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Half of British office buildings are not fit for purpose

For over 1.3 million UK workers, the office is simply not ‘good enough’.

A new report released by Leesman, the world’s leading assessor of workplace effectiveness, analyses how organisations can better support employees by offering an office environment that actually works.

Today, Leesman launches ‘The Next 250k’, a global report based on the evaluation results from more than 250,000 employees across 2,200+ workplaces in 67 countries. The study looks at how a poorly planned workplace can have a negative impact on employees, inhibiting their ability to perform. The data reveals a shocking level of dissatisfaction among the workforce.

The findings show that while employers continue to face economic uncertainty, many of their employees are having to endure workplaces that fail to support their basic working day, obstructing their ability to positively contribute to business success.

43 per cent of employees globally do not agree that their workplace enables them to work productively. In the UK, that figure jumps to 46 per cent. Therefore, in line with ONS employment figures, For over 1.3 million UK workers, the office is simply not ‘good enough’.

The report points to five key areas that organisations need to focus on:

  1. The top productivity killers: offices are routinely presenting barriers to daily work that impact everything from how proud people are to be there, to how much they actually enjoy working there. The features that have the biggest impact on employees’ ability to work productively are ‘space between work settings’, ‘dividers’ and ‘noise levels’.
  2. The most demanding generation: millennials repeatedly show themselves to have the simplest workloads and thus the narrowest set of requirements. Attention should instead be directed at those in the 35-44 age band who consistently record the lowest satisfaction scores, and typically have more complex roles.
  3. The winner of the open-plan v. private office debate: the research shows that both open-plan and cellular solutions can be equally good and bad. Across 2,200+ workplaces surveyed, employees in the highest performing locations will almost certainly be sat in an open-plan setting, so demonising this way of working is not the way forward.
  4. Workplace transformation projects are not always transformative: with the vast capital sums invested in refurbishment and relocation fit-out projects, leadership teams would be forgiven for expecting them to deliver significant operational benefit. But evidence shows this to not always be the case.
  5. Workplace + Behaviour = Effectiveness: based on Leesman’s research across 11,336 employees in 40 ‘activity-based’ workplaces (where employees can select a series of different spaces that best supports the particular activity being undertaken), these employees rarely work in an activity-based way. In short, employees don’t just change the working habits of a lifetime because employers tell them to.

Dr. Peggie Rothe PhD who led the research said “Great organisations build a business framework that enable their employees to do their best work. And the workplace is integral in this equation. Offices are assets – tools in talent management strategies, gears in product innovation, instruments in brand development and organisational performance. The central findings of this study should concentrate attentions on how workplace strategies can support business competitiveness, not by cost mitigation but through increasing employee engagement, loyalty and output.”

Tim Oldman, Leesman CEO, added “What this report demonstrates is that there is still more that organisations need to be doing if they’re going to leverage the workplace as a source of competitive advantage and a booster of organisational performance. We still see far too many workplaces that are simply not fit for purpose and that represents a huge missed opportunity for business leaders. We hope that the key central findings can help more organisations create better, more productive environments for their workforce.”

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BRE announce live workplace well-being pilot project

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BRE has unveiled plans to undertake a pilot project to measure the real-world health and well-being of building occupants by creating the Healthy Research Building – the UK’s first operational workplace research environment.

The project will see BRE refurbish one of its existing office buildings at its head office in Watford and create a fully operational office that will enable occupants to be monitored whilst they go about their day-to-day work. The aim of the project is to enable BRE to research the impact of indoor environments on human health and well-being whilst generating evidence-based information that can be used in practical ways to create healthier indoor spaces.

It follows the announcement that the International WELL Building Institute™ (IWBI™) and BRE are pursuing alignments between the WELL Building Standard™ (WELL) and BREEAM that will make it easier for projects pursuing both standards.

