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Nature In The Workplace
It’s been a well known fact for a long time now that the right lighting along with some added greenery has major positive benefits for employees, organisations and customers.
The Human Spaces report, https://blog.interface.com/ commissioned by the global modular flooring experts of Interface, conducted a study of 7,600 office workers from 16 countries and examined the impact of their work space environment on employees wellbeing.
It was astonishing to read that nearly half (47%) of office employees have no natural light in their environment and 58% have no live plants. In Australia 28% have no windows! No wonder Australia is listed as one of the top three countries with above average stress levels.
America and Canada are also in the top three, all reporting high rates of little to no natural light, no live plants and no windows in the work place.
Indonesia and Indian employees reported the highest levels of natural light and interestingly also reported some of the lowest levels of work related stress.
For many of us our work environment is inside an office or a shop, we can’t avoid that. For those in shopping centres, we may not get to see natural light all day, unless we make the effort to go outside.
Luckily there are some great ways you can bring the outside in and whilst it may not be the real thing, it will at least give you the sense of being closer to nature.
Nature In The Workplace – Utilising Plants
When looking at your shop or office design, ask yourself if there is a way of introducing some natural materials; timber, natural fabric or even natural paints.
Plants Can Be Easy To Maintain
Tom Robertson Architects designed the offices for education marketplace provider Candlefox, located in Melbourne. (Pictured above). Beautiful use of natural light and plants.
Plants are easy to introduce in to your space and easy to maintain (with a little effort and TLC). They can instantly add life to your work space and numerous studies have been conducted to prove they increase your level of happiness and productivity.
Nature In The Workplace – Utilising Lighting
Lighting is a big one. Working under fluorescent lights all day every day can drain the body, strain the eyes and bring on fatigue. Whilst it’s not always possible or practical to change the entire ceiling full of lights, you can change out the fluorescents for LEDs. You could also look at introducing some more decorative lighting that can add both style and a more peaceful atmosphere to your space.
If you would like some advice on how you can turn your office, shop or centre into a more natural, healthy environment, give Guardian Built a call on 1300 222 022.