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FX brought together experts from all corners of the industry to discuss what makes a healthy workplace… and what lessons can be learnt from the healthcare sector.

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Words by Toby Maxwell

Photography by Colin Crisford

Those taking part were

Ruth Baker Director, Ryder Architecture; Shaun Baker Creative director, Oktra Creative; Georgia Burt Director, GBSHealth; Theresa Dowling Chair and FX editor; Francesca Gernone Director, Fletcher Priest Architects; Farrol Goldblatt Director, TP Bennett; Alan Henty Sales manager, Forbo Flooring Systems; Chris Morris business area manager, Forbo Flooring Systems; Paul Nulty CEO, Nulty Lighting Design; Joe Parry global director, Universal Fibers; Elizabeth Petrovitch Senior designer, IBI Group; Cherrill Scheer Director, CSA; Monica Soto Senior Associate, Perkins+Will; Cressida Toon Director, Sonnemann Toon

It probably stands to reason that a happy, healthy workforce is a productive workforce. Quite how organisations go about creating the right environment to create this kind of work Utopia is of course the big question, and one that a panel of experts from across the worlds of architecture, interior design and healthcare met to discuss at the latest FX Design Seminar, organised in association with Universal Fibers and Forbo Flooring Systems.

It's easy to say that wellness and wellbeing are a big issue, but does the corporate reality really reflect that? Shaun Baker, creative director at interior design practice Oktra, said: 'If you look at information coming from suppliers and design practices operating in this area, many of them have put out papers during the past year or so that look either at wellness or wellbeing.

And there is a difference between the two -- with wellness you have to consider the physical body and the issues that affect it, whereas wellbeing tends to be more focused on how a person feels consciously or subconsciously. I've done four seminars in the past 12 months on wellbeing.

Everyone is just so keen to understand what the potential benefits are to them and their businesses. In simple terms, the way that rents are going, it has become important for companies to try to squash more people in while doing that under the umbrella of "wellbeing".

It is absolutely the hot topic at the moment. 'Hot topic though it may be, its roots are not based solely within the corporate sector,' believes Farrol Goldblatt, director at architecture and design practice TP Bennett:'It starts outside the workplace. In normal life, there is a real tide of interest -- certainly from the younger generation -- in a healthier lifestyle. There's more attention to the food people eat and lower levels of drinking, and this attitude comes in from wider society.'

Awareness of the impact of our surroundings on health (both physical and mental) is growing, not least in the healthcare sector itself. Georgia Burt, architect at GBSHealth, said: 'In healthcare, we're being asked to look at a lot of specific areas, such as lighting levels for Seasonal Affective Disorder, colour, improved views and better environments in an effort to help reduce medication. It's quite important I think to look after the staff first, because that means they are in a better place to give patients the best possible care.'

Francesca Gernone, director at Fletcher Priest Architects, said: 'It works in two important ways: having a pleasant workplace helps staff retention, and somewhere that is geared towards addressing an employee's wellbeing will help to minimise sickness and the problems it can create for an organisation.' 'That's also an issue of staff retention,' added Cressida Toon, director at Sonnemann Toon. 'If you want people to stay, then a poor working environment does little to help. Getting this right and providing a good work location is not completely altruistic.'

Monica Soto, senior associate at Perkins+Will, stated there is still much work to do in what can be a complex social issue: 'I still get the sense that the way we are practicing wellness in the workplace is still primarily a consequence of "sustainability".

It is using the right materials, reducing pollution, and all that has a positive impact on people. In terms of actual wellbeing though, to me we haven't even started on that yet. That has more to do with achieving emotional and mental balance. If anxiety is going to be the next generation's disease then how are we going to deal with that in the workplace?'

'We're starting to design for introverts and extroverts, but we really haven't yet addressed growing levels of anxiety and the other real health problems that people are facing.' So how, in a commercial environment that will always ultimately be focused on the bottom line, can organisations view this issue in a way that puts it into context alongside other business priorities? Ruth Baker, director at Ryder Architecture, clarified: 'The UK Green Building Council has just published a white paper that tries to put a value on wellbeing in office environments because it is starting to realise that clients are asking for these things but they can't quantify it effectively. It's easy to specify certain taps and show that they are more efficient, but much harder to demonstrate -- and put a value on -- the positive mental effect of design choices.'

