A strong team is your company’s main asset. Today, businesses spend up to 90% of their buildings’ operating budgets on creating a comfortable environment for employees. According to a highly respected Harvard University study, every dollar spent by an employer on creating a healthy and comfortable work environment reduces medical expenses for each employee by $3.27 and reduces absenteeism significantly. With worker burnout a major challenge, employees themselves have become more demanding. In fact, 87% of 10,000 respondents in a recent poll said that health and wellness considerations are crucial for them when choosing a job. No wonder an important continuing focus for global giants like Google, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook is on creating healthy and inspiring office spaces.
What are the key design components that enhance job performance, employee satisfaction and productivity?
1. Excellent ventilation with fresh or, at least, purified air
–Employees in properly ventilated buildings do twice as well on tests of cognitive performance and decision-making as those in poorly ventilated buildings.
-Air pollution in air conditioning systems, for example, can run two to five times higher than the level of outdoor pollution.
-After cleaning the air with high-efficiency air filters, many employers note substantial productivity increases.
2. High-quality lighting, supplementing natural light with sensitive artificial devices
-Natural light regulates the body’s hormones by its wave length and intensity from dawn to dusk. The level of the light regulates the body’s circadian system, which, in turn, activates hormones for functions such as sleep, wakefulness, vitamin D synthesis and digestion.
-Studies show that employees who work under natural versus artificial light are typically 15% more productive.
-With limited exposure to natural outdoor light, a high-quality solution today is circadian artificial lighting, which controls the color temperature of lighting devices: it can be adjusted to suit a specific work situation – “negotiations,” “rest,” “interviewing” and “brainstorming,” for example. A system of biologically and emotionally-efficient lighting delivers a thoughtful and safe impact on health.
3. Ensuring necessary hydration
-Dehydration by as little as 1% impairs mental functions, including memory, by 5% or more.
– To promote creativity and wellbeing, an office design needs to incorporate effective ventilation/ hydration systems.
4. Promote healthy eating
-An unhealthy diet increases the risk of decreased performance by as much as 65%. Studies show that adults with sufficient knowledge of healthy eating are 25% more likely to eat nutritious food, and those who increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables are significantly less likely to be depressed.
-It is important to provide some healthy food/snack stations in the office and educate your employees about the importance of eating right.
5. Increase physical activity
-Physical inactivity is now the fourth leading risk factor for poor health. Without exercise, people lose strength, endurance and flexibility. Many experience stress, depression, weight gain and cardiovascular problems.
-It is therefore crucial to promote physical activity through measures like employee education and perhaps a small gym or game area for use by the staff.
6. Ensuring individual comfort with ideal office temperature and noise reduction
-So many people – so many wishes. However, there are two across-the-board rules here – especially in open office environments: create optimal temperature conditions and minimize noise.
-According to numerous studies, the ideal temperature in an office is 21.6 C°. A minimum fluctuation of 1 degree in either direction reduces labor productivity by at least 1%.
-Distracting noise can reduce employee performance by as much as 65%, so controlling noise volume will provide big payoffs.
7. Vital importance of greenery in minimizing employee stress
-Biophilic design is a key component of a healthy, comfortable work space. Biophilia, a term from the Greek that means “love of living things,” is a fast-growing trend that recognizes the close human need to connect with nature. Biophilic interiors are designed both to reduce stress and increase creativity.
-Just a 40-second break to contemplate green plants – both inside and otside the office building – has been shown to increase human concentration by at least 5%.
-Adding greenery to the office, as well as the use of textures and natural materials (wood, stone, etc.) has a highly positive effect on the psycho-emotional state of employees.
A striking example of biophilic design is Amazon’s iconic Seattle, Washington, headquarters.
Among other features, the Amazon office consists of three areas or spheres filled with 40,000 plants representing 400 species brought from around the world. The project has a well-thought-out air humidification system that creates a comfortable environment for both people and plants, and overall, the building combines all components of a healthy, comfortable work environment.
Here, we have highlighted one of SINATA’s high-tech, green projects, a 3000 square meter design for the office of SMART Business, an IT services and consulting company that approached us to create a work environment that prioritizes the well-being and health of their team.
The main goal in the development and implementation of our project was to create conditions in which the company’s employees would feel absolutely comfortable and creative.
To ensure a healthy climate in the office, we developed and installed a supply and exhaust ventilation system with humidification. Special attention was paid to noise reduction, which if unregulated could have had an extremely negative impact on employee comfort in such a large open space.
In addition, the office zoning in our project is designed in such a way that a large number of guests and clients who visit the company do not interfere with the ongoing work of employees. The office has a kids’ area, where a caregiver will look after children, play with them, provide a meal, and, if necessary, organize a daytime nap (mobile beds are provided for this purpose in the podium area). The open spaces of the office also feature Framery – special acoustic phone booths to ensure privacy and noise reduction with built-in ventilation and lighting.
The office also has two zones for large-scale events: Minecraft, which visually resembles the famous game thanks to the use of Heradesign acoustic panels, and an amphitheater with a tree made of acoustic materials, where employees can gather in an informal setting.
And, of course, we did not forget about smart technologies: “smart” lighting control, nano-glass in meeting rooms (reacting to a presence sensor, the glass darkens and loses transparency), as well as access systems and other highly effective applications.
Today there is no doubt that creating a sense of comfort and well-being in the office is a vital tool for attracting/retaining the best and most talented staff, which, in turn, affects everyone’s health and a company’s overall productivity and success.