great unknown and planning for the future is really difficult when we don’t even know at present how things will change and what guidelines and restrictions are likely to be in place day-to-day, never mind trying to plan any long-term strategy!
But plan we must and if people are to return to work then the office must reflect the world we now live in. If employees continue working remotely they must have the equipment and ‘office’ space to work safely and efficiently in the home environment.
We know firms have reduced the number of desks they need through having at least part of their workforce working permanently from home and have installed screening around the remaining desks and altered layouts to accommodate the safe return of other staff.
Some big employers, like Shropshire Council, for example, have informed office staff they will be working from home for the foreseeable future. Some employers in these circumstances have employees working on laptops and other mobile devices while others have been fully kitted out with home offices.
House extensions are seeing people include a home office as part of the plans or designating a specific space within their existing layout for the purpose.
Making the most of your office space
How best to fill available office space has always been a key factor and will continue to be so, with the right layout of paramount importance in meeting the needs of the business. A greater level of partitioning and spacing may be required along with screens and dividers between workstations.
There may generally be fewer staff in offices of the future but there are occupations which makes home working an unrealistic proposition and going to work will continue to play a major role in maintaining good mental health and wellbeing.
We may not know how long the effects of the coronavirus pandemic will last but we do know that the office landscape will have changed hugely when we come out the other side.
For the next few months, we are running a series of blogs about our amazing team here at Chrisbeon.
We know 2020 has been a difficult year for everyone and we hugely appreciate all our staff’s efforts during the last and current lockdown. So we wanted to share with you all that they do for our customers behind the scenes.
Sales Manager
To start us off, we are chatting with Sales Manager Ryan Bratley, who has worked at the company for more than 25 years and has been a huge asset to our team.
Ryan began his career at Chrisbeon as a delivery driver when he was just 17-years-old in 1988 and worked with us for 19 years.
He then left to work for one of our suppliers, a leading UK office furniture manufacturer, which we have been purchasing products from for over 30 years.
This gave Ryan tremendous experience from the manufacturing side and, put together with his fantastic retail knowledge, it makes for an extremely experienced manager.
“I also began a career working in care with children for three years which was a very rewarding job but emotionally draining,” Ryan says. “Then Richard at Chrisbeon offered me my job back and it was like I’d never been away. I’ve now been back for about six years and I love it.”
Delivery Driver
As a delivery driver, Ryan was always out and about delivering our stationery and furniture but came to work in the office and he hasn’t looked back.
He is our guru on designing spaces and offices. Ryan often gets very little to work with from customers but produces some incredible designs with unique colour schemes.
He has a great head for space-saving ideas but also, most importantly, allowing for health and safety aspects, such as fire escapes.
“I’ve seen quite a few changes over the years,” Ryan adds. “Previously it was just 2D planning. We used to give clients an aerial view with no colour but now it has switched over so we render up a design and you can see it from all angles and add a colour palette.
“It’s an actual 3D representation of what the customer is buying. It’s brilliant for the customers to see and I really enjoy creating them. It helps the sales team when they are discussing a customer’s requirements too.”
Computer Aided Design (CAD)
Ryan also uses Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) for bespoke layouts and to ensure that pieces of furniture will fit in awkward shaped rooms.
He told us: “Once the bespoke designs are created, I will then get them costed with our manufacturers. Chrisbeon supplies a huge number of specialist size pieces of furniture, which are designed around angled walls, pillars in a room or radiators.
“Often, having a piece of furniture manufactured especially helps finish a room perfectly when standard off-the-peg furniture shapes and sizes just do not work.”
DSE Assessor
Ryan is one of our certified Display Screen Equipment assessors which means he can advise customers and ensure that they fulfil their legal duty of care obligations to all desk-based employees by setting up a workstation correctly. He has also visited many of our desking and seating manufacturers over the years for product training.
“I really enjoy my job,” said Ryan, who in his spare time is a coach at the Telford Amateur Boxing Club.
“There are different challenges every day and I meet different customers with new requirements so it’s quite diverse.
