Within the workspace itself there many environmental considerations that can help in reducing stress and improving both focus and productivity. Stress is not only just a personal issue in terms of affect the individual both psychologically and physically, but also something that can affect their work ethic and ability. This can ultimately affect the workplace itself and their output, which is why I think stress is big issue that needs to be tackled and controlled within workplaces rather than to be left up to the individual to handle themselves.
Lighting is a key consideration within the workplace as this can affect people's well-being, not enough daylight and it could create a feeling of isolation and dullness which could affect the employees mood.
Acoustics within the workplace play a big part in performance and well being of staff also, often people like their own quiet space to maybe work or to think for themselves outside of the busy work environment.
"In environments with white noise, or sound masking, employees report improvements of up to 38 percent for the performance of simple tasks and 27 percent for complex tasks."
Thus proving a point that sound or lack thereof is essential to productivity, which is why it's one essential consideration for me when when potentially redesigning a workspace or a new space entirely to be a break from the workplace itself.
Gary Wheeler from IIDA (International Interior Design Association) said that:
"Workplace design should enable clients to do their jobs easily, remain flexible so end users can adjust the space according to their particular work style and be adaptable so that it can work well into the future."
Within the same article also, a survey showed that improvements in workplace design that it would improve the overall productivity of every department within the company.
Although within the workplace you can't always expect every aspect of the space to be improved, there are some key ones that stand out as possibilities for change. For example better daylight, more breakout space and less noise. It's obvious that these are important factors that should be better considered within the workplace. The examples I've already looked at my previous blog post have a big focus on these as most were places to go and relax, without there being any visual or audible distractions. This is where I aim to focus more of my attention around because something I can't do is change the way the company works and their views on the everyday working life, but something I can do is create something that could assist in de-stressing employees within everyday life.
http://www.hok.com/thought-leadership/top-10-trends-influencing-workplace-design/
http://www.iida.org/content.cfm/the-power-to-be-productive
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