The most recent industry reports show that the office furniture industry has had quite a boost in the last three years thanks to a higher level of occupancy rates in offices throughout the UK.

The occupancy levels of offices all over the UK and in particular in central London areas is being stated as the primary cause for such a healthy boost to the office furniture market.  Higher occupancy levels has resulted in an increased need for a wide variety of office related items such as office desks and office seating.

The Office Furniture Research and Markets report also gave relevant information on daily working practices and indicated that office trends have firmly turned towards advanced technology, which has also had an impact on the office furniture market.  This new technology has meant that office furniture has had to shrink in size to match consumer desire.  For example, office desks are now much smaller because the old bulky monitors have been replaced with new slimline flatscreen computers or laptops.

The price of office furniture has also been reduced thanks to increased pressure from low cost imported office furniture items from places such as America, China and the rest of Europe, particularly in the area of office chairs.

It seems that the world of office work is constantly speeding up and nowadays, thanks to computers and other technological gadgets, we must work harder and faster whilst still achieving efficiency and ever great productivity.  Now we are in a recession, we must continue to do all of this whilst still keeping costs as low as we can.

Thanks to these tough demands, office furniture manufacturers are always working to see how office seating and office desks can be changed to better suit different purposes.

For example, one of the latest most innovative office desks has plugs incorporated within it so you can plug electrical items directly into it.  Reportedly, the desk actually generates electricity using magnetic fields.  Items such as laptops, mobiles, rechargeable batteries and mp3 players can all be plugged in.

Such an invention would be able to save a company time and space, and if ideas such as this could be applied to other office furniture items, such as office seating, then the office in a few years could be very different and even more hi-tech than the offices we use now.

Increasingly, the office shredder is becoming an essential piece of office equipment and sitting between the office desks just as the printer does.

Criminals are becoming more and more savvy and devious in the ways in which they will try to gain access to a person’s financial and personal details but there is still nothing simpler than picking up the paper being thrown away, and thus the shredder’s importance has increased.

A shredder is the easiest way to destroy personal details on paper.  Something as simple as an ATM receipt or bank statement can give away information that a criminal can make use of.

When buying your office furniture, make sure a shredder is on your list of items.  Consider its size, weight and capacity when you are purchasing.  How much paper waste are you likely to generate; the answer to this question will determine whether a table top shredder to sit on the office desks would be sufficient or if you need something a little larger.

Years ago, we may not have thought that something such as an office shredder could become so indispensable but when we set up office, this item is almost as important as the office seating.

The key to the organization of an office is its filing, whether it is filing cabinet, shelves or an online filing system.  No matter how much you can get your filing on soft copies on a computer, there is no business that can run entirely without paper.  If you can have an effective and well organized filing system, you are halfway to a successful business already.

However, it is surprising how many companies forget about the filing systems when they re-design the office and purchase new office furniture.  They rush out to purchase office desks, office seating and even executive office furniture, but forget to pick up a filing cabinet or two.

Filing or storage cabinets can now be purchased in a variety of materials to match your office furniture and can even be custom designed.  There are different sorts of locks, safety features and mobile storage, so the choice of filing cabinet is almost as wide as the choice of furniture itself.  Another consideration is how the drawers open and close, for instance, in some offices it is acceptable to have a fair degree of noise but if the office is used for important telephone calls and visitors, then a soft and quiet close can appear more professional.

So next time you rush out to buy some new office furniture, remember to consider the office filing too.

At times such as these when cash flow can be a little tight, there are plenty of offices that have not seen a spring clean in years.  Perhaps your office is looking a little dull now that the paint has faded and needs a little bit of a face lift and more often than not, the office furniture is also looking a little worn and faded.  When we look closely in an office, there are often office desks that are chipped, especially on the corners, and office seating that looks a little worse for wear.

It is generally advised that an office has a bit of an update or ‘spring clean’ once a year.  It is also a good idea to do a full office clear out at the same time, especially if your office is still predominantly paper based and you have boxes of paper and files stacked around.  It can make a refreshing change and give staff a little uplift to move the office furniture around every now and then.

Recycling is also a good idea so don’t just bin all the old documents you no longer require.  If you keep office desks tidy and clear then there should be less clutter to clear and the spring clean should take less time too.

The Bank of England’s governor, Mervyn King, last week confirmed his thoughts that the UK is in for a deep recession and he expects that we will see a decline of as much as 3 percent this year.  Many of us have felt the recession personally and even if we ourselves have held onto our jobs, almost everyone knows somebody who has sadly lost their job in the last twelve months.

