Work Place Advice

Different Postures, Different Benefits

You already know that standing is better than sitting in terms of your physical health. That’s why we’ve seen a boom in adjustable desks that allow a user to stand or sit, depending on the task at hand.

Posture in an office setting, though, is not a binary choice. There are at least four variations on standing and sitting postures (not counting catching a nap on the break room sofa), and each one can uniquely affect the way you work. Let’s take a look:

Standing: Sitting too much is simply not good for you; that’s been proven over and over again. As that evidence has accumulated, there’s been a good deal of debate over the benefits of standing desks. You’ll probably have better posture when standing, and doing so reduces back pain for many users. Standing at your desk is not exactly exercise (8 calories per hour), but the consensus is that alternating between standing and sitting on a roughly 50/50 ratio does have physical benefits.

More interesting, perhaps, are the potential work-related benefits of standing. You’ll have more energy when you’re vertical, and will typically be engaged in your work to a much greater degree. This is especially true in group settings: Try introducing standing meetings (keep them brief) and you might be pleasantly surprised at the results.

Perching: You’re not likely to spend much of your day perched on the edge of a barstool-height chair or on a countertop, but it’s a happy medium between standing and sitting. When you’re perched, you’re engaging core muscles that you don’t use when sitting. Your back and legs are working to a degree, and like standing, perching takes more of our energy and tends to keep us engaged.

Sitting: Spending too much time planted in an office chair has been proven again and again to negatively affect your health in a wide variety of ways. Too much sitting isn’t good for you, period.

But that doesn’t mean you should never sit. Sometimes we need to direct all our energy to the cognitive task at hand, and that’s where sitting comes in. The office chair frees your body from effort and allows you to focus mentally.

Flopping: Okay, we made this last term up, but many office settings now feature sofas and other lounge furniture. What happens when you sit in the most relaxed posture possible?

Like sitting in an office chair, this is sedentary behavior and shouldn’t be something you do all day. But parking yourself in a comfy chair or sofa can lower your heart rate and blood pressure, so there’s an argument to be made for short-term relaxation. Some research indicates that this relaxed posture also makes you more open to being more thoughtful, and being a better listener.

The standing versus sitting debate continues, but most agree that the best recipe is a combination of the above. Don’t spend too long in any one posture, and consider not only the physical effects of your position but which is most appropriate for the work you need to get done.

Questions about the best posture for you? Contact Douron.

Putting the “Welcome” in “Welcome Back”

As we continue to work our way back from the pandemic and transition to being back in the office, companies find themselves in an interesting situation. Commercial spaces are diminishing in size, due in part to the work-from-home (WFH) factor, but at the same time organizations want to welcome back their employees to be in the office as much as possible. Exactly how that will look remains to be seen, and will vary for each company, but here are some ideas:

There’s no doubt that we work better together when we’re face to face. Communication, collaboration and team-building all are hampered when we put Zoom or MS Teams between us. But WFH is not going away. Employees have realized that they can get much of their work done without enduring a commute to the office every single day, and higher fuel prices have them digging in their heels even more. Others have simply gotten used to being in their WFH bubbles and are reluctant to change.

So how does an organization put its best foot forward to create a welcoming environment that encourages employees to be there in person? It starts with communication. Some have been working remotely for so long that they may have forgotten the benefits of being together in the same space. Leadership should make the point that everyone is better – as individuals and as a team – when they’re working together. This messaging needs to be repeated again and again.

In terms of office design, consider refocusing on accommodations that encourage collaboration and even fun: Add or upgrade breakrooms, a café or bistro, or comfortable lounge areas that encourage face-to-face interaction. Those may sound frivolous, but the benefits are very real: Employees in the office will naturally interact more, and those at home or on a hybrid plan will be inclined to spend more time there.

This doesn’t necessarily mean more space; it might involve repurposing existing square footage or even reducing the overall office footprint. A Harvard Business Review article notes that Salesforce reduced its desk area by 40% in favor of spaces that can foster both individual and collaborative work.

