Is Your Office Good Enough for Your Employees?

According to recent research into the affect of work environments on health and wellbeing, from Canada Life Group Insurance, open plan offices are one of the unhealthiest environments to work in, for a variety of reasons.

Participants were asked to rank how easy it is to be healthy in their working environment, and the average score was 6.3 out of 10, with employees in open plan offices giving a score of 6.1, with people working from home scoring much higher.

Unsurprisingly, over one third (34%) of employees in the survey who work in open plan offices suffer from a lack of fresh air, while one in ten (13%) experience headaches as a result of poor lighting. Just over a third (34%) said that illness spreads quickly in their organisation.

Over a quarter of employees in open plan offices (28%) said that their environment creates stress, while those who work at home report a much lower figure (5%). Employees who work from home have more control over their environment, and therefore are least likely to suffer from health complaints like these.

Unhealthy Eating

Over a third of office-based employees (36%) bring food from home into the workplace because it is cheaper, and an additional 12% do this because it is healthier. This suggests that employers aren’t doing enough to provide healthy options.

Around one in five (19%) eat at their desks due to excessive workloads and no time to take a proper lunch. In home-workers, grazing throughout the day, rather than eating a lunchtime meal is much more prevalent. Almost a quarter of respondents admit to grazing, compared to one in 20 (4%) office workers.

When asked what they would like to have in their workplace, almost a third of participants (30%) chose an outside area with seating so they can get some fresh air. This was particularly desirable among those in an office; 33% of those with a private office and 32% of open plan office workers.

Making Your Office Better

There are lots of different ways that you can make your employees feel more comfortable, healthier and generally happier at work.

• Make sure that your air conditioning is well maintained, and your filter is clean. Employ a service to make sure that your air conditioning is up to scratch.
• Provide a healthy option or two! Keeping your employees healthy is important to your business as a healthy worker means a happier, more productive one.
• Encourage your employees to stay away if they’re ill. You don’t want their illnesses spreading around the office and getting others ill.
• A relaxation area or somewhere to eat lunch is important so your employees can take their lunch away from their work even if they have brought their own from home.