There are no bad employees, only bad offices
Serhii Makhno blog
16.05.10
Let the office reward me doubly for all that I put into it. Amen.
On average, Bob spends 1/3 of his life working. We asked five strangers whether the environment influences their productivity. How many answered “yes”? All of them.
Conclusion: A cottage is a castle for those in love, but working is better in a well-planned modern office.
It is better not to throw to the wind such hasty phrases as “What colour of the wall? Well, let it be yellow.” Nancy Kwallek compared the work quality in a different colour environment (white, red, aqua) According to her study, the white colour doesn’t increase productivity, and the workers make more errors in such a space (most work environments are sterile white, off-white, or grey!). The red spots distracted employees.
Conclusion: Colors have the magic power to influence. Mellow orange says “go and do”. Deep blue creates an atmosphere of security. Light blue improves focus, bringing an overall sense of well-being. Green would be a good choice in an office where innovation is a key component.
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NANCY KWALLEK, PHD, PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR OF THE INTERIOR DESIGN PROGRAM IN THE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HAS BEEN STUDYING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF COLOR IN THE INTERIOR ENVIRONMENT AND THE EFFECTS OF COLOR ON OFFICE WORKERS’ HEALTH, WELL-BEING, PERFORMANCE, AND JOB SATISFACTION FOR 15 YEARS.
In our projects, we moved beyond “turn on the chandelier, if it’s dark” and started cultivating the light. Lighting design is a separate philosophy, based on the biological characteristics and emotional effects of light. There is even the term “light temperature”. Cold – for concentration and warm – for relaxation. We have three levels to adjust it: general (pendant and ceiling luminaires); local (lamps, floor lamps and other lights tied to the workplace) and decorative (from the traditional backlights to the wildest fantasies).
Conclusion: A dim light bulb on 30 m2 – the best friend of your fatigue. My eyes feel bad, my head hurts, and my body is overflown with irritability. Do you need it? We don’t.
Flowerpot, which stands near you in the office, needs to be watered and protected. Scientists compared employees who work in the “naked” spaces and ones “dressed” in green. Second, bypassed 15% of the productivity level! The list of advantages doesn’t end with concentration. Plants are powerful anti-stresses. They purify the air, provide comfort and prevent office noise.
Conclusion: If things go awry, tell the boss to invest in aloe, rubber plants and succulents.
“When I come to the office, I sit at a large table with Masha, Eugene and Denis. There I check the mail and write a to-do list for the day. After lunch, we usually brainstorm in a special room, in the evening our workers scatter in different corners of the office to embody ideas on papers or screens.”
For a man sitting at one table in front of one window all the time, these words will sound weird. But scientists say, changing a workplace during the day increases productivity.
Conclusion: Strictly assigned workplaces are our “yesterday”. The world runs forward, and offices become more flexible and mobile.
WHO SAID YOU HAD TO SIT AT WORK?
Have your head broken? Fed up with colleagues’ talks? Welcome to the world of a noisy office.Acceptable noise mark in open space – up to 55 dB. The level of 85 dB is equivalent to the car on the track. In this chaos thoughts are intermittent and it’s hard to finish the job. The «helpers» in solving this problem – various partitions and dividing screens workstations.
Conclusion: Balancing is a must not only for a gymnast but also for professional designers (I’m talking about balancing quiet areas with bustling ones.).
Workaholics, who have a toothbrush in the office, will be pleased with a rest zone. Energy sleeping became a trend that entered the schedule of Google employees and other progressive companies. A short rest (about 20-30 minutes) helps to restore emotional strength, increasing productivity by 30%. A sleepy employee loses an average of 2 hours in a state of “hey, don’t sleep…”
Conclusion: Special zones supply employees with the energy they needed for productive work, and help to focus on fulfilling their responsibilities.
On the «Wall Street Journal» pages we found an interesting study. Low ceilings encourage analytical thinking, while high ones stimulate the abstract (it explains why creative people are crazy about the loft!).
Conclusion: The ceiling hasn’t prevented the creative ones from connecting the cosmos.