A Human Centered Approach In The Office

By Author: John Tang
Total Articles: 512
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Employee satisfaction is highly correlated with job performance and productivity. There are numerous factors that affect worker satisfaction, however, recent research indicates a strong relationship between workplace design and employee satisfaction. According to a recent study, workplace design that allows employees to control their work environment increases satisfaction and productivity. That is, workers with control over their working space consistently report greater satisfaction with their jobs.

This new human-centered approach to workplace design takes its cues from the employees themselves. People come in all shapes and sizes. Moreover, preferences vary among people and even for the same person at different times. Various studies of white collar workers have consistently found that people prefer to have individual control over lighting, sound, and temperature. These studies also found high correlation between personal control of the working space and employee health. Respondents have indicated that the control over temperature is the most important in the workplace. The benefits of bringing individual control ...
... to the office are countless, and it is logical to adopt a flexible approach to office design that focuses on people and their changing needs. Employee satisfaction is crucial for job performance and productivity and it is supported by recent studies that giving individuals control over their working environment helps them feel more satisfied with their job.

Businesses are aware of the limitations of fixed working places and they are increasingly adopting an individualistic approach to office design and décor. Office furniture manufacturers, architects, and interior designers are offering office furniture products that can meet each individual's preferences. They work more closely with the workers and try to understand their specific needs and how to satisfy them. Office furniture products including office cubicles allow the end user to control heating and cooling, sound level, and light intensity. Being able to make these adjustments affects both how people do their work and how they feel about their workplace.

While some people prefer more personal control over the temperature, control over lighting and sound have also become highly important. For instance, working long hours under fluorescent lights can make people unhappy and even depressed. While the benefits of natural light are undeniable, for obvious practical reasons, workspaces are most of the times lit by artificial lighting. As such, in interior offices, individuals have clear preferences for how much and what kind of light they want.

One form of artificial lighting commonly found in today's offices is general lighting (rows of fluorescents). However, its limitations are well known as individuals have almost no control over light intensity and brightness. The trend in interior office design is towards the usage of task lighting giving people the freedom to adjust the intensity and turn the light on/off when necessary.

Another workplace attribute that is critical to employee satisfaction and performance is privacy. Surveys consistently indicate that, along with lighting and temperature, employees desire to have more control over privacy: acoustic and visual.

Employees not only would like to contain sounds within the office, but also keep out distracting noises from outside the office. Workers desire office spaces that allow them to conduct confidential conversations and not to be overheard. Also, most employees prefer not overhearing their colleagues' conversations. Noises from the next cubicle are often referred to as the most disturbing factor in the office. Visual privacy, on other hand, is mostly referred to as the ability to work without constant control of your supervisor as well as being observed by your colleagues. Office cubicles with panel heights of four to five feet are considered to be optimum. While allowing some visual privacy at a seated position it also provides for some visibility to create a sense of interaction.

The ability to make decisions about their workplaces affects employee health, satisfaction, and performance. Having productivity and profitability in mind, MAiSPACE works very hard to meet the changing needs of the diverse workforce. MAiSPACE's office cubicles adopt the latest control technologies that are easy, intuitive, and user friendly. MAiSPACE and MOrSPACE, our two signature modular office cubicle product lines, are based on the size, reach, movements of the users. User-friendly components, such as cascade edge work surfaces and adjustable height, sit/stand keyboard platforms for computer intensive environments provide plenty of usable and breathable space and help manage information.

MAiSPACE also combines visibility and privacy in the workplace. That is, the cubicle creates a very beneficial compromise between the need for privacy to be able to focus on work and the need to socialize and enjoy the company of their fellow employees when appropriate. For example, explains the company's Vice President Mark Bassil, only two horizontal sub-assemblies plus two shared vertical uprights are required to support panel frames up to 8 feet wide. Frames can easily be added to or removed from runs without disturbing adjacent structures. Moreover, our next generation high-tech office cubicles are equipped with individual temperature and lighting controls and piped in music. Our easily removable panels can be used when concentration is desired. Panel segment options include laminate, Coverseal, veneer, painted metal, embossed steel, brushed stainless steel, airflow, clear glass, frosted glass, or textured glass, and fabric, to provide the shelter that you need for your comfort. These wide choices in surfaces, colors and textures allow us to provide elegant work environments at prices as much as 40% lower than some of the oldest names in the contract furniture industry, Bassil reports.