These new or modified spaces need to be featured in company communications as well. Just as leadership should repeatedly share the benefits of working together in person, they should communicate the efforts being made to encourage in-person attendance. Give those new spaces descriptive names and show your team members using them, having fun and being productive.

The return-to-work path will be different for each organization, and for each individual, and prying some of those individuals away from their home office will be a challenge. But by creating more inviting and collaborative spaces and communicating the benefits of using them, you can increase your chances of having a team that works together face to face.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

The concept of a flexible workspace isn’t new, but it may be more relevant than ever before. As workers return to offices in larger numbers, every organization needs to find the right balance between remote and in-person working. The number of people in a given office might vary quite a bit from day to day, so a space designed to adapt to changing needs is vital.

Perhaps even more important, keeping team members happy has taken on new urgency in the age of the Great Resignation. Many studies have demonstrated the direct impact of office environments on employee satisfaction and engagement. Given the high cost of finding, hiring and onboarding new team members, there’s a solid value proposition in improving office environments with an eye towards the well-being of your team.

So how do you make your office work smarter, not harder? The three watchwords are flexibility, transparency and details.

Flexibility

Flexible spaces accommodate both collaboration and privacy as needed. This can take many forms, from multi-use, convertible furniture to walls that retract to open up private spaces. If you can imagine it, chances are we can find furniture or fixtures to make it happen (and if you can’t imagine it, we can).

Transparency

When the word “transparency” comes up at work, it’s usually in the figurative sense. But literal transparency can have a big impact on an office environment also, with glass doors and partitions to reduce the sense that things are happening out of view of team members. This is especially important to younger members of the workforce.

Details

And don’t forget the details, or in industry parlance, ancillary furniture. Giving some care and thought to these finishing touches can make a huge difference in the ambience of a workplace. Our secret weapon here is our relationship with Design Public Group, a platform for the specification and procurement of ancillary furniture. We’re all about the details, and Design Public Group helps us to be better at it.

Be flexible, be transparent, and pay attention to those details, and just maybe the Great Resignation will be an issue for some other company and not yours.

Want to know more about making your space work smarter, or about Design Public Group? Contact Douron.

Office Wellness: Sights, Sounds and Smells Make a Difference

In the wake of the pandemic, employee engagement has become a front-burner topic for nearly every employer. As companies navigate the return to working in person to varying degrees, they’re devoting more and more attention to keeping team members safe, happy and engaged.

What role can the workspace environment play in office wellness? A big one, in ways both good and bad. In fact, employers need to factor in at least four of the five senses in office design considerations (probably not taste, unless you’re providing lunch). Let’s take a look:

Sight:

Everyone considers colors when designing an office space, but perhaps not their potential effects on the people in it. There is science behind the psychology of colors and the emotions they can elicit. To greatly oversimplify, green is associated with creativity; blue with security, confidence and analytical thinking. Red promotes productivity in physical work (but may hinder analytical thinking), and too much white leads to boredom. Yellow? Well, people just don’t seem to like it. Use yellow sparingly. Check out the red pops of color at Fireline Corp. here.

Sound:

Too often an afterthought in office design, the acoustical properties of a space are vital to productivity and keeping team members happy. We’ve seen many very attractive spaces that are difficult to work in, especially in the age of the open office plan. This might be because workers are too close together or because the space is designed with hard surfaces that cause every sound to reverberate. It’s often easy to fix the latter situation with strategically-applied acoustical panels to deaden the space. Ensure workers have private, quiet spaces available in an open office plan. Make sure to approach office design with not only your eyes but your ears. Check out 3form Edge ceiling features here.

Smell:

Our sense of smell is tied directly to our memories, and is another factor in work productivity. Employers walk a difficult line right now: Spaces need to be cleaned and sanitized regularly, but the aromas of bleach, ammonia or other harsh cleaners can have a negative effect on productivity. These strong smells may also cause headaches or even allergic reactions. Consider cleaning products carefully and look for agreeable scents. Beyond that, you might consider enhancing office wellness with smells: Lemon is known to be good for creativity, and lavender is calming, to name just two examples. But again, you need to be mindful of potential allergies.

