Healthy Workers, Happy Bosses

>> From simple adjustments to work spaces, to promoting exercise programs and helping reduce emotional burdens, employers can reduce sick days and turnover, and boost productivity by keeping employees healthy, comfortable and happy.

Comfy work spaces

Sound and lighting have long been known to affect employee performance, and now air quality is becoming just as important in designing work space, says Lori Wegman, president of Wegman Design Group, a commercial interior design firm in Naples. Healthcare clients were the first to specify carpeting and paints that release low-level toxic emissions or volatile organic compounds (voc), according to Wegman. Now all of her clients are interested in indoor air quality, she says.

"The average consumers have become very sensitive to their environment," she says. "They request sustainable products and want to avoid off-gassing from carpets and paints, and that is what we’ll specify as well."

Concerns with sound range from minimizing distractions to accommodating music, and Wegman is often asked to provide solutions for both.

White noise systems filter out distracting sounds in a person’s immediate environment to aid concentration. In open-plan offices, she explains, the systems can be used to reduce the reach of speech, preventing office staff from being distracted by conversations in the background and increasing productivity.

Acoustical wall systems also absorb sound. Wegman has seen more requests for modular wall panels made of green materials such as cork or recycled elements, or wrapped with decorative fabric.

"Acoustically, it really absorbs a lot of the telephone voice, and it allows people to turn music on low on their computers," she says. "If you’ve got the right absorption around, people don’t hear it."