Spaces that work: A healthy workplace

Elinor Huggett is sustainability officeretwa: Beauftragte(r) für Nachhaltigkeitsustainability officer with the UK Green Building Council, which campaigns for a sustainablynachhaltigsustainably built environment. In this interview, she talks about healty workplaces, sustainability and productivity.

Is the psychological impactAuswirkung(en)impact of the physical workplace properly understood by organizations?
In general, it is still hugely misunderstood and underestimated. The organizations we work with that are leading in this area have now begun to to reap the rewardsden Lohn erntenreap the rewards of their efforts, with happier, healthier, more productive staff, and better staff retentionhier: Bindungretention, which, of course, has an impact on their bottom lineGeschäftsergebnisbottom line.

How can sustainability and business efficiency best benefit from design?
Many design aspects of “healthy” working environments are also highly compatible with sustainability issueFrage, Themaissues: for example, not overheating or over-lighting a space and having plenty of plants in the space to improve air quality. And it seems intuitively obvious that a healthier workforce will be a more productive, and therefore more profitable one. Work we’ve done with organizations certainly shows better workplace satisfaction and lower absenteeismFehlzeit(en)absenteeism in healthy workplaces, although it is hard to objectively measure the impact on profit.
 

There is better workplace satisfaction and lower absenteeism in healthy workplaces

Which aspects of a healthy/sustainable workplace are most frequently overlooked?
For me, the two biggest winErfolg(saspekt)wins that are most overlooked are lighting — in terms ofhinsichtlichin terms of both quality (bluer light is better, but circadiandem Tagesrhythmus entsprechendcircadian lighting/accessZugangaccess to daylight is best of all) and quantity (the majority of our workplaces are massively overlit, particularly in perimeter zoneRandbereichperimeter zones) — and integration of nature, which is beneficial to both mental healthpsychische Gesundheitmental and physical mental healthpsychische Gesundheithealth.