April 20, 2020
Search Results for: business
April 17, 2020
Half of people working from home say their mental health has declined
by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing
Half of UK workers (49 percent) say that their mental health has declined since working from home, according to a new survey from Qualtrics. The study also claims that actions taken by companies are having a significant effect on the wellbeing of their employees, with one in five (18 percent) claiming that their organisation’s actions have had a negative impact on their mental health. More →
April 17, 2020
Half of self-employed fear they cannot cover basic living costs
by Neil Franklin • News
New research by IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed) claims that almost half (45 percent) of the self-employed fear they will not have enough money to cover basic costs like rent and bills during the Coronavirus crisis, despite the government support on offer. Overall, two thirds (66 percent) also say they are worried they will burn through all their savings in the next three months. More →
April 16, 2020
Toxic workplace culture costs firms and the economy dear
by Neil Franklin • News
A new report from HR software provider Breathe, suggests that the cost of toxic workplace culture is around £15.7 billion per year in the UK. The report, The Culture Economy 2020 (registration), claims that 1 in 5 (21 percent) of SME employees alone quit their job due to poor workplace culture last year. More →
April 15, 2020
There are some behavioural insights you cannot afford to ignore
by Jono Marcus • Features
Behavioural insights combine psychology, neuroscience and behavioural economics with empirically tested results to understand and influence how people behave. These insights can be used to implement new policies more efficiently and successfully by nudging individual’s behaviour and shaping collective norms. More →
April 13, 2020
Is salutogenic design the next big issue for the workplace?
by Mark Eltringham • Features, Wellbeing, Workplace design
A number of progressive workplace issues have crossed into mainstream thinking over the past few years, and perhaps none more so than biophilia. It is now a principle that has become an issue talked about in the mass media, as shown by a recent CNN interview with one of Europe’s leading proponents of biophilic office design, Oliver Heath. The interview explores how biophilia taps into our embedded love of nature to evoke certain behaviours and emotions.
In turn this mainstream interest in biophilia is a sign of how organisations are looking at sophisticated ways of meeting a number of interrelated business challenges, not least engaging with employees and looking after their wellbeing while improving productivity. Biophilic office design has shown itself to have a number of demonstrably beneficial outcomes in this regard, both anecdotally and backed up by evidence.
It is also a very contemporary way of addressing issues of productivity and wellbeing. The approach adopted by enlightened employers is no longer focused on creating cultures and environments that do no harm, but rather on creating an environment and culture that fosters engagement, improves wellbeing, address stresses and pressures and helps them be more productive. It is now common for firms to have well defined wellbeing strategies in place. Nearly half of UK employers have a strategy already in place and 60 percent of CEOs say that the mental health of employees is their top priority, according to the Employee Wellbeing research report for 2018 from the Rewards and Employees Benefits Association.
Salutogenesis
Biophilic design plays an important role in this regard, but it is part of the wider of how spaces are created to improve people’s health and wellbeing. Because so many firms are now addressing this question in increasingly sophisticated ways, as well as biophilic office design we may be hearing a lot more about salutogenic design in the near future.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The traditional dichotomy people had applied between health and illness was not sufficient to describe the constantly changing continuum of outcomes people experience in their daily lives[/perfectpullquote]
Salutogenesis is a term coined by the medical sociologist Anton Antonovsky and describes his research in the 1970s and 1980s into the links between stress and physical and mental health. He found that the traditional dichotomy people had applied between health and illness was not sufficient to describe the constantly changing continuum of outcomes people experience in their daily lives. He derived the term as an antonym to pathogenesis which describes how ill health is treated after a condition has become evident.
He was particularly focused on how different people respond to the ubiquitous presence of stress. He noted how certain people not only did not suffer the ill effects of stress that others found disabling, but enjoyed good health in spite of it. He explained this by suggesting that the issue was one of an individual’s sense of coherence, defined as “a global orientation that expresses the extent to which one has a pervasive, enduring though dynamic feeling of confidence that the stimuli deriving from one’s internal and external environments in the course of living are structured, predictable and explicable; the resources are available to one to meet the demands posed by these stimuli; and these demands are challenges, worthy of investment and engagement.”
He went on to conclude that ‘beyond the specific stress factors that one might encounter in life, and beyond your perception and response to those events, what determines whether stress will cause you harm is whether or not the stress violates your sense of coherence.’