Monica Sota

'It's an interesting point,' said Paul Nulty, head of practice at Nulty Lighting Design. 'We see a lot of design practices claiming to be able to deliver something that's way beyond what a normal workplace can provide in terms of health and wellbeing, without really understanding what it is in the first place. One example is a healthcare client who had a design firm pitch a project to them and told us that they were planning to "use LEDs". That's fool's gold, it means nothing. The danger is that some out there are just repackaging the same things.'

'I think we still struggle to define what health and wellbeing at work actually means. Is it having an ergonomic chair, less stressful workload, having a relaxation room down in the basement? The real problem is that we don't really know. Even those setting the brief often don't really know.'

Shaun Baker

Greater understanding
One of the problems facing clients is that the principle of wanting to provide a work environment that embraces wellbeing is one thing -- knowing exactly what form that should take is quite another. Shaun Baker explained that, on many new projects, his practice will undertake workshops involving staff in an attempt to gain a greater understanding of the issues facing them. 'We use a number of methods to find out what should go into the design. We do a "cool wall" for setting out what's important for them to have in the space, we use flashcards too, since it's not always easy to articulate what it is about a workplace that an individual might want or need and yet images give you an insight into their way of thinking.

Elizabeth Petrovitch

'But no matter what method you use, the output is often very similar. People want good light, good air, good coffee, and clean toilets. 'Cressida Toon suggested that there is a balance for any employer to try and strike between having an efficient workplace and somewhere that is nice to work in, something that the NHS has had to work hard at from a cultural perspective as much as any other. 'The crossover between "ordinary" office environments and the health sector can be a challenge,' she said. 'Everyone was moving towards open-plan office design about 10 years ago, but that's something that the NHS found very difficult. It's a whole concept leap to go from having individual offices to open-plan, but when you've done a couple and you can show them what it's like in terms of still having private space and the ability to keep work confidential, then they can start to see the benefits. That crossover of design ideas, from commercial office into the health sector, can be difficult to achieve though.'

Shaun Baker added: 'To an extent one of the biggest issues in commercial office design I think was that everyone jumped on the open-plan approach without always thinking through the consequences. Since then, we've seen greater attention given to separate break-out concentration areas or work booths, which provide a more suitable space for focused work.'

Farrol Goldblatt warned that there is an inherent risk for some organisations in taking a 'me too' approach to 'trendy' office design styles without giving enough thought to their specific business and cultural needs: 'To some extent there has been a danger of some organisations wanting to be like everyone else. They might have seen Google, Barclays Bank or Virgin do something unusual with their office space and a client will say "We want that", and yet the company culture might be totally different. Unless they change the way they do things in their business and change their behaviours then such a scheme will fail.'

Ruth Baker

Drivers for change
Monica Sota believes that a concerted push towards greater 'designed wellness' in the workplace will remain elusive, while such ideas remain non-statutory: 'Designers have done so well over the past 10 years or so with accessibility because of legislation. Legal changes and CPD requirements have been pushing us on to work harder and harder at implementing these ideas into our projects because we have to comply. With wellness and wellbeing it's so subjective. Unless we bring it to the mental and physical level -- and find a way of measuring its impact -- it will always remain something that stays at the bottom of the priority list for many.'

But Farrol Goldblatt suggested: 'I think we've reached a turning point. The new design of Alder Hey Children's Health Park by BDP Architects has been designed specifically for children. It's child-centric in a way that hospitals often aren't, and that same principle will doubtless be rolled out to other hospitals so that they better meet the needs of their patients on all levels, not just the functional, medicinal way that we've traditionally had.'

Alan Henty

Theresa Dowling, Editor of FX and chair of the discussion, pointed out that 50 or 60 years ago there would have been an outcry if public money was being spent on 'wellness and wellbeing' -- concepts that not everyone understands or buys into.

