Wellness in the Workplace: Advice from Multistudio Designers
Katie Pohlman (KP), NCIDQ, Teresa Jan (TJ), AIA, LEED AP, WELL AP & Yukiko Corella (YC), NCIDQ
How can workplace design impact an employee's mental health and productivity levels?
YC: As workplace design has expanded from physical to virtual, we have embraced the reality that a hybrid workplace is here to stay.
Though technology has greatly improved, many employees still value the creative synergies and connections facilitated by face-to-face interaction. Therefore, creating an environment that fosters genuine relationships for all employees, whether in the office or remotely, is vital. Our team is studying how to blend technological and design interventions so that, in turn, we can develop virtual and physical spaces that facilitate connections on multiple levels.
KP: The experience that one may have from working within an office, explicitly locating workstations that are thermally, acoustically, and visually comfortable, and quickly set up for a hybrid meeting has become essential to keep the employee's mental stress low and unleash productivity.
How can you incorporate wellness in workplace design?
YC: It's essential to approach wellness holistically. At the base level, this means creating a workplace that provides optimal comfort to its users. Fundamentally, this can be achieved by maximizing daylighting, providing exterior views, having well-tuned acoustics, using healthy materials, having access to clean air and water, allowing for increased thermal control, and incorporating biophilic elements. Ultimately, the benefits extend well beyond the physical needs of your employees by relieving external stressors.
TJ: As we embrace the reality of a hybrid workstyle, workplace design has now expanded from physical to virtual spaces. The concierge of workplace design is more critical than ever. "Hoteling" at work is not just about the policy of unassigned desks, but from convenient multimodal commuting options to technology reliability for running a hybrid meeting. Amenities like complimentary snacks, drinks, and meals will not do the trick. Post-pandemic workplaces should offer productive environments and make employees feel cared for and valued. These primary factors draw people back into the office and engage them. Periodic in-person interactions are the interconnective tissues that strengthen the cohesiveness of workplace culture and productivity. Research shows that face-to-face interaction provides the most significant mood boost compared to socializing via online media.
What are the best ways to incorporate wellness design into already existing spaces? (i.e. What can be updated/changed if a company is not doing a complete rebuild?)
YC: Wellness can be integrated through a broad spectrum of measures, and each space's conditions can differ. First and foremost, it's necessary to assess your current space by speaking with your users. How can you make the workplace more comfortable for them? What factors are contributing to their discomfort and distraction? How do they like to work, and what features would they find of benefit to their work life?
Once you identify key issues, obtain a physical assessment of the space to reach the issue's root. For example, can problems be fixed through simple repairs or modifications to mechanical and electrical systems? On the flip side, do they require a reconfiguration and redesign of the space? Determining the problem is the first step in designing a solution, as many solutions are available.
TJ: Our future San Francisco studio will be housed in a new office half the size of our current space. However, it will support a broader spectrum of workspaces with diverse seating choices as a living laboratory for a post-pandemic workplace. The studio design emerges from surveys, pin-ups, and design workshops to prioritize zonal strategies that support health and wellness, offer choices, and increase in-person connection among colleagues. All our workplace furniture is on the ground level. As a result, the furniture can be mobile and reconfigured for events, gatherings, and whatever allows the studio mate to optimize their productivity beyond their assigned seat at home.
What is one of the biggest challenges you currently see in office space design?
YC: In the past decade, workspaces often shifted to an open plan format to encourage collaboration and lessen hierarchies associated with more traditional office floorplans. Though the technology to meet virtually has been around for quite a while, the pandemic enabled a widespread shift to videoconferencing and virtual collaboration. Unfortunately, many open offices do not offer an ideal acoustic environment for this. As a result, privacy is compromised, the focus is disrupted, and acoustic comfort is impacted. How do you marry design and technology to create the optimum environment for communicating and connecting?
How can you keep employees engaged at work with the use of design?
YC: Many manufacturers are advocating for a zoned approach to the workplace footprint that features a mix of unique workplace amenities strategically placed between teams.
Teams are situated in "neighborhoods," which allows for ample collaboration and communication while shielding employees from unnecessary distractions. Interstitial spaces are used for functions that best support the team and workplace.
Designing a space optimized for in-person collaboration while supporting individual needs creates a workplace unique from the home environment.
KP: Biophilic strategies such as indoor planting would provide fresh air and provide visual relief. Picking a workplace site with outdoor dining/meeting amenities or in proximity to a park would encourage employees to take a quick break, like the morning run they would have time to do if they were working from home.
TJ: A "work café" is the most desirable amenity that hosts intentional gatherings or scheduled meetups for specific collaborative tasks. In this manner, the design provides the flexibility of hosting all-hands-on-deck meetings or community/client events, which are essential tools to use hospitality to reinforce company identity and brand. On the flip side, workplace design should provide quiet and dedicated spaces that offer unparalleled focus and equipment that employees might not have access to at home. The priority for workplace design still hinges upon maximizing daylighting, creating views of the outdoors, incorporating healthy materials, and optimizing well-tuned acoustics and individualized thermal comfort control. Generally, we focus on biophilic design, good air quality, and hospitality. These are heavily valued attributes in the post-pandemic workplace and reduce the effect of "quiet quitting" and "burnout."
In your opinion, what is the biggest impact on employee well-being?
YC: Beyond increasing physical comfort, being genuinely connected to your colleagues, work, and organization is vital. Though this is primarily created through workplace policies, practices, and culture, design can be used to create spaces that support these connections.
What kind of impact does good and thoughtful design bring to the workplace?
YC: When workplace design is thoughtful and considerate, it's supportive. It gives more than it takes.
TJ: Investment in the health and well-being of workplace environment, policy, and culture, is like investing in preventive healthcare. The return is the long-term financial and resilient performance of an organization. Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health's research has proven that improving indoor air quality can increase cognitive function by 61% to 101%, depending on the level of air quality improvement. According to the study, enhanced ventilation also increases employee productivity by a whopping $6,500 to $7,500 per person per year. Ultimately, our goal is to provide a high-performance workplace to save energy costs and reduce health burdens and economic loss of both "absenteeism" and "presenteeism."
