A new report released this month by the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) links office design and staff productivity.
The report—Health, Wellbeing and Productivity in Offices: The Next Chapter for Green Building discovered a range of factors can effect the health, wellbeing and productivity of both employers and employees. These factors include: indoor air quality, thermal comfort, daylighting & lighting, biophilia (the human relationship with nature and how office design accommodates to it), noise, look & feel and interior layout.
The inspiration behind the report came from a 2013 WorldGBC report, The Business Case for Green Building. In the 2013 report, one chapter stimulated a high degree of interest and highlighted research, which demonstrated that green buildings could enhance employer and employee health, wellbeing and productivity. However an effort was needed to translate solid academic research into information that could inform effective business decision making.
The Business Case for Green Building also highlighted the uncertainty over which features of green buildings influence health, wellbeing and productivity.
The aim of the Health, Wellbeing and Productivity in Offices report is to address the issues that were found in The Business Case for Green Building. It also had the aim to provide office owners, employers and employees information to measure their office’s design and impact the design has on health, wellbeing and productivity. It also had the aim to provide solutions if issues needed to be addressed.
The report emphasised the facts that staff costs (including salaries and benefits) account for about 90% of a business’ operating costs and that what may appear to be a modest improvement in employee health or productivity, can have a significant financial implication for employers.
Some of the findings of the report included the facts that workers with windows slept an of 46 minutes more per night, that improved air quality can increase productivity by up to 11 percent and that there is a 66 percent drop in performance when employers and employees are exposed to distracting noise. The report also found that social and breakout spaces, like lunch rooms can also have an impact on productivity, and that amenities such as gyms, bicycle storage and green spaces can encourage employers and employees to live healthier lifestyles.
Image via Pixabay.