“Within the trade, I have about 30 years of experience both in retail and manufacturing and I have travelled from one end of the country to the other, visiting and selling to other retail outlets. I have a good overall view of how things are in the trade and how to bring something different to an office space.”
Stylish yet functional
Ryan is definitely the one with the vision…give him a space and he’ll create a stylish yet functional office for your company!
Thank you, Ryan, from everyone at Chrisbeon!
Restricting the spread of infection has always been important but in the extraordinary times we are living through at the moment it is focusing all our minds in a way which is completely unprecedented.
Anything we can do to minimise the risk of infection of any virus is a good thing so we would like to tell you about the range of antibacterial seating solutions we are providing in collaboration with our partners.
Chrisbeon has a long association with many market leaders in our industry and one of our partners, Summit, has been in business for more than 40 years – about as long as us and just as committed to quality and customer service as we are!
The go-to name in healthcare
Summit is one of our UK manufacturers and has many years of experience in providing seating for healthcare facilities including:
- GPs
- Hospitals
- Care homes
- Dentists
The range is extensive and provides chairs for administrators and staff, a variety of side chair ranges in different styles and with wooden or steel frames, beam seating chairs with unbreakable steel structures and even pouffes for children – the kind that will hopefully keep them quiet and well-behaved as you wait to see your medical professional.
Summit is a tried and trusted brand – the company of choice when it comes to fitting out healthcare facilities and a popular make of chair with our customers, providing the quality, reliability and longevity they are looking for.
Chairs are also available at different levels with steel-framed extra height seating an ideal solution for people with mobility problems who find normal height chairs difficult to negotiate.
Antibacterial protection
There is a wide range of specially designed fabrics which can be used to cover the chairs which provide long-term effective protection against microorganisms and bacteria and are made by firms including Chieftain Fabrics, Agua Upholstery, Panaz and Camira.
They all provide high-performance coverings which are hard-working and designed to be an effective deterrent against the risk of infection.
Chairs with metal or wooden surfaces are also protected. An antibacterial epoxy coating is an ideal solution for metal surfaces while a quick-drying lacquer is used on wood giving the highest level of antibacterial protection.
Our chairs provide the confidence and reassurance of a quality product with the additional benefit of reducing the risk of infection. To find out more about how they could help you, call us on 01952 292606 or email sales@chrisbeon.co.uk
Return to the office or carry on working from home?
It’s a conundrum employers are continuing to grapple with as the COVID pandemic drags on towards winter – and possibly for many months yet to come.
On one hand, employees are being encouraged to return to the workplace for the good of the economy, and we all understand that, while on the other we are being told to keep our distance and avoid places where people congregate in numbers, which also makes perfect sense!
Then there’s the working-from-home factor to consider. Most people have been working remotely for a long time now and it’s proved to be largely successful, so should firms continue with that policy?
Moving forward
There are those who can’t work remotely and there are other reasons for getting back in the office – productivity and mental wellbeing, for example. So we need to find a way of achieving this without risking an escalation in COVID cases along with other winter ailments which can lead to increased absenteeism.
One way of helping the situation is by installing screens inside the office.
Being COVID secure is a term we have been hearing a lot since restrictions began to ease and is something employers need to ensure is in place for the protection and reassurance of employees.
Thinking long term
It’s ultimately up to businesses to decide whether they have the office kitted out to make it COVID secure or stick with the policy of staff working from home. We believe COVID is likely to be with us for some time so employers need to decide on their long-term strategy and if they want their team to come together they should prepare now.
Installing screens means less illness circulating through the office, adding a level of reassurance for those returning to work and resulting in a higher level of overall productivity.
Screening also has a positive effect on other health issues. The flu season is rapidly approaching, a time when many employers experience a high level of staff sickness – something which hopefully can be prevented with screens and dividers and other measures in place.
Views of a client
We have been installing desk-mounted high screens, screen toppers and free-standing high screens for clients over many weeks now as businesses plan for a return to work.
