Kent and London office design has been on a journey. Over the years there have been many changes to the way in which offices are designed, because of the new ways that we work and what we have come to expect from the workplace.
Gone are the days of a rigid, regimented office layout with desks evenly spaced in rows motivated to gain the maximum productivity from workers at the potential expense of their health and well-being or the cubicle farm where staff were boxed in on three sides cutting them off from their adjacent neighbours and reducing collaboration and social interaction. Today’s modern contemporary office design is focussed on providing staff with flexibility, a balance of private vs collaborative work spaces and breakout areas with the overall aim of promoting productivity and health and wellbeing.
Office Design Over The Years
Looking at office design in the past, we can see the changes that have been made and the road that’s been taken to get to where we are today. Here are some of the major ideas and milestones that shaped office design across the years.
In the 1900s American engineer Frederick Taylor highly influenced office design through the principles of “scientific management” with the aim of improving efficiency and productivity. Taylor’s idea was to imitate a rigid factory-like assembly line with workers in regimented rows undertaking simple, repetitive tasks, being overseen by managers. Taylor believed this type of layout was the best way to perform tasks and utilising this design eliminated any waste of time or effort.
In the 1930s office design evolved through the utilisation of Taylor’s principles of maximising efficiency and productivity and a new design concept which incorporated modernist architectural principles which place emphasis on minimalist design and the use of more modern building materials like glass and steel. Designs were more aesthetically pleasing in comparison to the Taylor office design. A key example of this is the Johnson Wax building designed and built in 1936 by Frank Lloyd Wright. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation states “By combining traditions of communal organization with contemporary materials and structures to shelter new social and economic activities, the architecture of these two major work-rooms [the Larkin building and the Johnson Wax building] is celebrated precisely because Wright’s “radical conservatism” recognizes the past even as it makes use of new possibilities.”
In the 1950s the Bürolandschaft (office landscape) layout was pioneered by the brothers Eberhard and Wolfgang Schnelle and was the first office design which moved away from the rigidity of previous design ideas and towards more organic and unstructured layouts styled more towards social interaction, grouping desks together and using plants and screens to provide some privacy. This layout provided a more collaborative working environment and was closer to the way our workspaces are designed today. For this reason, Bürolandschaft is often referenced in relation to the principles of modern office design.
In 1964 the Action Office was born through a line of modular office furniture designed by Robert Propst and George Nelson and manufactured and marketed by Hermon Miller specifically to provide personalised and flexible workspaces for offices. The initial Action Office furniture was revolutionary and could be described as “before its time”. It was colourful and dynamic but was deemed to be too “modern” and expensive which caused it to fail commercially. Following the failure of Action Office I, Propst went back to the drawing board to design Action Office II. The flexibility of Action Office I was kept but more privacy was built in as it was recognised that staff needed a degree of privacy. The Action Office II is believed to be the precursor to the rise of the “cubicle farm” in the 1980s.
In the 1980s the advent of cheap modular partitioning/walls along with an increased refocus on productivity saw a shift in design towards what is now known as “cubicle farms”. Cubicle farms “boxed” workers into small areas surrounded on three sides, providing privacy but cutting them off from their adjacent neighbours and reducing collaboration and social interaction. The cubicle farm “evolved” from the Action Office design although Propst viewed the cubicle farm as taking a step backwards in terms of office design and despite continuing to work on the design the cubicle farm, to this day, is seen as an isolating and depressing setup.
In the 1990s, with the emergence of technology and the internet becoming widely available the start of remote working was possible. As technology continued to evolve and became more compact, portable and affordable; workers could move around the office or work remotely. This was the beginning of the “virtual office”.
In the 2000s work-life balance came more to the fore with office design moving away from the rigid layout of cubicle rows and towards a more casual and flexible office approach to design. Multi-functional, open, collaborative spaces, breakout and social areas would start to become the trend.
In the 2010s the trend of the 2000s workspace continued to evolve as the understanding that prioritising employee health and wellbeing was vital and that office design needed to be more human centric. Activity based working where a business designs its office space to best meet its work process requirements is seen in many office spaces. Workplace spaces are set out to support the task (different settings for different tasks) including standard meeting rooms, quiet rooms, break out areas or collaboration areas. By staying mobile staff could be flexible in where they worked allowing them to move to the best space or setup for a specific task.
In the 2020s Covid-19 forced many businesses to change the way they worked. Working from the office was no longer possible and remote working became the new working model. Post Covid and having become used to working remotely the possibility of working remotely or hybrid working became the expectation of many staff. Hybrid working allowed staff to work from home and continue to socially interact and connect with other work colleagues when they working in the office. The sustainable office has also become increasingly important as climate change awareness increased and the drive to net zero became the focus.
