Standard Grade

Administration

Area of Study 1: Administrative Support

Unit 2 – The Working Environment

Unit 2a – Office Layout

Theory Notes

Contents

INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................................................3

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF OFFICE LAYOUT (F)....................................................................................3

CELLULAR............................................................................................................................................................3Advantages of Cellular Office Layouts...........................................................................................................3Disadvantages of Cellular Office Layouts......................................................................................................4

OPEN PLAN/FLEXIBLE..........................................................................................................................................4Advantages of Open Plan...............................................................................................................................4Disadvantages of Open Plan..........................................................................................................................5

THE FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN DECIDING ON OFFICE LAYOUT......................................................................5

APPROPRIATE FURNITURE (F)......................................................................................................................6

IMPORTANT FEATURES OF OFFICE FURNITURE.....................................................................................................6Office Furniture..............................................................................................................................................6

LAYOUTS FOR DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES (G)..............................................................................................8

LAYOUT OF WORK STATIONS (G)................................................................................................................8

WORKING PRACTICES.....................................................................................................................................8

CHANGING WORK PATTERNS.......................................................................................................................8

LOSS OF EMPLOYMENT..................................................................................................................................8

HOMEWORKING/TELEWORKING...........................................................................................................................9Advantages of teleworking..............................................................................................................................9Disadvantages of teleworking......................................................................................................................10

PERMANENT DESKS...........................................................................................................................................11HOT DESKING....................................................................................................................................................11HOT ROOM.........................................................................................................................................................11TOUCHDOWN AREAS.........................................................................................................................................11CARRELS............................................................................................................................................................12

ORGANISATION OF WORK...........................................................................................................................12

JOB SHARE.........................................................................................................................................................12FLEXITIME..........................................................................................................................................................12

EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT LAYOUTS (C)...........................................................................................13

Implications for management (C)..........................................................................................................................13

Standard Grade Administration Area of Study 1: Administrative Support

Introduction(Source: www.teach-ict.com)

Over the last couple of decades ICT has changed the world of work beyond recognition. Some industries have practically ceased to exist, some have had to change and adapt to take on board new technology and some brand new industries have developed.

The different types of office layout (F)

CellularA cellular office is an office which has fixed walls and a door where a person would normally work on their own. It is usually furnished with traditional furniture eg a desk and chair. One or 2 people work in a cellular office and leave their working material there because they use the same office every day.

Advantages of Cellular Office Layouts Easier to restrict access to equipment or confidential information. Less distractions to workers/interruptions by other employees. Confidential meetings can be held Rooms can be personalised to suit employees working in the room or

type of work being undertaken Employees can adjust heating, lighting, ventilation, etc to suit

themselves Noisy office equipment can be placed in a separate room

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Standard Grade Administration Area of Study 1: Administrative Support

Infections and illnesses are less easily spread through the organisation

Disadvantages of Cellular Office Layouts It is more difficult for a manager to supervise employees who are

in a number of separate rooms. Communication may be less efficient Time may be wasted in passing information and work from one

room to another Equipment costs are very high. Staff may feel isolated from other employees. Individual rooms cost more to equip and redecorate; walls, doors

and windows take up valuable (and expensive) space It may not be easy to increase or decrease size of work areas to

match changes in the volume of work It is more difficult to create a relaxed and friendly atmosphere as

line managers are likely to be in separate rooms It is more difficult to introduce and maintain standard procedures

Open Plan/FlexibleA large area where many employees work together.

Advantages of Open Plan Line managers should find it easier to

supervise It should be easier to organise meetings of

groups of employees Less time should be wasted in passing information and work from one

group of employees to another Employees are likely to have a better understanding of how their area

of work fits into the overall work of the organisation Less space is wasted with fewer walls and doors; lighting, heating and

cleaning should be less expensive and easier to organise The size of work areas can be increased or decreased to match

changes in the volume of work A more relaxed and friendly atmosphere can be created with

employees and line managers working in the same area – should lead to increased cooperation across sections of the organisation

Equipment, eg photocopiers, fax machines and scanner, can be more easily shared

Disadvantages of Open Plan Employees may find it difficult to concentrate on their work because of

background noise

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Standard Grade Administration Area of Study 1: Administrative Support

Employees may be distracted or have their work interrupted by other employees or by through-traffic

It may be more difficult to restrict access by unauthorized staff to equipment or confidential information (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfx8Oy8RSzM&feature=related)

There are likely to be fewer suitable areas for holding confidential or important meetings

