Aja Macheel
The pandemic is no longer a valid excuse; it's time to spruce up your business
There’s a proven psychology in creating a beautiful space no matter where you are — whether you work at home or in a workplace. Keeping up with that space makes others feel considered. Does your workplace feel alive and current or stagnant and stale? When was the last time you reconsidered your workplace aesthetic? Below are a few I’ve noticed around town, along with some tips to get a fresh look, no matter where you work each day.
Guilty of a few of these? It's OK. We’ve been working hard on other things. Let’s laugh it off together and commit to a fresh year and fresh look!
The Ghost Town
Recently I’ve found myself walking into reception offices and lobbies that feel like an absolute ghost town. I wonder if I’m in the right place, and there’s not often anyone there to help. Eventually, I find my way through what feels like an abandoned building to the suite where my appointment is. Have you had this experience? It’s like a post-pandemic apocalyptic office landscape.
Commercial spaces these days still bear the scars of the early onset of the pandemic: Reception desks abandoned long ago, sitting empty. Disheveled furniture spaced out in haphazard groupings. How about those big stickers on the floor reminding everyone to social distance, or old tape marks on the floor collecting dirt? Dead plants in the corners, crispy and frozen in time. Burnt out light bulbs and outdated signage. Sometimes it even feels uneasy to end up in the wrong hallway of one of these places, and that certainly doesn’t lend itself to a reliable impression of your business.
Take a moment to step back and look at your space. Reconfigure the furniture. Take those stickers off the floor. Remove unnecessary signage. Replace that dead plant. Add fresh flowers to the desk to remind your clients and colleagues that there is life and vibrance in that space and that your workplace is current.
The Place that Never Caught Up
This challenge isn’t segregated to just office buildings. Some retail, dining and brick-and-mortar businesses leave me with the same impression: Wiped-out shelves, abandoned aesthetic, visible storage, too much signage and remnants of years we hope to soon forget. This overload can leave the customer confused about your product or service and how well you’ve caught up since 2020. With challenges like just making sure you get your shipments on time, aesthetics can easily fall to the bottom of the list — I know firsthand. However, even though there are still numerous challenges to contend with for any brick-and-mortar outfit, your customers are ready to move on and feel fresh, so make sure you’re leaving that impression.
Peel the layers of tape and signs off the windows and create something clean. Let the natural light come through to light up the space and add some living plants or succulents to your display tables. Consolidate or ditch empty shelves and make the magic with what you have. Make it fun and reassess what your first impression feels like. Involve some fresh eyes from your company staff for a different perspective.
The Dismal Dining Room
For restaurants, notice which areas you have quarantined or blocked off, or if there is visible storage. It’s not a great look. Nowhere else to store your stuff? Buy a large plant for the entrance of that space to serve as a barrier to visible storage or create a display out of your boxes. A planter on castors is a great way to reconfigure dining spaces, indoors and out. Avoid that abandoned feeling in any room with a big floor plant or holiday tree for a photo op.
Tiny sprigs of leaves, evergreens, even twigs in bud vases on your tables, are also an added touch that feels current to the season. It doesn’t need to be fancy or expensive. Just thoughtful — work with what you have and the nature around you. Make sure guest waiting areas are fresh and up to date.
How about the outdoor planters? Talk about very first impressions! I’ve seen some dreadful planters outside of some fabulous restaurants with great food. Don’t forget about those and make them look great for every season. This is where you can relay to your guests that you are fresh and seasonal. Hire a local service or shop a local nursery for help.
The Whole Kit and Caboodle
Finally, there is one more elephant in the room to discuss when it comes to reimagining your workplace and freshening things up. Contrary to abandoned spaces, front desks overlayered with a mismatch of décor can feel so chaotic. I get it — we must cheer ourselves and everyone up! But have you ever stood at a reception desk with so many holiday decorations and flower pens, statues, candy, fountains and stickers and you felt dizzy? Have you seen someone who has nested into their desks at the office, burrowing deeply into their cubicles filled with trinkets, sports paraphernalia or kitschy décor?
Let me first say that I am a proponent to support each employee’s diversity and have a space of inclusivity and expression. Designate that space as a breakroom and employee bulletin or wall, a personal cubicle, etc.
However, the customer-facing part of your business should be clean and organized. Take a fresh look at that reception desk or host stand and ask yourself what functionally needs to be there. Sometimes it helps to entirely clear the space and reconfigure it from scratch. Designate a single person to set the tone for holiday décor or themed décor. Better yet, hire a service to bring in holiday offerings or florals rotationally. You will be able to choose themes and a schedule that’s right for you, so they decorate and you celebrate.
It’s obvious that we are not going to have the mass exodus back into the office as expected. There’s been no big “welcome back” celebration or pomp and circumstance. Each business has pivoted differently, recreating workspaces at home and changing the retail and dining landscape. Remote job descriptions are expanding and we’re all using our space a little bit differently right now.
With the lack of resources or workforce as a challenge for some, thinking about the entrance to the building or the reception area surely hasn’t even been considered yet. Well, now is that moment. It’s time to pull up our bootstraps and look at how rundown everything has gotten in the past few years. Look at your spaces with fresh eyes and see what you’ve been aesthetically overlooking. What fell under the radar since the shutdown? Is my workspace welcoming when customers enter and are we representing our brand and message?
We are not in the beginning of the pandemic anymore, Alice. Do this for yourself and see what a difference it makes. If you’re unsure, hire a consultant to come look at your space for a new furniture configuration, fresh plants and flowers, outdoor planters, paint or new signage. Make a few small changes to keep things fresh and I guarantee it will be noticed.
Aja Macheel is an interiorscape design specialist with 20 years’ horticultural experience. She is currently the sales manager at Salt Lake City’s Cactus & Tropicals.