In line with research projects that continues to highlight the importance of wellbeing in workplaces, the recently published study carried out by Sapio Research entitled Wellness Together, emphasised the importance of offering good environmental conditions and flexible working practices to enable productive, innovative and ultimately profitable workforce.
With 1000 office workers based in UK and 50 Facilities Management experts as respondents, the study concludes that healthy and happy people are more likely to be productive and thus suggesting that employers should focus in their staffs’ well-being whereas 48% of the study group said that the design of their workplace had a significant impact on their decision to stay with a company.
Higher performing organisations were more often found to be providing well-being oriented facilities or amenities such as healthy food, showers, quiet working spaces, cycle storage and furniture and workstations that promote healthy posture.
Although having flexibility at work was an important finding, this doesn’t just relate to the flexibility of working posture but also to the workplace itself, and the availability of workspaces for different tasks such as having sufficient breakout and collaborative spaces and at the same time, quiet private spaces to work at when necessary.
Office design is a key area which in the past has been overlooked in workplace wellbeing strategies. Providing a workplace which encourages movement and fluidity to employee’s working day is really important since providing various working environments for different tasks keeps both bodies and minds agile, which will also increase interactivity among staff, and thus raises wellbeing even further.