One such client is J&PR Ltd. Operations Director Rhea Alton said they decided to invest in screens and dividers for their Wellington office. She added:
“Although we work on a cloud system and our staff work flexibly, it was important to us that the office was accessible when needed, especially after the encouragement from the Government to get people back to offices.
“We believe it is an investment as these restrictions could be in place for a long time, and for a number of our team it is not feasible to work permanently from home – their mental health and wellbeing is important to us, as is their safety in the workplace.”
Here at Chrisbeon we ensure all our screens are designed for people to work in as safe an environment as possible, reducing the risk of infection. We are very busy with screens at the moment, which means it can take up to three to four weeks for delivery so we would urge those who are looking for screens to get in touch as soon as possible.
For more about how we can help you, telephone us on 01952 292606, or email sales@chrisbeon.co.uk
Home offices are a big topic of discussion in 2020 and those employees that have spare rooms or existing offices at home have been able to move into the more permanent routine quite well.
Under the stairs?
However, we have worked with a number of businesses who need to be able to supply desks for employees that can be folded away after use, or that fit into smaller spaces like under the stairs or the corner of a bedroom even.
There are a number of options for those working from home that do not have access to specific office space. Designed and made in the UK our new range of smaller desks includes this fold-away desk that can be used in communal space and folded away when needed.
At Shropshire Professionals partnership meeting last month, dozens of businesses heard how it is important for employee wellbeing that those who work at home are able to close the door on their place of work when they are finished.
Clever desks for any space
This desk (pictured below), which is currently on display in our Telford showroom, folds flat so that it can be taken down at the end of the working period or day and then easily be stored, ready to put back up when returning to work. It is available from only £219.00 plus VAT, and we have a variety of finishes, including melamine, to choose from.
The image below shows the desk in its flat form.
We do know that storing paperwork can be an issue for those at home with little storage areas so we also have a smaller wooden desk, a home workstation with a pedestal, also on display in the showroom on Stafford Park. This desk (pictured below) is available from £584.50 plus VAT.
This lightweight, white desk (pictured below) was a popular purchase as lockdown started with many people looking to have a two-tiered small desk to hold their laptop and paperwork on different levels.
Employers are currently looking at the best way forward for both their businesses and their employees as more and more offices come back into action following the Coronavirus lockdown and subsequent restrictions.
The guidance is set to continue until at least 2021 and potentially for a much longer period so we are making our team available to guide employers and staff.
If you are looking for solutions for working from home or looking for office solutions to meet social-distancing requirements please do get in touch.
Chairs! One of the most important yet often underrated items when it comes to office furniture – particularly when you think about how much time you’re going to spend using it!
Having the correct chair for work is essential. It not only helps you carry out your daily work tasks in comfort but is also a major factor when it comes to ensuring you remain in good health.
We have seen a big increase in the number of office chairs sold recently and have an extensive range available to suit all requirements. We are also busy repairing chairs – perfectly good quality chairs with a few years stout service remaining which may simply need some attention.
Swivel chairs
Still one of the most popular and effective items for the office, or the home office, the swivel chair is the workhorse of the working environment but after a few years of frequent use a problem can occur with the gas cylinder – the valve that varies the height of the chair. But this doesn’t necessarily mean buying a new chair. The cylinder can be adversely affected when:
- Weight recommendation has been exceeded
- The cylinder is defective
- The cylinder has reached the end of its life – this normally happens over several years
It will mean the valve, also known as the chair cylinder, bottle, stem or strut, which allows air in and out allowing the chair to be raised and lowered is no longer working properly and the chair keeps sinking.
Easy repair
This problem is fairly simple for us to solve with the correct tools but can prove to be more difficult for someone who hasn’t done it before – particularly when someone has been sitting on the chair for a number of years.
We normally stock the two most common replacement parts in our Telford showroom where people can buy and then fit them themselves. Or people can ask us to carry out the repair for them – something we do on a regular basis and a service we provide at our Telford branch which many people are probably unaware of.
The chair can generally be fixed while the customer waits or we can arrange for collection and return if required. The cost of repairs ranges from £16.00 plus vat to £45.00 plus vat depending on what is needed and the service the customer chooses.