The building, currently home to 60 members of staff, will be reconfigured into BRE’s Healthy Research Building and will form part of the company’s Innovation Park. The refurbishment will pursue BREEAM and WELL certifications and once work has been completed staff will be allowed to freely use the office whilst being monitored using advanced sensor technology and remote monitoring. Data relating to the health and well-being of the staff will then be analysed by BRE with the view of providing the industry with a greater understanding of how different products, materials and internal configurations affect occupants.

“It has been claimed that we spend over 90% of our time indoors and in an office environment, 90% of the cost is the people inside,” commented Martin Townsend, Director of Sustainability at BRE Global. “It is therefore vital that we better understand the effects that indoor environments are having on their occupants. By refurbishing one of our offices to achieve BREEAM and the WELL Building Standard and integrating state- of-the-art monitoring technology we will be creating the UK’s first living laboratory.”

In addition to creating the Healthy Research Building, BRE are calling upon the industry to help participate in the project through the undertaking of specific product testing to ascertain the impacts on occupant health and well-being.

“The health and well-being agenda is such an important part of our sustainable built environment and something that needs to be industry inclusive,” continued Martin. “As such, we don’t just want to research our own staff to drive this agenda, we want to work with the industry to create an inclusive agenda on research. To ensure we actively undertake the research that the industry needs we’re calling on the industry to work with us on an industry supported health and well-being research programme.”

The announcement comes at a time when the industry is increasingly looking at the importance of occupant well-being and the realisation that there is a huge gap in understanding how the built environment impacts biological sustainability as opposed to just environmental. The alignment between BREEAM and WELL will now provide a more cohesive approach to delivering projects that place sustainability and occupant health and well-being at the top of the agenda, and the Healthy Research Building will ensure that real-world data can be ascertained to help make informed decisions.

For more information on BREEAM visit: www.breeam.com and on WELL visit: www.wellcertified.com
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Bringing stress to work can be fatal

A powerful new film launched by the British Safety Council shows how stress can lead to injury and fatalities at work. In any activity where concentration is vital for safety, such as working in construction, driving, or in health and social care, stress can be fatal.

Stress is often discussed in relation to sickness absence. However, it’s less reported how it can endanger lives. Some research shows that up to 80% of accidents are related to stress at work. Whether it is work-related stress or stress that people bring to work, stress can put at risk the safety of both employees and members of the public.

Matthew Holder, Head of Campaigns and Engagement at the British Safety Council, commented: “It is well documented that stress is a significant cause of sickness absence, undermining both productivity and profitability. What is less discussed is how stress can endanger lives. Evidence shows that stress significantly contributes to injuries in sectors such as construction, transport and agriculture. In the medical profession, stress is a major predictor of work-related accidents and there are strong links between fatigue and sharps injuries.

“We made ‘The Last Word’ to warn people that being tired, distracted and unable to fully concentrate can make simple tasks like climbing a ladder more dangerous. Aimed at employees, it contains a warning that being stressed can endanger their lives. However, the film is also directed at employers, showing how important it is that managers and supervisors identify the symptoms of stress and help their staff to deal with it. As the film says, life can be stressful but people need to be aware of the danger signs.”

Information accompanying the film reinforces this message. It describes common symptoms of stress and actions that employees can take to reduce stress. The film is part of the British Safety Council campaign Speak Up, Stay Safe, targeted at younger employees to raise their awareness of risks at work. It’s the first time the campaign has tackled stress.

There is a lot of statistical evidence demonstrating the consequences of stress at work:

  • In 2014/15, 440,000 people in the UK reported work-related stress at a level they believed was making them ill. That’s 40% of all work-related illness (source: HSE).
  • Stress is believed to be a major cause of accidents in the workplace, with evidence showing that 60-80% of accidents are related to workplace stress.
  • A survey of 2,500 doctors found that job stress was a major predictor of work-related accidents.
  • Fatigue, in particular, is associated with a threefold increased risk of sharps injuries in medical trainees compared with other healthcare workers.
Watch the film below:
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