Office Planning & Design

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Using the latest 3D Architect OFFICE PLANNING TECHNOLOGY. Somercourt aim to fully understand our clients' needs, goals and objectives. For this reason, one of our professionally qualified Consultants is involved from the beginning of any project, whether a complete fit out or the supply of a single workstation.

Somercourt Office Interiors is one of the South West's most dynamic and innovative Office Furniture specialists. Our expert team of space planners and project managers, can design, furnish and totally fit out your office to your specification, on time and within budget.

With our fresh approach to revitalizing your workplace. We can provide:

• A full range of Office Furniture products.
  Office Desks, Height Adjustable Desks, Office Chair Seating, Office Storage, Office Dividing Screens, Reception Desks, Reception Counters, Reception Furniture, Leather Tub Chairs and Fabric Tub Chairs and Sofas
• Partitioning, Suspended Ceilings, Flooring, Lighting and minor building works.

Plus:

• Advice on the safe cable management of your Office Furniture.
• A full range of backcare and ergonomically designed Office Seating.
• Desking accessories.
• Flat screen TFT monitor arms.
• Height adjustable work platforms.

Come and See our Showroom.

We will evaluate your key criteria:

•         available space
•         the way you work
•         equipment
•         storage
•         health and safety issues & DDA regulations
•         your budget

Design the most effective solutions.

Our Technical and Project Management teams ensure that installations are carried out to deadline with the minimum of disruption.

The result is an attractive, fully utilised and efficiently run workspace that responds to individual needs, motivates staff and leads to greater productivity.

It is our task to help our clients achieve their workspace objectives to a higher standard than is available elsewhere.

We work as one team with one objective to exceed our clients' expectations.



Food For Thought !

How to reduce stress at work

Imagine working only four hours a day, nine months a year and earning all the
money you need to do exactly what you want with all your free time. Does that
sound like your life?

That's the life a futurist of the early 20th Century predicted the average
worker would be living by the 21st century.

Yet despite the introduction of many labour-saving devices in the workplace
and home, Harvard University Economist Juliet Schor found by the 1990s people
were working the equivalent of one month a year more than they did at the end
of World War II.

As an example, Schor explained in her book Overworked American: The Unexpected
Decline of Leisure how the introduction of automatic washers and dryers resulted
in an increase in time spent doing laundry. Laundry that had previously been
sent out now stayed home, and standards of cleanliness went up.

Laundry isn't the only task that has grown over the last century. It seems
that whenever a significant new "labour saving" product or service
is developed we use it so much our workload actually increases.

After all, wasn't our work supposed to be made easier by voice mail, fax machines,
cell phones and email? On the contrary, many of us find we are constantly on-call,
frequently interrupted, and overwhelmed with communications that people expect
to receive immediate responses to.

That's on top of the already heavy workload existing in most organizations.
For an employee, the consequences of this overload can be stress, burnout, and
illness. For an employer, it can result in high turnover and poor performance.

Addressing the problem of overwork can help companies keep good employees.
A recent study by AON Consulting found that management recognition of an employee's
need to balance work with personal life is one of the top five drivers of employee
commitment to a company.

To help overworked employees, managers should be trained to notice signs that
employees are overburdened. Such signs include consistently working late, working
through lunch, coming to work even when sick, taking work home, rushing to meet
very tight deadlines, expressing frustration, and not taking vacations.

Employees who are overwhelmed with work may not always tell you how they feel
so make the effort to ask how they are doing. For some employees, having the
opportunity to express their concerns and hearing appreciation for their extra
effort may help alleviate stress during a temporarily busy period.

If an employee's heavy workload is more than temporary, you can assist them
in brainstorming solutions to relieve their situation. And if you are the one
who is overworked, you can try some of these solutions yourself.

Here are some steps you can take to get your workload under control:

Spend your time working on things that are important. This may sound obvious,
but many of us are tempted to work on easy tasks first so we can have a sense
of accomplishment. Time spent on those "easy" tasks can quickly add
up, creating even more stress when there does not appear to be enough time left
for the important work.

To find out what your time is being spent on, start keeping an "activity
log". Every time you start and end a new activity, including taking a break,
make note of the time. Most workers who charge by the hour have learned to do
this automatically. If you are not used to tracking your time it may be a bit
of an adjustment, but within a few days you should be able to notice any time-wasters
you might not have been aware of.

Set daily goals. When scheduling your time, assume that something unexpected
will come up and build in a cushion of time to deal with it. To minimize the
stress of meeting self-imposed deadlines, avoid making promises about when tasks
will be completed. If you must commit to a date, be conservative. If you consistently
under promise and over deliver you could earn a great reputation while reducing
your stress.

Aim to meet or even exceed expectations, but don't try to achieve perfection.
Wherever possible, delegate routine tasks even if you think you can do them
better than someone else.

Unless you are expected to be on call, work on eliminating interruptions. Select
a time of day when you will return phone calls and emails. During other times,
let your voice mail take messages for you. You can also create an auto reply
for your email to let people know their message has been received. If your email
says you will respond within 24 hours if a reply is required, it may deter someone
from repeatedly trying to contact you in the meantime.

Avoid letting other people's problems become yours. As Richard Carlson, author
of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at Work, says "If someone throws you the
ball you don't have to catch it." Some managers find themselves solving
their employees' problems instead of empowering employees to find solutions
themselves. When someone comes to you with a problem that isn't yours, try limiting
your contribution to advice instead of taking on the task yourself.

When you are feeling overwhelmed, say so. Companies want to keep good employees
so most bosses will want to know when you are having difficulty. However, instead
of saying "I can't do it," offer some possible solutions.

For example, if you won't be able to get a major report completed by a particular
deadline, perhaps you could tell the boss you can either complete a condensed
version of the report by the deadline, complete the entire report by a later
date, or meet the deadline if you get some help from co-workers or temporary
staff.

These techniques probably won't help you enjoy the life of leisure envisioned
by those early futurists. But they can cut down on your stress and may make
your work both more manageable and more enjoyable. Good luck