Monthly Archives: September 2022

Going Beyond Commercial Furniture

While OEC in Boise, ID, is known for helping clients create amazing spaces that attract and retain talent, we do much more than that. In addition to our excellent furniture installation and design services, we excel in Division 10 specialties and Commercial Doors. To give a better overview of what we can do for your building or furniture project, we have broken it down.

Commercial Furniture Services:

OEC is the largest commercial furniture dealership in Idaho, with a sizeable in-house installation team of professional tradesmen. Combined with our outstanding workplace consultants and designers, we help our clients create an amazing space where employees want to work.

Our experienced workplace consultants work with clients to understand the needs of their organization. Then, they collaborate with OEC designers to address those needs with furniture solutions. Finally, our operations team coordinates to deliver and install the furniture on time and on budget.

Moves

In addition to installing new office, government, or educational spaces, our install team can make office moves. If your company is moving offices, our experienced team can move all your existing furniture to your new location. We are experts in commercial furniture, so we know how to properly handle and transport everything with extreme care.

Reconfigures

If your organization’s needs have changed, the OEC team can help you reconfigure your furniture to meet those needs. For example, we can move furniture to new locations, change workstation layouts, move walls, and more. A reconfiguration is a great way to rethink your space using your existing furniture.

Cleaning

Cleaning furniture is an integral part of keeping your equipment in top shape. OEC’s installation team is trained and ready to help clean your workstation panels and chair furniture whenever you need it. Our state-of-the-art cleaning machines break down stains and clean fabrics to help make our workspaces more sanitary. We can clean your task chairs, side chairs, club/lounge seating, sofas\couches, and panels, and wipe down your worksurfaces and leather furniture.

Acoustics

Making an open office a quiet place to work can be a challenge. That is where acoustic solutions come into play. At OEC, we have access to various excellent office acoustic solutions. Whether you are looking for hanging panels, ceiling or wall panels, or even a sound masking product, we can help.

Acoustic panels can become interesting art pieces while also absorbing sound. Sound masking systems are easy-to-install speaker systems that create white noise in targeted zones throughout your office. Whichever solution works best for you, we can help procure and install it for you.

Commercial Window Coverings

Every building needs window coverings to manage solar heat, glare, and employee comfort. Luckily, OEC is your Idaho leader for commercial window covering installation, service, and repair. We work with top brands to provide you with motorized and atomized shades, horizontal and vertical blinds, roller shades, honeycomb shades, and drapes. Not only do we procure and install these products, we can also help service and repair them.  

Storage Racking

Transitioning to the construction side of OEC’s offerings, storage racking is the first item on the list. Storage racking can make all the difference for companies with large amounts of inventory. Whether you have a large warehouse or a large room, storage racking will help keep your products safe and organized.

Racking can also be used in more residential settings. For example, many multifamily complexes will provide storage solutions for their tenants. Whatever you need to store, OEC can help install your racking and shelving.

Prefab Construction

OEC’s Construction team specifies, procures, and installs a variety of products, including lockers, operable walls, and visual display boards to name a few. So whether you are a general contractor, facilities manager, or building owner in Boise or out of state, we can help.

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One of the main reasons employees enjoy working from home is control; control over their schedules, their focus, and their postures. When working from home, no one cares if you kick your feet up on the couch or get cozy under a big blanket. You can take any range of postures in any number of rooms to find how you work best.

However, in the office, few employees have that level of control. They are restrained to one workspace, sometimes in one posture, visible to everyone. Building an alluring office should be a key part of your return to work strategy.

How Do Create An Alluring Office By Giving Employees Individual Control?

The discussion around returning to the office often focuses on work life balance, but there is more. Offering individual control is critical when luring remote workers back to the office. Places where people can find privacy, will be among the most coveted spaces in an office. According to Steelcase research, three of the top four elements people value now relate to private spaces.

It makes sense! After months or years spent in the privacy of the home, it is no wonder that employees now look for private and often quiet spaces in an office. Those spaces need to be available, whether someone needs to make a personal phone call or hide away for a few hours to focus. So, creating nooks, visual separation, and other focus rooms is more important than ever to draw back employees.

How Do I Create A Less Distracting Office?

Distractions at home are different than distractions in the office. For starters, home distractions can be anticipated and even scheduled. Children leave and return at specific times, and chores like laundry can be flexible.

In the office, you can’t predict who might walk by, stop to ask a question, or otherwise throw you off your groove. So, removing as many distractions as possible when trying to entice employees to come back is critical. Many of these distractions are audible, so better acoustical solutions, privacy walls, or sound masking systems can help manage sound.

Other distractions at work come from too-open sightlines. When an office is completely open, employees can often become distracted by coworkers. When employees must have heads-down time, adding movable screens or creating quiet nooks are great privacy solutions.

How To I Design a Biophilic Office Environment?

An excellent feature of working from a home office is quick and easy access to natural light and plant life. Scientifically we know that humans are positively impacted by natural light and plants, so the more we interact with them, the better. However, many offices can not offer exposure to natural light or an outdoor patio.

If your office has artificial lighting, it would be wise to invest in lighting that will mimic a circadian rhythm (the body’s internal clock). This translates to blue light in the morning, white light in the afternoon, and red light in the evening. And if you lack views of the outdoors, biophilic office design can come in handy.

The biophilia hypothesis states that humans have an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other life forms. If this is true, filling your office with plant life is a great way to improve oxygen levels and create a welcoming and relaxing environment. Incorporating biophilia can have healthful benefits and be as easy as using natural materials in your office, pictures of nature, leaf prints, or potted plants.

Organizations seeking to create a more alluring office to entice their employees back to the office would do well to 1. Give employees individual control over their workspace. 2. Remove distractions. 3. Bring light and plant life into the space.

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