Creating An Office People Want To Come Back To - Part 1 - The Physical Environment.

A well designed office space is key to getting employees to want to work in it.

Many businesses are asking employees to come back to the office at the moment, but what sort of environment are we asking them to come back to?

Employees are far more discerning about where they spend their work time these days and whilst leaders technically have the, ‘because I said so’ card up their sleeve, that’s not exactly how we get the best out of our people.

A large amount of research has been done in this space and this presents us with an incredible opportunity to design our environment in a way that nudges us, and our staff, towards the behaviour we want to cultivate, and away from the behaviour we want to limit.

What this means in a wellbeing context is reducing friction to those things that are beneficial to us, and increasing it to the things that are not.

Architecture and design:

Firstly, a word on office design itself.?

Whilst we’re not architects, and you’re probably not here for tips on how to construct your office building, it bears mentioning some of the design factors that affect worker wellbeing.

Space:

Large, but not too large, spaces have a positive effect on employee health. Your office should have enough space for employees to move freely, and ceilings high enough that they don’t feel cramped, but not so much space that they feel disconnected from their coworkers.

Light:?

Utilise natural light as much as possible, particularly over the dreaded fluorescent or conventional LED bulbs. One study found that natural light reduced the amount of eye strain, and subsequent headaches by up to 84% in office workers. If you can, try to position desks near the windows to take advantage of as much natural light as possible.

Air:?

Fresh air is best wherever possible, or at least properly filtered and circulated air. Several studies have shown significant decreases in productivity when air quality is reduced and higher levels of CO2 are present. So don’t be afraid to open a few windows and let the world in from time to time. This also increases the gas exchange (air in and air out) which, in this world of communicable diseases, is a very good thing.?

Nature:?

Bringing nature inside is a growing trend, and one that is seeing measurable benefits. A UK study found that workers who had contact with nature in the office had 15% higher productivity and reported 13% higher overall wellbeing than those who did not.

Bringing some plants into the office is cheap, easy and effective. You can even assign their care to teams on a rotating schedule, giving your staff greater control over their environment and therefore greater pride in their workplace.

Ergonomics:

Next up is ergonomics. Most offices have sub-par setups and the problems this can cause can be very expensive to fix, but it doesn’t have to be, if you follow a few simple steps.

Desk setup:?

First of all, desks should be able to be customised to suit each worker. That is, the ability to adjust your setup so you have feet flat on the ground; ankles, knees, hips and elbows at 90 degrees; eye level in the middle of the screen (not the top, the middle. Trust me); and not too much clutter on their desks. When it comes to desk ergonomics, that’s essentially all you need to know, unless there is some sort of specific postural issue that requires more attention/equipment, but this is rare.? If desks, chairs and screens don’t have this ability, you’re eventually going to experience issues.

Education:?

Teach the correct desk set up to your staff and have them practise it. Once they know how to set up one desk to suit them, they can do it anywhere. This will eliminate the need for dedicated ‘ergonomics professionals’ and drastically reduce the amount of postural issues and injuries your staff experience.

Microbreaks:

No matter how well you sit, being in the one spot for too long is detrimental in a variety of ways. Encourage staff to stand up and move around every 45-60 minutes to help boost creativity, get their blood flowing, and reduce postural issues.

Nudges:?

Have regular, quick ergonomics sessions to remind staff of their proper desk set-up and to move often and well. You can even put up reminder cards with the proper ergonomic set-up printed on them and put them up around the office to remind staff of how to organise their desk. This helps embed it into your culture and cuts down on issues.?

Nutrition:

Eating in the office is one of the biggest contributors to, and hindrances of, wellbeing, but with a few simple environmental design changes you can help people make the right choices without even thinking about it.

Hide the bad, display the good

Food choices are largely triggered by visual cues. If we see a treat in plain view with no barriers to eating it, chances are we’ll eat it. This means that if you put a plate of biscuits on the bench, it will get eaten.?

If you put a box of fruit on the bench, it will also get eaten, but typically only when people are actually hungry. This reduces overeating whilst also promoting healthy eating. It’s a win-win.?

If you want to reduce junk food intake but still give people a choice, put healthy snacks out on the bench and unhealthy ones in a cupboard with a note telling people to put them back when they’ve taken one. Just that tiny bit of friction between your staff and the Monte Carlos will be enough to drastically reduce their consumption without removing choice.?

Availability:

What food is available is the biggest determining factor for what we actually eat. If your office provides junk, people will eat junk. If you have healthy foods, people will choose that instead. Ensure your staff have access to healthy foods in the canteen, vending machines or nearby cafe and they will be more likely to choose them.?

Ease:

If food access and storage is easy, staff will likely take advantage of it. Ensure you have plenty of fridge space for people to bring their own food in, enough space for them to sit and eat it, and the facilities for them to easily wash up (whether they do or not is another matter entirely). The less barriers you can place between people and their good habits, the more often they will be completed.

Water:

The same goes for water. Make sure staff have easy access to cold water to encourage them to drink it. Cognitive decline begins at just 1% dehydration (which many people experience daily), so keeping your people hydrated literally makes them smarter and more alert.?

Having a soda stream (without the syrup) handy is another way to keep water interesting and encourage people to drink it.

Nudges:

Have interesting and easy to understand nutritional info posted around the kitchen and eating areas. This could include portion sizes, nutritional content, or even just posters of fresh fruits and veggies. The more you can normalise healthy eating, the more people will adopt it.

Exercise and activity:?

Sedentariness is one of the biggest threats to health in the modern workplace. We know it’s crucial that we exercise, yet we often find it difficult to do so. Here are a few strategies to help make the right choice, the easy choice.

Walking meetings:

In addition to getting people up and out of their chairs (enough of a benefit in itself) studies have found that walking meetings can boost creativity by around 60%, and reduce the actual meeting time, whilst coming to the same or better conclusions. Encourage staff to set all of their meetings with 4 people or less as a walking meeting and track the benefits of this over time. You could even reduce the amount of meeting rooms available to make walking meetings the easier and more efficient choice.

Utilise your space:?

In order for people to be active, they need somewhere to make this happen. It’s no good encouraging walking meetings or midday stretches if there’s nowhere to actually do that. Shift some desks around and make the space to move easily.?

Repurpose a meeting room into a stretching room where people can go and do some micro break exercises without being watched. Ensure easy access to stairwells and encourage people to use them instead of the lifts. In short, make it as easy as possible for people to move more and they will.?

Exercise classes:?

Providing exercise classes, yoga, stretching sessions, running or walking groups at convenient times, and encouraging staff to take part is a great way to get them moving. In addition to making exercise available, ensure that staff have the facilities to shower and change conveniently to reduce barriers to adoption.

Wellbeing room:?

Repurposing your meeting rooms into wellbeing rooms has a great deal of benefits. It could be a meditation space for staff to take some time to relax and refocus, a stretching room to do microbreak exercises in, a lactation room for new mothers, or a room to conduct health checks or massages in. Creating a space or, ideally multiple spaces, like this signals to staff that not only is it possible for them to take control of their wellbeing at work, but encouraged.?

When designing your workplace for wellbeing, the main thing to remember is that what is easy will get done more often, and what is hard will get done less often.

So make the behaviour you want to cultivate easy to do, and the behaviour you want to limit, hard to do.

It doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that.?

Question: Is your workplace set up for wellbeing?

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