A March 13 article by Sarah Lyall, published in The New York Times (“A Times Writer on Missing . . . The Times”), captures the office-related emotions of many. Lyall shares that “I really miss going to the office. The Time’s office is on several floors of a building that stretches from 40th to 41st Streets on Eight Avenue near Times Square. It’s not normally the quietest place in the world—what do you expect, when your nearest neighbor is the Port Authority Bus Terminal?—but it’s our [emphasis in the original] not-quiet place. It has an electricity to it, a frisson, a sense of community and a sense of purpose. It feels like something bigger than itself. . . . Mostly, I miss the people I work with. I’ve experienced them as disembodied squares on my screen for so long now that I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be with them in real life. . . . I miss the buoyancy that comes when you work side by side with people you love and respect. I miss the office.”
Lyall’s review of no-office life very effectively describes not only the important emotional role that in-workplace experiences play in our lives, but also their importance in maintaining the mental states that are key for satisfying professional lives. One of the most important goals of workplace design is to support the sort of positive mood during which we’re motivated, you might even say “animated,” enough to effectively do our jobs, but not so invigorated that we can’t focus, or so calmed that we’re on the verge of falling asleep. Being around other people, in person, with all of the sensory consequences of being “in person,” helps us maintain that needed emotional edge. Spending time apart, even with the best Zoom connection ever, can’t do that because connecting effectively depends on seeing where and how others are standing relative to you, if they’re maintaining eye contact, even what they smell like.
Being co-present with other people aligns our moods with theirs also, which can be great if they’re jazzed up about what they’re up to and not terribly desirable if they’re disgruntled—so, depending on what’s up at an organization maybe the best thing that management can do is to send everyone home to work. With separation our collective mood is muted. This may be why research is reporting lower engagement levels among people working from home. This reduction in apparent engagement levels is particularly noteworthy as many people polled, concerned about keeping their jobs and the confidentiality of survey responses, may be answering questions “strategically,” in line with their perceptions of what’s best for their own future welfare, rather than as objectively as survey sponsors may desire.
There isn’t an online activity that can restore the emotional energy and connection that comes from being in the same place at the same time with co-workers—with vaccination moving onward, it looks like we’re likely to find ourselves together again – perhaps not as soon as we’d like, but at least eventually.
Sally Augustin, PhD, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com). Research Design Connections reports on research conducted by social and physical scientists that designers can apply in practice. Insights derived from recent studies are integrated with classic, still relevant findings in concise, powerful articles. Topics covered range from the cognitive, emotional, and physiological implications of sensory and other physical experiences to the alignment of culture, personality, and design, among others. Information, in everyday language, is shared in a monthly subscription newsletter, an archive of thousands of published articles, and a free daily blog. 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), Designology (Mango, 2019), 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.