Office Design With Wellbeing At Its Core
Looking back through the office design of the past it’s clear that in the early days efficiency and productivity was the order of the day, unfortunately this was done at the expense of health and wellbeing.
The first sign of wellbeing being taken into account, when it came to designing an office space, was the Action Office however design ideas soon pivoted back to productivity as being the major driver and as a consequence the cubicle farm office became the main design of office spaces for the next two decades.
Today there is a wealth of information and research at our disposal which clearly shows that poor office design can impact health and there are benefits of putting health and wellbeing at the centre of office design.
Days Lost
Statistics provided by the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that a total 33.7 million working days were lost in Great Britian with the majority of days lost in 2023/24 due to stress, depression or anxiety and musculoskeletal disorders accounting for 16.4 million and 7.8 million respectively. “On average, each person suffering took around 15.5 days off work as follows: 6.8 days for injuries, 17.7 days for ill health cases, 21.1 days for stress, depression or anxiety and 14.3 days for musculoskeletal disorders.” The HSE estimated the total costs to UK businesses, of workplace self-reported injuries and ill health in 2022/23 was £21.6 billion.
According to UKATA around 1.7 million workers in the UK were affected by a workplace illness in 2023/24. A large proportion of those can be attributed to mental health issues with 776,000 workers dealing with stress, depression, or anxiety related to their work. 543,000 workers were affected by musculoskeletal disorders as another reason for workplace ill health.
Estimates by the Mental Health Foundation (MHF) show that 15% of workers have a mental health condition. They state that working conditions can have a significant impact on mental health with an estimated 875,000 workers suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety, resulting in 17.1 million working days lost in 2022/23. The MHF go onto state that “mental health was the 5th most common reason given for sickness absence, accounting for 7.9% of occurrences in 2022” and that “over the past decade, the number of workers aged 16–34 years who reported that their mental health limits the type or amount of work they can do has more than quadrupled.” It’s estimated that poor mental health costs UK businesses around £42 billion to £45 billion annually through ill health, presenteeism and staff turnover.
Mental Health at Work, a fact sheet by the World Health Organization (WHO), states that “decent work is good for mental health” however “poor physical working conditions …pose a risk to mental health.” The WHO say that “globally, an estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety at a cost of US$1 trillion per year in lost productivity.”
Working Conditions In the Office Space
The Workers Union say that where working conditions are poor it can significantly impact employee health. They give examples of working in environments where the workplace is too cold or too hot, where air quality is poor and where there’s high noise levels which can lead to “a detrimental effect on employee wellbeing including causing discomfort, dehydration and fatigue; respiratory problems, headaches and fatigue or hearing loss.”
ACAS also say that stress at work can be the result of poor working conditions and work-related stress can cause burnout, depression, anxiety and a range of other physical illnesses.
When looking at the “9 Key Workplace Factors That Significantly Affect Employee Health” Spectra 360 found that environmental conditions played an important role in staff health and wellbeing. They state that “the physical environment of a workplace greatly affects employee well-being. Factors like poor air quality, poor lighting, and too much noise can cause fatigue, headaches, and trouble concentrating. On the other hand, a well-maintained workplace with good ventilation, natural light, and a comfortable temperature can improve mood, focus, and overall well-being”. They also state that “setups, like uncomfortable desks, poor lighting, and repetitive movements, can cause musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) like neck pain, back pain, and carpal tunnel syndrome. The constant discomfort and injuries can make people less productive, cause more mistakes, and lead to more employees leaving their jobs to find healthier work environments.”
A paper on “User-focused office renovation: a review into user satisfaction and the potential for improvement” by Emerald Insight looked at the importance of user satisfaction in office renovation and found that “a user-focussed renovation approach can enhance user satisfaction in offices and their functional quality while meeting energy performance goals.” They found 10 main factors which increased user satisfaction were associated with “physical and psychological satisfaction and comfort” and included thermal comfort, air quality, noise, light, user control, privacy, spatial comfort, concentration, communication/collaboration and social contact.
The PubMed paper “The relationship between working condition factors and well-being” looked at data gathered from 5,995 employed workers. Wellbeing was measured through the WHO Five Well-Being Index (1998 version) and the data showed that “workers’ well-being was significantly higher when they were satisfied with their working conditions.”
How Can Office Design Positively Impact Wellbeing?
It’s clear that office working conditions can impact staff physical and mental health. Below are some of the many ways in which the right office design can positivity impact staff health and wellbeing.
Finding The Right Balance
Finding the right balance of office space types can be challenging but plays an essential role in ensuring staff health and wellbeing and should be considered early in the office design process.