Sometimes it is inevitable and there is nothing that you can do, but here are some tips to help keep a job in the recession:

•    Be seen: Within larger companies it is easy to be seen as just a number so it is important to raise your profile within the company.  That could be by ensuring you are one of those people sat at their office desks early in the morning, increasing the productivity levels more than anyone else or simply being one of those keeping morale high in the team, but make sure your manager knows you’re there
•    Be innovative: This does not always mean coming up with the greatest idea since sliced bread for a new product or something.  It could be a simple idea to help the company save a few pennies or make some pennies.  It could be that there is office furniture in the old staff room that could be re-used, or making sure all the employees switch off their computer to save power when they leave their office desks at night
•    Don’t complain: At times like these, there are many people working harder for less money.  Try to avoid sitting back in your office chair and complaining to everyone who will listen.  Be grateful you have a job and be sure that you are one keeping morale up, rather than letting the news leak back to your boss that you’re dragging the team down
•    Skills update: Find a way to improve your skills.  There are plenty of free courses.  If you can find something related to your job, make sure you inform your boss about it, otherwise, perhaps you could look for a way to diversify in case the worst should happen

In recent articles, we have discussed the importance of internal communications in the office but communications whilst we are on the move is a different topic altogether as there is a real skill involved in keeping in touch whilst either working from home or traveling about on business.

The laptop is a great invention, giving us the ability to have the power of a personal computer from anywhere.  Laptops do not need office desks to work and thanks to wireless internet connections, we can communicate from anywhere in the world instantly.

Mobile communication is more advanced than ever before and workers are no longer chained to their office desks.  Indeed, we can now complete our work whilst we are on the move.  Mobile technology allows business executives to work whilst they are traveling rather than wasting their travel time and working parents are able to work from home when the needs of their children demand of them.

Camilla Cochrand, T-Mobile’s Blackberry marketing manager said:

“For working mothers, a lot of the difficulty they have is being able to grab those minutes between meetings and the office desk, or on their way to or from work, and make the most of them.  A device like the Blackberry is so handy for that because you don’t have to be anywhere in particular to use it. Working mums feel more in control as they know they’ve got it covered.”

Thanks to computers and our beloved office desks, many people are spending more and more hours in the office and getting little exercise.  This office based existence means that obesity has become an issue and the hours sat at an office desk can only contribute to this.

The Minnesota-based company, the Mayo Clinic, has set up a new office designed for the future, which includes a space for people to work out as they work.  The world of office furniture could be changed forever if this catches on.

The new office includes a special office desk complete with a treadmill attached so that you can walk whilst you talk on the phone.  The tests showed people lost around 15 pounds over six months using the system and felt much better for it.

Naturally, the scheme has attracted its critics who are unsure whether this would really work in the real world, however, there are modern, forward-thinking companies offering discounted gym membership for employees or yoga lessons in their lunch break so maybe this is the office of the future?  There are other ways to benefit from exercise whilst in the office, such as replacing the office chair with a Pilates ball but the new office has to be practical as well as functional.

In the last decade or so, the world of the office has changed substantially.  In fact, looking at the three main technological advances of last century, it is hard to imagine office life without them now.

Even if we forget the advent of the personal computer itself, the internet revolutionised this world and changed not only how we do business but also how we communicate, market ourselves and research information.  The internet has become a normal part of everyday life and as we sit in our office chairs each morning and switch on the computer it is often the first thing we turn to.  Many people have even made careers and built their fortune from the internet.

Email was a natural evolution from the internet.  We think nothing of a hundred page document that appears at the click of a button.  This method of communication not only saves an immense number of hours but large reams of paper too, although we are still some way from the paperless office originally promised.  Communication like this from our office chairs was unimaginable previously.

Who could forget the mobile phone? Although it has been around longer, the mobile phone never seems to stop evolving and growing with the other technological advances.  Not only are they smaller and thinner, they now incorporate the internet and email capacity for information, freeing us from our chain of office desks.

It is all too easy, especially when you are still a small company, to get carried away when it comes time to purchase office furniture and office accessories.  After all, the market is full of some really funky and useful accessories for the computer, office desks or more.

However, before you rush out and purchase these accessories, stop to consider whether they are really an essential.  In times like these, any money going spare is probably best used on essentials only or saved for a rainy day.  The ones that are essentials are things like the ergonomic accessories as these could increase your profits and avoid any staff work injuries.

As an example of these, basic ergonomic accessories include items such as a keyboard wrist rest or an LCD monitor arm.  Both of these will help to protect members of staff from work related injuries and strains such as repetitive strain injury.  A keyboard rest can avoid carpal tunnel syndrome.

The LCD monitor arm is designed to mount an LCD panel monitor to the back of the office desks – or anywhere else if you prefer.  Ideally, the computer monitor should be at head height.  It also has a practical purpose as it increases the work surface of the office desk available for working or paperwork, helps keep the office looking clear and professional and allows the employee to adjust the screen as the sun moves through the day.

There are other essentials such as foot stools that can be useful so be sure to conduct regular health and safety checks of employee’s workstations.