People generally assume that hard work and calibre of the employees working in the office are the sole reasons of its growth and productivity. While they unquestionably play a great role in achieving the goal, office furniture too plays a catalyst in boosting and enhancing the productivity of an organisation.

Everything from the keyboard, to the filing cabinet, chairs, desks, and shelves, among others that are used in the office affect the overall functioning of employees. If office furniture is not comfortable enough, productivity and the working style of the employees can suffer. Hence, while buying office furniture, one should be extremely careful and opt for furniture that compliments the working style.

With this concept, offices today are more focused on building a work-friendly and comfortable environment, and shifting from using traditional furniture to the concept of building efficient modular workspaces. "Earlier, traditional furniture was the first choice of corporate houses, but today they prefer modular furniture as they offer diversity and customisation facilities," says Dev Raj Mishra, chairperson of Karuna Interior Ltd, adding that the demand for such furniture has seen tremendous growth in the past couple of years. Modular furniture is appealing to look at and provides space in even small areas for a large number of employees. Karuna Interior has been providing modular furniture with full package since the last eight years along with one-year free maintenance service.

The advantages of modular office furniture are many as they are considered to be one of the best ways to accomplish flexibility and help employees to work efficiently. It can be used for executive offices, workstations, front desk and in other areas."Other conventional furniture will somehow look overcrowded and cluttered, but modular furniture is multi-purpose and designed accordingly," adds Mishra.

"Many businesses grow as time passes, and it is not possible to give most employees their own working space. Ultimately, most of these employees end up having partitions or cubicles. This is also one of the reasons for the increasing use of modular furniture," says Nawaraj Joshi, salesperson of AS Furniture at Lagankhel, adding that they are designed with standardised units and dimensions.

They are portable and easy to assemble and incur less labour cost to shift or to change the look of the office by rearranging them. According to Joshi, some of the furniture have wheels to increase the ease of mobility. These furniture systems are subdivided into smaller parts, such as desks, hutches, stationary and mobile filing cabinets, lateral files, overhead storage shelves, keyboard trays, bookcases, and more. They are available in a wide range of colours, styles, types and materials.

They come with wooden and aluminium partitions. According to traders, business houses mostly opt for wooden partition as compared to aluminium, though the former is priced higher than the latter.

"Because of fine finish, sleek look and comfort, wooden furniture is getting more popular nowadays," adds Joshi. With modular furniture, one can increase or decrease the level of privacy with higher or lower walls, as well as conceal all the wires and data connectors.

Elaborating on the advantages of modular furniture, Mishra says, "Since it provides smaller units, it gives a sense of privacy to the employees which helps them work efficiently as there is less distraction and in most cases, modular office furniture is very cheap compared to regular office furniture." Price of modular furniture depends on the area allocated. For instance, setting up an office on 1,000 square feet area will cost approximately Rs 600,000, depending on the material and elements used. For the same area, four to five separate cabins with a central area workstation can be set up. urniture manufacturers today F utilise a variety of materials and specialised finishes to protect the furniture during regular use.Cleaners, waxes and polishes are available to help protect the finish on all of your furniture from scratches and abrasions.

Cleaning and polishing your furniture should be done on a regular basis. Dust attracts moisture, which can accumulate and soften the finish on your furniture. This can lead to further damage, possibly to the wood itself.

There are a variety of furniture care products readily available at most department stores, hardware centres and even in supermarkets.Regular care and maintenance will give you the years of satisfaction that you expected when purchasing your furnishings.

source:The Himalayan Times:Property Plus(2011),"Furniture that helps you work better", The Himalayan Times, 19March 2011