Feng Shui in the office: Position your desk correctly and create more peace and quiet in the workplace

Feng Shui Office: The most important points in brief

• The position of your desk has the greatest impact on your peace of mind: with the door in view, your back protected, and not directly in the line of the door.
• A clear and tidy workspace reduces distractions and makes it easier to concentrate.
• Side daylight, multiple light sources, and pleasant room acoustics create a calm working atmosphere.
• Plants, natural materials, and subtle colors have a balancing effect and help create a clear spatial effect.
• When working from home, a clear spatial boundary helps to visibly separate work and private life.
• Feng shui principles can also be applied in open-plan offices, for example through zoning, acoustic solutions, and quiet areas.
• A booking system ensures that all team members have reliable and fair access to quiet zones and workspaces.

What is the best desk position according to Feng Shui?

The position of your desk has the greatest influence on how calmly and concentrated you can work. In Feng Shui, the most important thing is that you have a view of the room, can see the door, and feel safe at your workplace. 

Checklist: The ideal desk position

If several of these are fulfilled, your desk is already in good shape:

• You can see the door without having to turn around.
• You are not sitting directly in the door line, i.e., not exactly between the door and the opposite wall.
• Your back is protected, ideally by a wall, padded partition, or high chair back.
• You look into the room, not directly at a wall or into a corner.
• Daylight comes in from the side without causing glare or falling on the monitor.

12 Feng Shui rules for the office that you can implement immediately

These measures work in any office and can be implemented without much effort. Each rule aims to reduce distractions and create a quiet office environment.

1. Keep your workspace as clear as possible: The less clutter on your desk, the easier it will be to clear your head. Only leave the things you need on a daily basis.
2. Hide cables and technology: Exposed cables look messy and draw unnecessary attention. Use cable ducts, boxes, or clips to keep them out of sight.
3. Divide your workspace into three areas: Workspace, storage, and inspiration should be separated from each other.
4. Keep drawers and compartments tidy: Clutter hidden away can also be stressful. 
5. Work with different light sources: Combine ceiling lights, a desk lamp, and soft indirect lighting. This creates a balanced, calm atmosphere.
6. Place plants: One or two plants are enough to make the room appear more lively and balanced. However, avoid overloading the space with greenery.
7. Reduce distracting noises: Carpets, felt pads, or acoustic panels reduce echo and background noise.
8. Ensure a good indoor climate: Ventilate regularly and avoid strong scents. Fresh air has an immediate invigorating effect.
9. Use colors: Calming colors such as blue or green have a positive effect on concentration. Warm accents bring energy.
10. Strengthen your back: A stable backrest, partition, or shelf behind you provides support. This makes the workplace feel calmer and safer.
11. Remove sharp edges and distracting "arrow shapes": Sharp corners pointing toward you create unconscious tension.
12. End the day with a reset: Close your laptop, clear your desk, and switch to warm lighting. This sends a clear signal that the workday is over.

How can I separate my home office and private life with Feng Shui?

When working from home, the boundaries between work and private life can sometimes become very blurred. Feng Shui helps you to draw a spatial and mental boundary, even if you only have limited space.

Feng Shui workspace in the living room

If you work in your living room, even a simple spatial division ensures that your workspace does not dominate the room.

• Use a small rug, shelf, or screen to visually separate your workspace.
• Use your own light source so that your workspace forms its own zone.
• Put away work materials after work so that the room looks private again.
• Use a piece of furniture that can completely accommodate your equipment and documents after work, thus concealing them.
• A large plant or partition behind you makes you feel protected.

Workplace in the bedroom

The bedroom should remain a place of calm. If you have to work there, reduce visible work materials and technology as much as possible.

• Put your laptop and documents away in a drawer or box as soon as you are finished.
• Position the desk so that you cannot see it directly from the bed.
• Use dividers such as a folding screen or curtain to separate the work area from the sleeping area.

Elements and colors according to Feng Shui for the office

The elements are used to enhance certain qualities in a room. You can easily incorporate them through colors, shapes, or materials.

