We can respond to the question of “What is well-being?” as the state of being physically, mentally and spiritually balanced and good. Since spending approximately 95% of our daily lives in indoors, 11 hours are technologically connected with tablets, smartphones, computers, and so on; this approach has become one of the most important quests in our lives
efficiency in the office environment
Along with the generational change; working habits, expectations, and needs have also started to change. Today’s technology offers more opportunities for mobile work and today employees have started to choose where is the best place to work, and how. Employees can now switch between different forms of work during the day. Whilst open office system has still been used for a very long time; in recent years, the borders between work and entertainment have been removed in space design. For example, coffee corners are in retail stores or inoffice collaborative workspaces have begun to be designed as living spaces. In other words, the design of a space appealing to senses, also intertwined with life is now on the boil.
According to some research, we see that employees prioritize their own health and companies are beginning to invest more in health programs to support employees’ well-being. Because now, for the new generation, besides salaries, insurance and social opportunities provided by the company; physical conditions have become a crucial priority. One-third of the employees say that office design is effective in choosing where to work. However, a young talent who has a loyalty to the company is nowadays something difficult to come across. Besides it is a direct investment in their well-being, health, and happiness, we also see that each positive investment for employees positively affects their production and their productivity.
Nowadays, employees can switch between different working styles. This is sometimes the case for individual work as concentration, silence, space, and comfort are important, sometimes for a collaborative working approach as socialization, presentation, brainstorming, teamwork and informal work are important.
In addition, it is observed that urbanization and increasingly diverging from nature have increased the health issues and well-being of workers around the world. This negatively affects employees’ performances due to their health problems. Considering the time they spend at work, it is argumentative how healthy and a happy environment they have been in. When we look at some global companies, we see that 90% of company costs are directly associated with employees. Besides some spatial costs such as energy and rent, companies are keep working to develop their projects on ‘well-being’ and this 90% of improvements positively affect employees, as well as the company.
At this point in recent years, the concept of ‘well-being’ has become popular in the design industry. In short, we can respond to the question of “What is well-being?” as the state of being physically, mentally and spiritually balanced and good. Since spending approximately 95% of our daily lives in indoors, 11 hours are technologically connected with tablets, smartphones, computers, and so on; this approach has become one of the most important quests in our lives. An average of 4 to 8 days a year, employees are allowed for illness, while 40% of doctor visits are due to stress. In this context, many worldwide pieces of research and studies are about ‘well-being’ in the offices, articles have been written, projects have been executed. We have recently focused on the design that focuses on people, centering on employee health and well-being, and at the same time contributing to increased productivity and production.
The design of a space appealing to senses, also intertwined with life is now on the boil.
future of offices and working culture
In the new working world shaped by generational change, offices that can say ‘we’ instead of ‘me’ are now more productive and successful. Besides their individual work, teamwork, creating agile work, being open, transparent and participative in their work, socializing and spending some time for themselves play an important role in their performance. With this approach; regardless of their status, position, or task, they can develop projects that embrace all employees and they can reach success sooner.
As workspaces are more flexible, people are able to work with the people they wish. This empowers communication and exchange of ideas. Quality communication brings creativity, quick decision making and shortened working hours. Nowadays, employees can switch between different working styles. This is sometimes the case for individual work as concentration, silence, space, and comfort are important, sometimes for a collaborative working approach as socialization, presentation, brainstorming, teamwork and informal work are important.
In addition, while rapidly developing technology provides us with more opportunities for mobile work, employees decide where they want to work, the hours of work and who to work with. In this context, technology is crucial for this new generation of the working world, confronted with the concepts of activity-based working, agile office, home office and so on. Within the natural flow of this process of technology and technological dependency, the concepts of dependency have an important role in design. Many spaces and products, which have begun becoming a part of several projects; from meeting booking systems to height-adjustable work tables, from informal working areas to quiet rooms are shaped by developing the technology. Freedom of employees increases their productivity which makes them complete their work in a short amount of time. This, in turn, affects the happiness of employees and their commitment to the organization while helping to increase productivity in the company.
As a result, while ‘the future office’ considers the needs and expectations of various generations working together, it prioritizes concentration, communication, cooperation, and idea generation.