Design it yourself offices boost productivity

Workers who have more control over the design and layout of their offices are more likely to be happy, healthy and productive. Researchers from the University of Exeter surveyed more than 2,000 office workers. They asked them about the level of control they had over their office space and about how they felt about their working environment and jobs. The results showed that the more control people had over their offices the happier and more motivated they were. They felt physically more comfortable at work, identified more with their employers and felt more positive about their jobs in general. The same researchers also got participants to work on a series of tasks in a variety of different office environments. Some were bare and functional, some were decorated with plants and pictures, some were designed by the participants themselves while in others the individual's design was 'redesigned' by a manager. The participants who worked in an enriched (decorated) environment were 17% more productive than those who worked in a bare one while those who were allowed to design their own environment were 32% more productive.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.