Workplace design is an important aspect that is often neglected. But the many advantages of sensible workplace design, such as increased satisfaction, performance and productivity, speak for themselves. We have summarised the most important aspects on this topic.
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Why should one pay attention to workplace design at all?
Workplace design is about designing the workplace and the working conditions of the employees as sensibly as possible. This means that the physical and psychological needs of the employees are taken into account. This not only prevents damage to health, but also increases satisfaction and productivity. This improves performance and leads to sustainable success for the company.
Workplace design can be divided into three subgroups:
- Ergonomic workplace design:
Here the focus is on a workplace that is suitable for the body. This includes, for example, the safety and user-friendliness of the equipment. The aim is to minimise or, in the best case, prevent physical fatigue or damage.
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Organisational workplace design:
Organisational workplace design tends to encompass working conditions, i.e. the division of work, work content, working hours and break arrangements.
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Technological workplace design:
Digitalisation in workplaces is creating the human-machine interface. Any changes and innovations have an influence on the employees.
Ergonomics - what should be considered?
Lighting: To protect the eyes and prevent both fatigue and headaches, the workplace must always be bright and well lit. Natural daylight is ideal. However, especially in winter, this is not enough to illuminate the workplace adequately. Artificial light sources should be similar in colour to daylight in order to create a similar effect. Warm white and neutral white are best suited here. However, in addition to the choice of colour, the positioning of the light sources also plays an important role: the light should never dazzle, but rather fall in from the sides.
Noise pollution: The health impact of noise should not be underestimated. A noise level of 55 dB should not be exceeded. This should be taken into account when purchasing and placing new equipment.
Room climate: When working in a sedentary office, the room temperature should be at least 20°C and should not exceed 26°C in summer. The air humidity should be around 50%. To avoid excessively dry air, especially in winter, indoor plants are a very good environmentally friendly alternative to humidifiers.
Colours: It is now scientifically proven that colours can influence our mood. Light shades of green and blue are best suited for the design of the workplace. Especially when employees work a lot on the computer, green tones help to relax the eye. Blue tones, on the other hand, can reduce stress and increase productivity.
White is actually less suitable because it looks very sterile and is highly reflective, which can strain and tire the eyes.
Ergonomic work equipment: Great effects can be achieved through certain adaptations of the work equipment. For example, height-adjustable screens that can be adjusted to the height of the user are optimal. The height is optimal when the head has to be tilted slightly downwards to look at the centre of the screen. The screen, keyboard and shoulders should be parallel to each other. Reflections on the screen should be avoided as they are hard on the eyes.
The keyboard is the most frequently used work tool in offices. Classic keyboards encourage false posture of the hands and thus also of the forearms, which can lead to tension in the shoulder and neck area or even to diseases such as carpal tunnel syndrome. To prevent this, ergonomic keyboards should be used that have a certain swing shape and where the inclination can be adjusted. In this way, one achieves a posture that is as natural as possible.
In a nutshell: individuality is particularly important. The workplace should be individually adapted to the needs of all employees.
How can individual workplace design be realised in desk sharing?
In short, desk sharing means that all employees share all desks and no one has a fixed place. This makes sense if employees can switch flexibly between home office and office. The advantages of this flexible system include equality, dynamism and improved communication through frequent changes of seats and neighbours. In addition, costs can be saved by using less seats and thus less office space.
There are a few things to consider to ensure that desk sharing works smoothly and ergonomics at the workplace are not neglected:
- A well-functioning technical infrastructure is essential so that everyone has access to all information and data from anywhere.
- Clean Desk Policy
All workplaces must be standardised as a first step. There must be fixed locations for work equipment and the desk must always be left the way you want to find it. At first, this doesn't sound like the individual adjustment that is so important for an ergonomic workplace. However, this problem is not so difficult to solve: By purchasing adjustable monitors, desk chairs and desks, every workplace can be quickly adapted to individual needs. However, employees should be informed in advance how they can adjust the workplace to their needs as quickly and easily as possible. In addition, small roll containers or lockers should be provided in which employees can store their personal work equipment or similar items.
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Desk sharing has to be organised well: The desk sharing tool from desk.ly is ideal for this: employees can quickly and easily view office plans and book their favourite spaces via our highly flexible cloud solution. This ensures that everything is always in order and effective planning is guaranteed.
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