Infections and illnesses can be more easily spread amongst employees Likely to be less wall space for departmental information (charts,

tables, pictures, etc) Private offices may still be required for senior staff Standard lighting, heating and ventilation may not suit all activities or

all employees

The factors to consider when deciding on office layout

The layout chosen by an organisation will depend upon: The size of the organisation – the number of employees Whether the organisation is expanding or contracting The type of work undertaken by the organisation The accommodation available to the organisation The financial resources available to the organisation

The layout chosen should: Be adaptable to meet changes in the type of volume of work Provide sufficient work and storage space Take account of the flow of work – time taken to pass information from

one section to another should be kept to a minimum Allow employees to move about easily – passageways should be wide

and free from obstruction Be economical to maintain, ie to decorate, keep clean and heat Provide easy access to services, eg power points and phone sockets Provide easy access to equipment, eg filing cabinets, photocopiers,

printers and fax machines Provide security for equipment and information

Appropriate furniture (F)

Important features of office furnitureAs well as giving careful consideration to the layout of the office, organisations need to think about: the type of furniture to be used the layout of furniture and equipment the layout of workstations

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Standard Grade Administration Area of Study 1: Administrative Support

Office Furniture

Desks Size and shape of work surface should suit the work to be undertaken Mobile pedestal units (with drawers or shelves) may be placed beneath

work surfaces Consideration should be given to height, depth, width, weight,

mobility, etc Work surface should be non-reflective Should match and be able to combined with other office furniture

Workstations L-shaped desk: an employee can carry out computer work on one part

of the desk and turn to the other part to do paperwork, make phone calls, etc

Consideration should be given to cable management – some workstations have channels to store/hide cables

Desks of different sizes and shapes may be bought to allow for a variety of layouts

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Standard Grade Administration Area of Study 1: Administrative Support

Storage UnitsMetal storage units provide some protection against fire and flood.

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Bookcase (used for holding reference books, publications, reports, manuals, etc)

Vertical filing cabinet (used for holding correspondence and other business documents)Multi-drawer

cabinet (used for storing loose papers/forms, thick files, odd-sized documents, manuals, etc)

Storage cabinet/cupboard (used for storing stationery supplies, box files, folders, etc)

Mobile pedestal (used for storing stationery and small items of office equipment [stapler, paper punch, scissors, etc] required at a workstation)

Lateral filing cabinet (used for holding a wide range of business documents)

Card index box (used for holding index cards on customers, suppliers, employees, etc)

Cardboard box file (used for storing papers which have not been fully dealt with)

Metal box file (used as a mini-filing cabinet and when transporting files)

Standard Grade Administration Area of Study 1: Administrative Support

Layouts for different activities (G)

Layout of work stations (G)

Working Practices

Changing work patterns (Source: http://www.teach-ict.com/gcse/theory/work_and_employment/miniweb/pg7.htm)

The introduction of ICT has led to a huge change in working hours. People who traditionally only worked 9-5, Monday to Friday, may now find that they have to work evening, nights and weekends in order to provide the service that customers expect. This can leave them feeling tired and stressed.

Customers expect to be able to call their bank or building society in the evenings, sometimes even at 3am - someone has to be there to answer the telephone.

Customers expect to be able to buy their goods online at midnight - someone has to be there to ensure that the website is working correctly and that the servers don't have any problems.

Customers expect goods to be on the supermarket shelves when they want them. Lorries have to be driven night and day to ensure this and so route planners need to be available to replan a route when delays occurs.

Loss of employment (Source:

http://www.teach-ict.com/gcse/theory/work_and_employment/miniweb/pg8.htm)

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Standard Grade Administration Area of Study 1: Administrative Support

Inevitably, since ICT can automate many jobs and do them not only faster but also more accurately, then many of the old jobs have disappeared.

We no longer have typing pools full of secretaries, there is no need for an office full of clerks to calculate and count out weekly wages, there is no need for printers to manually typeset the newspaper pages. Many hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs over the last couple of decades.

Job loss is not pleasant; it affects peoples' self worth and creates all kinds of stress and disruption in families and society in general.

Homeworking/Teleworking(Source:

http://www.teach-ict.com/gcse/theory/work_and_employment/miniweb/pg13.htm)

The introduction of ICT has led to a big change in the way some people work. Because of the Internet and the ability to communicate with the company network from anywhere in the world, many workers now work part time or full time from home.

Telework is not a specific job in itself, it is a method of working, which is usually taken to mean doing your job from home.

There is no legal definition of teleworking, but the essential feature is the use of information technology to enable people to work away from the office.

This could apply to people working full time or part-time at home, those dividing their time between home and the office, and mainly mobile workers who use their home as an administrative base.

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Telework is growing. Over 7 million people in the UK now use IT to help them work away from the traditional office environment, either full time or part time.It is estimated that the average person spends around 4 hours travelling to work each week. That is a lot of time sat in a car!