• Wood represents growth and development: plants, green accents, natural wood surfaces
• Fire represents energy and visibility: warm light, red or orange details
• Earth stands for stability: ceramics, stone, beige or sandy colors
• Metal stands for structure and clarity: white surfaces, round shapes, metal objects
• Water represents calm and movement: dark blue, black, flowing shapes

Tidying up according to Feng Shui: The 10-minute routine for the office

A tidy workplace makes it easier to start your day. With a short routine, you can keep your workspace organized without investing a lot of time.

Daily reset (2 minutes)

• Clear the visible area.
• Put pens, notes, and documents in their designated places.
• Remove anything you won't need the next day.

Weekly reset (10 minutes)

• Sort through your files and throw away anything you don't need.
• Check drawers and compartments for accumulations.
• Clean the work surface and remove any dust or crumbs.

Monthly reset (20 minutes)

• Go through stacks of paper systematically and reduce them to the essentials.
• Remove decorations or objects that you no longer notice or that create unrest.
• Check your workspace for "dead corners": areas that feel chaotic or serve no purpose, and rearrange them.

Feng Shui in open-plan offices: Creating more calm and clarity in the workplace

The principles of Feng Shui can also be applied in open-plan offices. The core idea is to reduce stress factors such as noise and visual distractions and to provide opportunities for retreat.

Areas for concentration and exchange

An open-plan office needs clear distinctions between quiet work areas and zones intended for conversations, phone calls, or video calls. However, if both functions take place in the same area, the stress level increases for everyone.

• Individual workstations for quiet and concentrated work should be physically separated from team or meeting areas.
• Meeting and team areas are deliberately placed in other areas so that conversations do not disturb the entire room.
• Telephone booths or small meeting rooms further relieve the space and prevent constant background noise. 

Improve acoustics in the office and create visual calm

Noise is one of the biggest disruptive factors in open-plan offices. Acoustically effective furniture and interior design are an effective means of significantly reducing noise.

• Acoustically effective room dividers, partition walls, and panels shield and absorb sound.
• Carpets, acoustic ceilings, and sound-absorbing furniture reduce reverberation and create more pleasant room acoustics.
• Large plants also serve as natural sound absorbers and visual barriers. 

These elements reduce constant stimuli and have a calming effect, a goal that is in line with both feng shui and modern office concepts.

Creating a cozy atmosphere and recreational opportunities

• Upholstered surfaces and thus haptically warm materials and upholstered furniture are suitable for break areas, lounges, or café areas.
• Recreation areas with armchairs or loungers give employees a place to relax.
• Biophilic design with wooden surfaces, plants, and plenty of natural light has been proven to reduce stress. 

Equipment for activity-based working

Open-plan offices are constantly changing due to projects, meetings, and team sizes. It has become important to adapt the office offerings to the current daily use in order to align the energy with Feng Shui principles.

• Rollable furniture and partition walls, mobile whiteboards, or adjustable tables can be rearranged in just a few minutes.
• Team zones can be designed to be more closed or more open, depending on the task.
• Acoustic panels help to ensure peace and quiet, even when desks are shared.
• Creating personal storage space using lockers or rolling containers reduces clutter caused by items lying around.
• Good lighting and a pleasant indoor climate have a positive effect on concentration and promote balance. Lights with neutral white light of approximately 4,000 to 5,000 Kelvin improve alertness. Modern ventilation systems and CO₂ monitoring further improve the quality of work.

How can I ensure that everyone has fair access to quiet zones and workspaces?

For an office with quiet areas, workspaces for concentrated work, team areas, or retreat rooms to function reliably, it needs to have the same equipment everywhere and a booking system. This way, you can ensure that everyone in the team gets the workspace they want and can be sure that it will be free when they start work.

• Usage guidelines and clean desk rules: Workstations must be tidied up at the end of the day. Quiet areas are only to be used for concentrated work.
• Standardized equipment: identical monitors, uniform docking stations or monitor adapters, ergonomically adjustable furniture
• Reliable space availability: A booking system that guarantees your employees will find the space they booked available.

With PULT, you give your employees a booking tool that allows all employees to make binding reservations for their desired workspace, meeting room, phone booth, or team zone.

• Booking via smartphone, tablet, laptop, or terminal
• Filter by amenities, location, or proximity to colleagues
• The interactive office plan shows available spaces in real time.

PULT prepares your office for activity-based working, allowing you to implement the principles of feng shui. Your employees will find themselves in the quiet areas of the workplace, where they feel safe and where distractions no longer play a role.

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