Operational condition
We only recommend the repair if the rest of the chair is ok. If the chair is very old, worn out or broken, there is no point changing the part but if the chair is still in good operational condition, replacing the part is extremely cost-effective and could extend the life of a chair by several more years.
Every year as we get closer to September, we get a lot of enquiries about stationery as thousands of children prepare to head back to school.
In 2020, as with everything else this year, it is a little different….
As well as thousands of children heading back to school, many employees who have been homeschooling and working from home over the Summer are heading back into offices.
Individual employee stationery supplies
In the current climate, each employee needs to have their own stationery supplies to ensure items are not shared.
Risk assessments
Traditionally offices would have one hole-punch and one stapler that can be used by all, but with new guidelines in place, the use of a single piece of equipment by all employees – especially one that is used regularly by the full push of a palm, is being flagged up in risk assessments.
Risks in these areas are being identified and the controls to manage that risk involves ensuring employees have their own pen pot with their own writing supplies and any small equipment they may need.
Plans and preparation
When planning to bring employees back in, look at the equipment they will need to use on a regular basis and make a list of what should be included in your staff stationery packages.
You can look at the options for stationery here we have listed a few additional items below that we have been distributing to businesses looking to minimise risk:
Recycled and recyclable
We are making a concerted effort to reduce the number of catalogues we have printed, to reduce paper usage and waste, which is why we are promoting our online ordering facility. There is a wide range of eco-friendly and recycled and recyclable products available.
Needs range dependent on industry and if there is something specific you are looking for, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us on (01952) 292606.
July 4th marks Independents’ Day in the UK – also known as UK Indie Day.
What is Independents’ Day?
Independents’ Day UK is a campaign that exists to support and promote independent retail businesses across the UK all year round, but with an annual focus on July 4th.
Independents account for around 65% of the approximately 290,000 retail outlets in the UK and are at the heart of local communities throughout the country.
What is an independent business?
Independently owned and operated means a business that independently manages and controls its day-to-day operations through its ownership and management.
As a family business, Chrisbeon is independent and has been for nearly 50 years now. For us, it is important to have a relationship with our clients to ensure we are giving them office furniture and supplies that suits them and how they work.
Independents Day promotes independent businesses and allows us to share what we do, how we do it and how that benefits our customers.
What we do and how we do it…
Chrisbeon works with employers to ensure that they provide a suitable environment for their employees, leading to high morale and increased productivity.
We meet the needs of each individual customer – starting from a conversation and leading to a CAD plan so that they can see exactly what we are suggesting, adapting the plans to how they would like it to be, and sourcing all of the furniture and supplies, including printers, shredders, storage and more, that they require.
We can then deliver the products to the door, build the furniture on-site so that we can see if there are any issues and conduct DSE checks on display screen equipment to ensure employee health and safety.
UK Indie Day 2020
The 2020 Independents Day is extremely important as many independent businesses are reopening after the Coronavirus lockdown.
Social media engagement and insight tool Maybe* is supporting the campaign this year and conducted a survey to provide some insight to independent retailers about what they can expect of shoppers.
Maybe* surveyed would-be shoppers to understand if and when they will return to the shops and showrooms, and what their concerns will be.
What will shoppers do post-lockdown?
Of those surveyed 90% said they plan to return to the shops, but 47% of people did say they were nervous about it.
Around 45% said they have no intention of returning to the High Street any time soon but 43% said they planned to shop as before and 7.5% said they are planning to shop more.
Polly Barnfield OBE, the CEO of Maybe*, said: “Britain’s retailers should feel confident that despite the ongoing concerns around COVID, the vast majority of shoppers are ready to start spending again.
“Equally, retailers should be aware of what consumers expect from them to make their shopping experience as reassuring and safe as possible.”
Social-distancing measures
We know that people may be nervous and have created a one-way system within our Telford showroom, along with hand-sanitising at the door, to make sure that social-distancing is carried out.
We look forward to seeing our customers again and working with them to create the home offices or business layouts that they need as we come out of lockdown.