Fight Workplace Stress with Innovative Office Interiors
According to Wrike’s United States stress statistics from 2019, 94% of American workers report experiencing stress at their workplace. While this result is a cause of many factors; studies are suggesting that one of the major contributors of work-related stress is the unavailability of stress-free zones at work. To combat these, many dissertations have revealed that the inclusion of collaborative and individual spaces in offices can help impact an employee’s health tremendously. The catch is to provide the employees with enough room for engaging with other activities outside their assigned work and also giving them dedicated spaces to sit and relax by themselves.
Although there are several ways to fight work-stress on a personal level, for an employer, it is of grave importance to equip their workplace to understand the needs of their employees. As ‘busy’ has become a default synonym of our generation’s timeline statuses, we have been weighed down by our busy lives only to find out that we are all full of stress hormones in our bodies. This has opened doors for another new-age health hazard called burnout syndrome. This is a psychological effect that arises due to chronic stressors on the job. However, a good part here is the rising awareness of the situation. From using more natural light to adding biophilic design elements, workplaces are turning more humane. In this very league, two of the major workplace design revolutions would be the withdrawal of cubicles and creating more activity-based work areas.
How can Workplace design fight stress?
With the emerging trends of flexible work-culture, there’s a whole new level of making work scenes fun and relaxing. Today’s workplaces are looking forward to bring in collaboration and engagement among the employees by making the workspace design more interactive. In one of our recent projects, Team Zyeta thought of making the office interiors more “reciprocative” by designing dynamic walls in the corridors. This way the employees can gather and team up to spend some time solving the puzzles on the wall or playing scrambles there instead of just standing by the water coolers.
Another very important addition of today’s healthy workspaces is the nap pods. The simple addition of a sleeping room with comfortable nap pods can work wonder for employees. Power naps are undoubtedly energy boosters and having a dedicated place for napping at work can be the smartest thing to have now. As sleep-deprived people are not the best bets for productive work, giving them a dedicated place to go and get their sleep would be the best thing.
Google offices have high-tech sleep pods for their employees and they have seen its positive impact on productivity. Following Google’s trends, nap pods have now become a thing in many offices.
There is also a new design trend called “Zen Rooms” that have made their way into the modern workspace design. These are the no-electronic zone spaces that are meant to let employees disconnect from the outer world and relax.
Studies have shown that taking breaks and having some quiet moments can revitalize energy levels. With technology rising every day, most of our times at workplaces are about working on laptops, sending emails, looking at digital screens; therefore, a Zen Room helps in turning off the buzzing world and get some free time at work. Some workspaces also have meditation rooms in place of Zen Rooms. There are also telephone booths and discussion pods making their ways into the world of open plan offices. These spaces help in catering quiet discussions or urgent calls during the office hours. Employees can even use these spaces as hot-desking corners to work and chill, all by themselves.
Besides the contribution of design, work culture in an office plays a great role in fighting stress too. Strong Company culture can help in making the employees feel happier and more positive. This can also be achieved by time to time Stress Management sessions. After all, a great workspace design can only enable you for collaborations and fun engagements; however, it’s the people of an organization that can strengthen the work environment.