Open plan offices are popular as they are cost effective and enhance communication and collaboration, but they can come with a number of issues including distractions, lack of privacy and increased stress levels, that need to be addressed. Employing the use of desk dividers, plants and other forms of partitioning can provide an element of privacy. Encouraging staff to move around the office can help reduce stress and improve focus. Ensuring there are dedicated “private spaces” and quiet zones that staff can move to can help to address perceived privacy issues. Balancing collaborative and private spaces within the office can ensure that office stress is kept to a minimum and help to ensure that the office space caters for staff needs, and their physical and mental health and wellbeing.
Tackling Noise
When it comes to office design noise is one of the issues that is often found to be the top of the irritant list in many surveys. There are a number of ways that office design can help to combat noise. Ensuring high traffic areas, meeting rooms, bathrooms, kitchens and break are away from main work areas can help to cut down on office noise. Physical barriers such as acoustic screens, partitioning, dividers, panels and even planting can act as noise barriers and absorb unwanted noise, preventing it from passing from office to office. Suspended ceilings are also effective at absorbing noise. Using carpet on floors, rather than tiles can help to reduce ‘footfall’ noise as carpets soften and absorb sounds making for a quieter environment. It’s important to bear in mind that when it comes to tackling noise issues ceilings, walls and flooring should to be considered as a whole as mitigating one element in isolation is unlikely to work as well as treating all of the elements within an office design as a whole.
Taking A Break
Being able to move away from the hustle and bustle of the office and take a break can be incredibly therapeutic. As the BBC explains “tiny” breaks can ease your body and reboot your brain. According to the BBC these tiny breaks, known as micro breaks “can have a disproportionately powerful impact – studies have shown that they can improve workers’ ability to concentrate [and] change the way they see their jobs.” Microbreaks can also “ help them avoid the typical injuries that people get when they’re tied to their desks all day” by taking the strain off certain body structures – such as the neck – that we’re using all day.” Given that between 2023-2024, 543,000 UK workers suffered from a work-related musculoskeletal disorder micro breaks can provide a powerful way of tackling MSDs..
Breakout spaces are also a vital tool in providing a space which can be used to hold informal meetings, brainstorm or to simply take a break, de-stress and relax.
Ergonomics
Something that is often overlooked in the design of an office is ergonomics (from the Greek ergon ‘work’, on the pattern of economics). Ergonomics can promote comfort and health and wellbeing which in turn improve efficiency and productivity. Where ergonomics aren’t considered, it can lead to discomfort, pain and injuries which in turn can cause stress, anxiety and depression.
A well-designed office which takes ergonomics into account will ensure staff have a space that is comfortable, reduces strain and prevents MSDs, which in turn can lead to improved mental health.
Biophilia
As human beings we have an innate tendency to seek connections with nature. However, this need for nature is often an issue as the average weekly working hours for full time workers is around 36 hours per week spent indoors. Integrating plants and greenery into office design (bringing the outside, inside) is known to reduce stress levels, increase attention span, improve memory and learning, increase creativity, and reduce presenteeism and absenteeism.
Utilising other elements from nature such as wood, stone and fabrics like cotton can also have a positive impact on staff mental health.
Natural Light
Using natural light wherever possible in an office space can significantly impact mood and physical and mental health and wellbeing. Natural light also “helps our bodies produce Vitamin D, helps us to focus, enables us to get more done, and even makes us happier.” Research has also shown that a lack of light can lead to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) as well as “disturbed sleep patterns which in turn can result in persistent low mood, depression, irritability, bipolar disorder, diabetes and stress.”
Where natural light isn’t available light sources that mimic natural lighting such as LED lighting should be used. The ability to adjust lighting levels is also key. Light colour is also another factor to consider. Warm colours can provide a calming atmosphere; cooler colours can promote focus.
Temperature, Humidity and Air Quality
Designing an office space is the perfect time to look at installing an air conditioning system or upgrading an old system as air quality, temperature and humidity can have a major impact on health and wellbeing. By ensuring office temperature, humidity and air quality are regulated and monitored businesses can ensure a healthier working environment which can make for a happier and healthier office.
It’s clear that a wellbeing workplace is possible through office design and with improved health and wellbeing comes increased efficiency and productivity.
JBH Refurbishments, Experts In Office Design and Refurbishment
JBH Refurbishments are a cat a and cat b fit out contractor and have over 30+ years experience in Kent and London office design, office refurbishments and fit outs. We can provide the right expertise for your Kent or London office refurbishment. We understand what’s required to carry out an office design and refurbishment that prioritises staff health, wellbeing and safety.
From your brief, to putting together a project plan, to developing your office design and layout to delivering your office fit out JBH Refurbishments will provide the right expertise for your project providing peace of mind. You can contact us on 0333 207 0339 or via our contact page or by calling us on 0333 207 0339 today for a free on-site consultation.
