Design affects job satisfaction, and that in turn influences job performance.
Workers read the environments provided to them for clues about whether or not their employer values them. Employees interpret management design decisions in the context of their organizational, national, professional and other cultures, and respond based on those analyses.
When people are doing something that requires focus, they should be in a relaxing environment. When whatever they’re doing doesn’t require their full attention, perhaps because they’ve done it many times before, an invigorating environment is great. Being able to see or hear other people makes an environment energizing.
Biophilic design, or applying the same design principles that Mother Nature does in places where we feel comfortable, enhances worker performance. Biophilic design is much more than letting natural light into a space or stocking it with plants. True biophilic design considers all the senses; incorporates movement; builds in long sight lines (not necessarily via an open plan); insures flexibility in a space; makes sure that the experience of being there varies from hour to hour, day to day, and month to month; and much, much more.
Workers need to feel in control of their physical environment, but having too many choices is not a good thing. A desk lamp with four lighting pre-sets is more desirable than one with a rheostat that allows workers to tune into thousands of light color/intensity options.
Anything that makes us uncomfortable – psychologically or physically – is stressful. Stress distracts us from whatever we’re up to and makes us unpleasant companions. For example, people feel most comfortable working in spaces where they know they won’t be surprised or interrupted. That’s why so many text messages and e-mails are sent by people working in bathroom stalls.
Performance decreases when people multitask. More concretely: what’s overheard in open work environments is very rarely useful, and involuntary eavesdropping is a significant reason why workers are distracted and stressed.
Not all workers are the same. Personality and culture (national, organizational, professional and otherwise) affect how people experience space and the sorts of work environments in which their performance is best.
What we think about ourselves influences how we perceive our workspace. If we feel more successful, our assessment of our worksite is more positive.
The same physical parameters referenced above influence if we do good work, whether we’re at home or at our employer’s offices or in a coffee shop or somewhere else. Audio distractions, for example, are a no-no everywhere because we don’t block out words spoken in languages we understand whenever we think there’s even a remote possibility that what’s being said may be relevant to our life.
Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.