Elizabeth Petrovitch, senior designer at the IBI Group, said: 'There still is an outcry in many instances. I've worked on a hospital project within which there has been an art strategy that involves working with local artists to use art to create a good environment. That can become a huge political problem if it's not handled correctly -- people question why money is being spent on art when there are, for example, waiting lists.'

She explained that one way to overcome some of these concerns is to focus on 'integrated art' rather than standalone artwork that can all too easily draw criticism. Among the various ways of doing this is to work with standard manufacturers of products (such as glazing or flooring for example), and ask them to provide something a little out of the ordinary. 'The project cost is ring-fenced, but for a relatively small sum of money it is sometimes possible for a manufacturer to add some little detail or customise the product in some way. These are little enhancements of existing products that would be specified anyway, but which given a slightly different twist can have a big impact.'

The worker's role
The tone of the discussion suggested that for a wellness and wellbeing strategy to be successful in the workplace it needed to be based on collaboration between employer and employee. Getting that 'buy-in' from both bosses and workers is seemingly critical but can ultimately enhance how all staff feel about their working environment.

'If you put a cheap kitchen in a breakfast area for example, people using it will treat it as such,' suggested Shaun Baker. 'But if you give employees some input into it, they will generally take a lot more care over it. It's a strange psychological effect.'

Paul Nulty agreed: 'That applies right across the design world. In the public realm, where you see urban regeneration of areas that were previously suffering from neglect and vandalism, there can often be a real transformation; not just in terms of what's been built, but in how people treat the space. It becomes something they're really proud. There can be a sense of pride in the environment or workplace.'

But it's important to note that when it comes to new ways of working -- through a reconfiguration of how office space is set out for example -- there is also a need for those working in it to adapt what they do and how. 'The issue of flexible office layouts in workplaces is of course becoming more developed, but there is still a lot of education that needs to happen,' said Shaun Baker. 'For example, there are still laptops out there that generate 50 degrees of heat underneath them.

If you've sat there for two hours with that on your lap then you're going to have health issues. Similarly, if you have a sofa-based work space in an office, people need to be aware that working there for prolonged periods could cause back problems.' He added that these new ways of working may bring lots of benefits in terms of flexibility and workspaces that encourage collaborative working, but these are not without risks for those who abuse them.

Embracing individuality
Perhaps one of the biggest design challenges is to enhance wellness and wellbeing in a workplace made up of individuals, each with different needs and responses. Georgia Burt said: 'The VAK [visual, auditory, kinesthetic] test can be useful in understanding what kinds of people you're designing a space for. For example, I can't work if there's music on in the background, whereas for other people it helps them work.'

Farrol Goldblatt added: 'A lot of it comes down to personal choice. I think in general we design workplaces for extroverts, with an emphasis on interaction and collaboration. What we forget about is the introverts, and I would suggest that most people in offices tend more towards the introverted side, and would prefer their little box to work in.'

The good news though, he said, is that today's workforce is more inclined to give feedback about their work environment than perhaps they were in years gone by. 'New employees are strong enough to say "we want", whereas the old school tended to be happy with having a desk, a window and a phone and just accept what they were given.'

Besides, added Nulty, sometimes keeping things a little simpler is the best plan: 'There's a danger you can give too many options -- often stuff that people don't want. One client wanted personalised lighting so that staff could change the individual settings at their workstation. Nobody ever used it at all.'

The corporate outlook
Joe Parry, director of global marketing for Univeral Fibers, said: 'A top marketing priority for us was a Facebook site for health and wellness, which actually came before a general Facebook site for our brand. Our CEO felt it was important to make it clear that we value our own people as our greatest asset, and that if that's true, we have to care about their health and wellness as well.'

It's one indication of a wider recognition of the benefits that health and wellness can bring to an organisation -- and there's every indication it could rise up the priority list just as other core business elements (such as brand reputation and risk management for example) have done. Whatever the future workplace might look like, we can be fairly sure it will be significantly different to the traditional office concept that currently prevails.

Monica Sota concluded: 'There is a long term shift here -- and companies know it is coming because a lot of current CEOs have 13-year-olds at home who will tell them that, when they go to work, they have no intention of being chained to a desk all day. They want a different way of working.'