Healthy Office Design: Employee Well-Being Must Be a Priority

Nowadays, work environments play a fundamental role due to the impact they can have on employee well-being and productivity. Beyond aesthetics, good office design, from the choice of furniture to colors, lighting, and space distribution, has a direct impact on the physical and mental health of those who live there.

It is important to recognize that an office design suited to the specific needs of each company not only facilitates greater efficiency and concentration of its teams, but also contributes to the creation of an environment that fosters emotional well-being and job satisfaction.

A well-thought-out space promotes collaboration, reduces stress and improves employee motivation. If we look at it from another perspective, a healthy work environment can prevent physical problems such as muscle pain, injuries or vision problems, and provide opportunities for rest and disconnection in the middle of the workday.

In this way, investing in an office design that takes care of all these aspects is not only a strategy to attract and retain talent, but also to optimize long-term performance.

It is essential to create collaborative spaces that encourage interaction between employees. These environments will allow teams to work together, which not only improves communication, but will also increase productivity, as it facilitates the exchange of ideas and creative problem-solving together.

To do this, it is also important to take into account the selection of furniture, carefully considering the type of chairs, armchairs or tables to be used, as well as the material of each of them, so that they are comfortable, practical, and invite collaboration, with ergonomics being a key factor in preventing injuries and health problems, which translate into absenteeism and low work productivity.

For example, the study, “Ergonomic risks and their influence on job performance,” from the Latin American Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities of 2023, revealed that poor workplace design can include poor arrangement of equipment, furniture or tools, which can lead to uncomfortable or forced postures, as well as inadequate reach of the elements necessary to perform tasks.

The study also uses data from Eurostat, which shows that around 40% of occupational diseases recognized in the European Union are associated with musculoskeletal disorders, which represent the main cause of absence from work, responsible for 50% of all absences of more than three days.

Likewise, inadequate lighting can have significant consequences for both the physical health and performance of staff. When the light is not adequate, either due to excessive brightness or lack of intensity, it can cause visual fatigue, which causes a decrease in concentration, increasing people's discomfort during the working day. This, in addition to affecting efficiency, can lead to long-term health problems, such as headaches, blurred vision, or eye irritation.

Going further, visual fatigue contributes to general tiredness and reduces employees' ability to make accurate decisions, which can increase the rate of errors at work. In situations where full attention to detail is required, poor lighting can be particularly detrimental, increasing the risk of accidents or failures in tasks to be done or delivered.

With this, we can see that good lighting and the choice of appropriate furniture are not enough to properly care for the well-being of employees. It is also crucial to take into account factors such as noise, air quality, and harmony in work spaces.

It is important to highlight the importance of fostering a positive organizational culture through design, both with spaces for rest and those that allow team interaction, since this in turn will contribute significantly to the productivity and mental health of workers.

But how to achieve this?

There are some key strategies and elements that can help us. One of the most effective ways to improve the work environment is to incorporate natural elements. Having plants in the workplace has become an increasingly popular habit. These not only make the place look nice or aesthetic, but also provide hundreds of benefits such as increased employee productivity.

There are various scientific studies that have shown that the presence of plants in work environments can increase productivity by up to 15%. Plants not only improve air quality, but also reduce fatigue, stress, anxiety, improve concentration, and promote creativity and memory, key factors for optimal work performance.

On the other hand, colors, like lighting, have a great impact on the performance that an employee can experience in an office. The color blue or green helps concentration and tranquility, so they are perfect for the main areas where workers will be most of their time; and warm tones such as red, yellow or orange can increase creativity and improve productivity, in this case, it would be ideal to have them in the background, in addition to the tones that give concentration and tranquility.

Vibrant colors can promote a more dynamic, stimulating and positive atmosphere, making them ideal for those areas where high levels of interaction, innovation, and collaboration are required, such as in meeting rooms or creative spaces.

But just as they can enhance certain abilities, if we abuse them they can also cause adverse effects, such as sensory overload or increased anxiety, especially in places where concentration and calm are needed.

Neutral tones such as grey or white create a feeling of cleanliness and order, but we must be careful with them, because if they are not balanced properly, we can create the opposite effect, generating a cold or monotonous atmosphere. This is how the choice of colors directly influences the emotional well-being of employees and consequently their work performance. Therefore, it is essential to find an adequate balance.

It should be noted that sometimes companies can limit themselves to the possibility of having a good office design due to the size of the space they have, but this is where the magic of interior design comes in. We do not always need to have a large space; there are elements, certain techniques and tools that allow us to play and adapt a space to the needs of each client (company).

In this way, we can realize how necessary and useful it is to have a good office design, which should be functional and pleasant, with spaces that help foster collaboration, creativity, communication, teamwork and, above all, the well-being of employees.

To do this, it is essential to think about the generations that the workforce covers, to know what the company is looking for with the office design, to take into account the business line, as well as to consider whether there is a stipulated budget. With this, we undoubtedly can create the best offices with the appropriate spaces for each client.