According to Antonovsky the three factors that are essential for a sense of coherence are:
Comprehensibility: the sense that things happen in predictable ways and can be understood in a way that means the future makes sense
Manageability: confidence in an ability to respond to take care of things and respond to them appropriately and meaningfully and in a controlled wa
Meaningfulness: an understanding that things are worthwhile and have meaning and that we have good reasons for doing what we do and a sense of purpose
Salutogenic office design
It’s interesting to note that within the definition of sense of coherence there is a role to play for the external environment. In other words, it is possible to help people develop a sense of coherence in their surroundings, which we can take to mean both their physical and cultural environment. This subject has already been explored by designers and researchers but the current focus on wellbeing and design may mean that its real time is yet to come.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Many designers are already adopting this approach whether they understand the salutogenic principles behind it[/perfectpullquote]
Alan Dilani, the Founder of the International Academy for Design and Health (IADH) and Co-founder of the journal World Health Design published a 2008 study into the link in the journal Design and Health Scientific Review, called Psychosocially supportive design: A salutogenic approach to the design of the physical environment, concluding that ‘while clinical practice focuses on treating illness, there’s also a raft of research to suggest that the quality of our everyday surroundings has a highly important role to play in sustaining wellness.’
Similarly Jan Golembiewski came to the same general conclusion in his 2012 paper Salutogenic design: The neural basis for health promoting environments from World Health Design Scientific Review. This kind of research is laying the foundations for a new way of considering building and workplace design in a way that focuses on wellbeing outcomes. Indeed, many designers are already adopting this approach whether they understand the salutogenic principles behind it.
When they make the workplace more manageable in terms of activity based working, control over ambient conditions, the ability to relax, the provision of ergonomic products and access to natural light and fresh air, they are adding to an individual’s sense of coherence.
When they make work meaningful with a sense of community, an understanding of how an individual’s role affects the organisation and wider world and how the firm cares for the environment, they are adding to an individual’s sense of coherence.
When they make the workplace and work comprehensible with wayfinding clues, colour, branding, landscaping, acoustics and sightlines, they are adding to an individual’s sense of coherence.
Biophilic design has already achieved mainstream understanding and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see salutogenic design as the next idea to cross over.
April 13, 2020
Finnish consortium creates new global smart buildings standard
by Jayne Smith • News, Technology
A consortium of Finnish companies backed by government funding have launched a smart buildings platform that they hope will will enable the collection, analysis and automatic application of data in building maintenance and design worldwide. More →
April 10, 2020
Over half of workers believe their company should invest in CSR
by Neil Franklin • News
Over half (59 percent) of UK workers believe their business should invest in charitable initiatives. Those within the age bracket of 18-29 are most likely to have this viewpoint, with two-thirds (67 percent) admitting to feeling this way, compared to just under half (48 percent) of those aged 50 and above. That’s according to new research from Qualtrics, which conducted a study of 500 UK employees about their views on workplace initiatives and the importance of CSR. More →
April 8, 2020
Finance leaders gear up for life after lockdown
by Stephen Norris • Comment, Property
As the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic becomes apparent, and the vast majority of workers are now remote working, CFOs are working closely with their real estate teams to re-assess workspace costs both now and in the future. More →
April 7, 2020
Manchester set to be the next UK tech hub
by Neil Franklin • Cities, News
Manchester could be set to see an influx of tech talent in the next three years, according to new research from CWJobs, the UK’s leading tech job board. Surveying 1,000 tech workers, Manchester emerged as the top choice outside of the capital (22 percent) to work in, with a fifth (20 percent) also revealing it’s the city they would choose to set up a tech business in the next three years, ahead of Birmingham (11 percent) and Edinburgh (8 percent). In the same survey, 505 IT decision makers (IT DM) also placed Manchester as the best location to set up a tech business, with over a quarter (27 percent) choosing the city. More →
April 3, 2020
People lose half an hour a week to poor acoustics
by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Workplace design
According to new research by market researchers IPSOS and EPOS, 95 percent of audio end-users and decision makers experience problems relating to sound that affect their concentration or efficiency at work. Common complaints include being disturbed by loud colleagues (50 percent), overall noise levels in working environments (48 percent) and interruptions from colleagues (46 percent). More →
April 10, 2020
When it comes to the future of work, we only know what we don’t know
by David Clements • Comment, Workplace design