Member Article

Making wellbeing a business priority

With British people sitting on average for 8.9 hours each day and 70% of their sitting time being at work, why aren’t more businesses placing physical and emotional wellbeing at the top of the agenda? Dr. Joe Croft, head of environmental and sustainability at Overbury looks at what regional businesses can be doing to strike the balance between attraction, retention and productivity.

“The combination of an ageing workforce, absenteeism through illness and staffing costs has pushed staff wellbeing much higher up the list of priorities for business leaders over the past ten years. Paid sick leave is said to cost UK businesses more than £14bn every year, whilst employee overheads account for almost 90% of the average company’s operating costs. When we also look at the fact that we spend more time with our work colleagues than we do our families, more and more businesses are correlating the quality of the workspace that they provide with the effect that it has on a team’s health, wellbeing and productivity.

“As a fit out specialist, Overbury is an expert in working with clients to demonstrate how office design can have a significant and positive effect on staff wellbeing. Businesses can incorporate effective measures to transform commercial space and ensure an increase in productivity through wellbeing and good health. Good views and acoustics, air quality and thermal comfort all play a crucial role in making a workplace a healthy space to inhabit. In fact, according to a 2006 analysis of 24 studies, poor air quality alone lowered performance by 10%. Short-term sick leave was also found to be 35% lower in offices ventilated with more outside air.”

So how can occupiers make the most of workspace to benefit your team’s wellbeing?

“There’s no standard solution that will fit every space when it comes to wellbeing and office design. But the key is to start with a plan to understand why you want to focus on wellbeing, what easy changes can be implemented, and how the effects will be evaluated in the long term.

“Once priorities have been identified, office design and fit out can then be used to bring these to life. Whether it’s improving working lifestyle, environmental sustainability or physical health, your wellbeing programme is inherently tied to your office layout and facilities.

“For example, in terms of physical health, on a number of recent projects Overbury has been tasked by clients with accommodating cafeterias and other food preparation areas that promote healthy eating. These areas can vary from a small tea point right through to a full commercial catered kitchen with services.

“Looking at the benefits of employee engagement when undertaking a relocation or refurbishment and demonstrating how staff’s input into the process, creates a case for change. This was particularly true in the recent delivery of our £10m project for pharmaceutical giant, AstraZeneca in Macclesfield late last year. User groups worked with the project team to create an inspirational, unique and beautiful working environment, with the focussed objective of creating a ‘great place to work’ and by supporting happy, healthy and productive people in their day-to-day roles.

“Through the strategic positioning of the communal cafe and break-out areas and the provision of large, flexible meeting rooms with state-of-the art technology, all staff-focussed facilities are located on the ground floor along the principal thoroughfare ‘The Silk Route’. The rest of the project trials AZ’s “desk-top of the future”, a concept developed in conjunction with the activity based working philosophy. Each workstation is enabled to support any laptop (no fixed computers), all desk-top phones have been removed and Skype for Business has become the standard. The workspace embraces a range of digital wayfinder screens, interactive collaboration walls, and guest WIFI - free and fully enabled for visitors to work with ease during their time on site.”

Feedback from staff included: “From what was previously a building which had an old and out of date feel and had too many doors and corridors to mention, we now have an open, vibrant and airy space which lends itself to really effective collaboration of teams. What perhaps is even more remarkable is the impact the building is now having on the productivity and efficiency of the teams who occupy the building. Collaboration and team working has never been better and we are truly living the philosophy of a great place to work.”

But how do you evaluate the effects of the changes you’ve made?

“There are a number of ways to assess the success of your wellbeing programme from evaluation surveys to employee assessments (based on cultural change or increases in productivity).

“It’s important to remember that not everyone will appreciate the changes you make. Communication and change management will help your staff to understand why your wellbeing programme has been implemented, why it’s good for them and what you hope to achieve.

“Wellbeing is fast becoming a buzzword for business leaders and that’s because it can make a real difference. Like sustainability, it’s easier to implement than you might think.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Rachel McMaster .