Is your workplace lacking in life and giving you vagueness? Bring some cheerfulness by adding plants and customizing it a bit. And while doing so, make sure it is well ventilated and exposed to daylight. These decorating tips may seem trivial, yet enhancing your workplace and more specifically greening your office would stimulate motivation, productivity, health and personal satisfaction … Just that! In any case, this is what the World Green Building Council ensures, an international “eco-friendly” network which campaigns for the transformation of buildings into a more environmentally friendly framework.
Among World GBC’s recommendations for improving the physical and mental health of employees, the report suggests arranging the office so that it is sufficiently lit by natural light and offers a pleasant view; place green plants around the workstation. In addition to boosting employee performance, these simple actions would ensure energy savings. The authors go even further by pleading for better access for employees to green spaces, sports facilities and premises by bicycle.
Recommendations that are difficult to apply?
On the ventilation side, Jane Henley, CEO of World GBC, assures that buildings that improve ventilation and reduce indoor pollutants can make workers 11% more productive. Workers should be able to control their “thermal comfort” and sound systems as they see fit, she argues. Recommendations that would guarantee employees a better mood, a fulfillment at work and better health.
Still, these ideas seem like wishful thinking for many employees, sometimes condemned to work in small spaces, cold and noisy open spaces, in places only lit by artificial light or subject to indoor pollution.