Advantages of teleworking (Source:

http://www.teach-ict.com/gcse/theory/work_and_employment/miniweb/pg14.htm)

For individuals - You can work the hours you want, so if you like to get up at 6am and finish by

lunchtime, you can do that. Likewise, if you are a sleepyhead, you can stay in bed until noon and work until late in the evening.

- It makes possible to work around family commitments, for example young children or elderly parents.

- You can take a break when you want one. You can stop to chat to a friend if the phone rings or watch something on the TV.

- It saves a huge amount of time that would normally be spent travelling to work. There is no need to spend an hour each morning and evening stuck in traffic jams. You can spend that time working instead.

- You save the cost of petrol that you would normally need to travel to work and also the cost of car parking tickets.

For the company - They might be able to keep hold of valuable members of staff who might otherwise

leave, for example, women who have just had a baby. - They can have smaller premises so they save money on rent, car parking space, heat etc.- They get workers who might be more satisified with their jobs and thus be more

committed or work harder. - They can employ people who don't live near to the office. This means they can choose

people who might be willing to work for lower wages. They can even employ people from other countries.

- If there is a shortage of skilled labour in the local area then they can get the skilled staff that they need from elsewhere in the country.

(See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5JeJzNuaDo)

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Disadvantages of teleworking (Source: http://www.teach-ict.com/gcse/theory/work_and_employment/miniweb/pg15.htm)

For individuals - It is hard to feel like you can ever get away from work.- You might end up working longer hours than you would

in an office. You think, 'I'll just do a bit more, I'll just check my email'.

- You might always be 'on call'. Because you are at home, the office might think that you are always available to do just a bit more work

- Sometimes it can be hard to motivate yourself. There can be a lot of distractions and you might be tempted to do other things rather than work

- You can miss out on the social side of work. There is no team spirit, no one to talk to and you can feel lonely

- It might affect your career prospects. If a promotion comes up in the office, you might not be thought about for the role.

For the company - They are not always sure that people are putting in the right amount of hours- Work might not be delivered on time- Workers might not be at home to receive an email or urgent telephone call- Work might be of a lower standard than when produced in the office- Hard to motivate staff and have a feeling of a good company spirit.

Permanent DesksPermanent desks are used by the same person every day and all the materials that they need to work with are kept in the desk. These desks belong to someone while they are at work and the same member of staff will usually occupy this desk every day.

Hot Desking Working areas/telephones are available for employees to use when they

are in the office for a short period of time. Hot desks (or workstations) can be booked in advance for use by any

employee. Hot desks have a standard layout and equipment – usually a large work

area with a computer (with standard applications and access to the organisation’s computer network), operator chair and phone.

It is, of course important that an employee clears away any materials she/he has been using so that the hot desk is ready for the next employee to use.

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Standard Grade Administration Area of Study 1: Administrative Support

Hot RoomEmployees may book ‘hot rooms’ in advance to hold meetings with customers, clients or other employees. This will allow private conversations and/or confidential matters to be dealt with.

Touchdown Areas They are for employees

who require to make a brief visit to the office, eg to send an e-mail or fax.

Touchdown areas may take the form of a coffee bar with high tables and stools.

Touchdown areas do not need to be booked in advance.

Carrels Some organisations may provide small booths (carrels) for employees

to work in. Carrels provide more privacy, and fewer distractions, for employees

working in an open plan environment.

Organisation of Work

Job Share

Job Share is an arrangement where 2 people divide the duties and responsibilities of one full-time job (namely hours, salary, holidays etc).

Advantages: Employers are often able to keep staff (who may otherwise have left). Because of a reduced working commitment staff morale is improved. Two people sharing a job often provide different skills and expertise. Allows a good work/life balance.

Flexitime

Core time refers to the hours of the day when an organisation requires its employees to be at work (eg between 10 am and 12 noon and between 2 and 4 pm).

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Advantages to employees: Allows an employee to choose their own working hours (outwith core

time) Allows employees to avoid peak travelling times. Allows employees to build up extra hours and ‘bank’ these to take

time off at a later date. Employees may find it easier to organise their working hours around

personal commitments.

Advantages to employers: Core time allows employers/customers to know when staff are in the

workplace. Core time allows meetings to be arranged (with all staff). Staff are less likely to take time off, eg for doctor, dentist

appointments Staff will be happier/more motivated/work harder. Less absenteeism.

Evaluation of different layouts (C)

Implications for management (C)

Plan how change will be introduced Introduce change gradually Inform employees what is happening Involve employees Provide appropriate training Monitor the process of change at each stage

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