Feel:

No one’s going to be very productive, or very happy, if they spend their days working in an uncomfortable chair or at a desk that’s not an appropriate height. There’s such a wide selection of ergonomic office furnishings from so many manufacturers that there’s really no reason not to get this right. In general, consider adjustability: Desks that allow standing or sitting, chairs that adjust to multiple positions. Check out more office spaces at Visit Baltimore here.

Indoor Air Quality

Among many other things, the pandemic has brought a renewed emphasis on indoor air quality, especially in office settings. In many cases this has taken the form of greater attention paid to HVAC systems to reduce the chances of disease transmission. But even setting aside the germ factor, according to many estimates the indoor air we breathe is up to five times more polluted than our outdoor air.

The reasons for this are obvious: Indoors, we get less ventilation, thus trapping toxins like formaldehyde, benzene and VOCs from paints, furniture and other finishes. We can combat the situation with expensive air purifiers, but what about the simple houseplant?

Plants, of course, consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, so any plant does at least a little good in contributing to indoor air quality. But can plants also reduce those toxins we’re breathing?

The research on this offers differing answers. Again, any plants are probably better than no plants, and while plants do indeed remove carbon dioxide, ozone and other pollutants from the air, some research suggests that it takes a large quantity of plants to make a measurable difference. A NASA study, however, trends in the opposite direction, saying that only 15 to 18 houseplants in a 1,800-square-foot area can make a meaningful difference in removing pollutants.

All of this is one reason for the growing popularity of plant walls (or green walls, or vertical gardens) in commercial settings. Green walls are living design features that can be employed on existing walls or created to divide spaces, and the design possibilities are limited only by imagination. Plants can grow together and intermingle to create a stunning, forest-like effect, all while working around the clock to filter the air you breathe.

Which plants are best? There are many choices, but favorite plants for better air quality include the humble ficus, aloe vera, spider plants, and flowering varieties including peace lily, gerbera daisy and chrysanthemum.

One word of caution: It is possible to overdo it. Plants (and the soil they grow in) will increase the moisture content in a given space, and if done to excess might introduce molds or other toxins to the air. Monitor humidity and air quality carefully.

And as a side benefit, you might want to volunteer to be among those responsible for the care and upkeep of your office plants. Research demonstrates that gardening, indoors or out, reduces stress.

The Evolution of the Workplace

As we approach two years of a radically changed work environment due to the pandemic, much uncertainty remains. Plans to return to the physical workspace have been derailed or delayed by the Omicron variant and organizations are grappling with how best to move forward. What has changed in the workplace, and what needs to continue changing? Take a look at the evolution of the workplace.

Some businesses have decided that they can get along just fine with a remote workforce, at least in the shorter term. They’re in the minority, but many were already operating virtually pre-pandemic, so the transition has been easier. At the other end of the spectrum are those for whom remote work is not a viable option: service industries, manufacturers and so forth.

In the middle are the vast majority of businesses, trying to roll with the continued punches of COVID and figure out the best combination of in-person, remote and hybrid work for their own teams and circumstances. And if there’s one word to describe handling all this uncertainty, it’s this: adaptability.

That can mean a lot of things, but in terms of office design it’s really the continuation of a trend of several years: Many organizations had already seen the value of flexible workspaces in both the more efficient use of space and the ways in which they promote collaboration. That physical adaptability will now become even more important.

Remote and hybrid work means fewer opportunities for teams to collaborate in person, which is indisputably more effective. So when a team is in the same physical space, every effort needs to be made to maximize that opportunity with an environment that can adjust on the fly to changing needs.

Adaptability is required far beyond the physical workspace, of course. We still don’t fully understand how this prolonged stretch of diminished interaction will affect all of us as workers and as human beings, and business leaders will need to be even more flexible than their workspaces to accommodate the changing needs of their teams.

Check out this adaptable workspace at Frederick Innovative Technology Center (FITC).

Different Postures, Different Benefits

Putting the “Welcome” in “Welcome Back”