How Does Office Environment Affect Your Health

How Does Office Environment Affect Your Health : In today’s evolving world, workplace environments are getting much consideration and the overall outcome that they have on overall efficiency. The implications of such factors have produced quantifiable results that are now starting to make their mark globally.

These factors can be as complicated as control over work structure and flexible hours, while also as underrated as office furniture and lighting. All these variables are considered hindrances, which, if managed correctly, can prove to create a massive impact on the environment.

The Significance of Office Environment

The environment where we spend a third of each day is sure to have a considerable impact on an individual’s health. As it affects the mental rhythm of a person and efficiency, it is seen in a majority of pioneering organizations around the world. For instance, Facebook and Google have shown how obsolete the general methods of operations have become and how one can manage them. Research has shown that well-maintained, illuminated, and a less formalized workplace can increase productivity by almost 16% while also adding a 24% increase in job satisfaction, which is directly proportional to decreased absenteeism.

Workplace Morale and Support Structure

The hierarchy of a workplace also plays a crucial role in motivating the workers as it can be linked directly to employee morale. The general monotonous routine of a 9 to 5 workplace is a dull and dreaded structure in an employee’s eyes. Hence, even small alterations such as changes to office furniture from traditional chairs to yoga balls can also be an uplifting factor. Moreover, office politics is another certain practice carried out in nearly every office in the world and can prove to be a menace concerning overall productivity. Politics in the workplace gives rise to superficial power blocks that possess the means to carry out an agenda irrespective of its benefit to the organization, instead of focusing on individual interests. Implementing a supportive office culture through all the management teams can only be the solution to toxic work culture. This type of initiative can help to avoid power struggles and attention-seeking behavior.

Overtime and the Resulting Competition

Another critical variable is the use of overtime culture, which has also been rendered obsolete. Multiple types of research have shown that contrary to popular belief, longer work hours decrease efficiency, which in turn reduces productivity rather than boosting results. Providing social support to the employees of an organization can also have a substantial effect on an employee’s health, as this installs a sense of ownership. Unfortunately, in most office settings, this kind of support structure is non-existent, leading to workplace stress. Most office settings consist of characteristics that back up internal competition among employees, such as ranking categories, which prove to be a hindrance in collaboration and teamwork and restrict the workforce from unlocking its potential. It also weakens the social structure between employees, which is originally supposed to produce a healthier workplace.

The Conflict between Commitments

Another important variable that affects employees is the conflict they have to manage between work and family responsibilities, as they usually have to sacrifice on one to accomplish the other. This division causes a great deal of stress due to an imbalance in priorities. Employees should not have to feel that their family duties, such as medical visits or academic obligations, can be barriers to their workplace obligations or sense failure or letting their employers down. If an employee feels in balance with his work routine and family life, he will bring his best self to work every day and increase productivity.

Challenges Faced By the Global Economic Structure

As the economic conditions in today’s world are changing rapidly, such consistency is hard to achieve. Downsizing in organizations followed by economic insecurities is also a dominant factor that is also responsible for the adverse effects on an employee’s health. Downsizing is usually undertaken as an unavoidable measure that occurs due to fluctuations in global economic conditions. The most notable example in this regard is the economic backlash the world had to face in the wake of the ‘COVID-19′ pandemic. As a result of this illness, many nations of the world imposed economic lockdowns to suppress social movement to combat the virus. As a result, many organizations had to downsize their workforce to manage cash flows. The global stance of quarantine has severely limited the amount of business that an organization can conduct. The stress of not being able to earn in a crisis can be linked directly to poor health and an increase in mortality. Though, if we consider previously normal conditions (pre-pandemic), the researches state otherwise. They say that there is little evidence supporting the companies’ claim that laying off personnel provides breathing space to an organization during a crisis; instead, it harms the employers.

Conclusion

The ever-changing socio-economic conditions in our globe are made up of many possible variables, as explained above. These fluctuations can have both positive and negative effects on the general working populace. Such factors can vary from being as small as changing the visual layout of an office or can be as distinctive as changing policy towards the workforce, but all of these can have profound effects on an employee’s health. So, from productivity to the workforce’s morale, it’s critical to install these changes to encourage positivity.