Generation C, Wednesday is the new Monday – And trade fair headaches

One week on from Worktech Stockholm with the Glamox team, I’ve been pondering the Five C’s, taking inspiration from Portland Director Ibrahim Ibrahim’s brilliant talk about GenC – not an age but a state of mind.

Change – The only certainty, so the real work of creating an effective space for sustained productive activity (time to shift to the triple bottom line?) starts when the contractors leave. Data is dumb until it’s harnessed to inform dynamic responses in real time – spotting a touchdown space isn’t being used because it’s too far from the front door.

Commitment – Collaborations like the ISS/EY Vested Partnership and IKEA community projects are live examples of the remarkable return on investment when businesses take a long view, playing to their strengths and sharing the ups and the downs.

Choice – Attractive places attract people. EY doesn’t have trouble getting their teams to the office. Their clients prefer working in the EY spaces too – they’re even opening a new floor.

Creativity – Convenience is great, but not enough to keep GenC engaged. Take a leaf from the retail songbook and pilot ways to surprise and delight – free snacks to encourage a break or even  or from the fitness sector with Gensler’s Gym and Pitch analogy: you wouldn’t expect an athlete to deliver their personal best on the day without honing their skills.

Coffee – all this information could have been delivered via Zoom with live chat and transcripts, whiteboards and and breakout rooms- more sustainable and inclusive for sure. But the lasting insights for me came from the dozens of vibrant analogue connections over a drink and a cake.

Ultimately, the most valuable skill in a digital world may be the ability to be human.

Wednesday is the new Monday! 

Wednesdays have become the most popular day for teams to travel to the office.

Can the design of the space really help you get stuff done while you’re there?

After all, being productive is surely about skills too.  And yet, there is solid evidence of a positive association between the workplace environment and motivation to strive to achieve and feel committed to our job and our employer – Impact of Employees’ Workplace Environment on Employees’ Performance: A Multi-Mediation Model. Interestingly, better relationships with colleagues at work can even improve our quality of life at home too – Well-Being in Life and Well-Being at Work: Which Comes First? Evidence From a Longitudinal Study.

So which dimensions of the workplace matter most?

Lighting is consistently in the top four factors cited by employees, along with noise, air quality, and temperature – Critical indoor environmental factors affecting productivity: perspectives from university staff and postgraduate students, Indoor environmental quality in offices and risk of health and productivity complaints at work: A literature review, and yet many workplaces fail to meet the minimum standards set out in EN12464-1 and often provide little or no control to support different activities or personal preferences – A Human-Centric Qualitative Analysis of Electric and Daylighting Interventions in Workplace Buildings.

So what does good-quality lighting mean?

Lighting design is an art and a craft  and there are some brilliant professionals out there –  check out the Women In Lighting, IALD and DARC websites for endless inspiration.

But when it comes to biological or ‘non-visual; effects like setting the body clock, daylight and views improve sleep, both at work and at home, with the biggest change for people with poor sleep to start with – The Impact of Optimized Daylight and Views on the Sleep Duration and Cognitive Performance of Office Workers, Access to Daylight at Home Improves Circadian Alignment, Sleep, and Mental Health in Healthy Adults: A Crossover Study.

But artificial lighting that shifts over the course of the day to deliver more ‘wake-up wavelengths’ (Melanopic EDI) in the morning and less in the afternoon can improve key markers of circadian entrainment, like melatonin and temperature, especially for people with later chronotypes – Optimized office lighting advances melatonin phase and peripheral heat loss prior bedtime. Even if the lights are bright enough for basic visual tasks (250 lux on the desk), it may not enough to set your body clock – The effect of insufficient artificial lighting on workers’ moods and physiology: preliminary research. 

Bright, cool lighting tends to support focused attention, while softer, warmer lighting tends to encourage more creative and collaborative activity – Effects of correlated color temperature of office light on subjective perception, mood and task performance, Human-Centric Lighting: Foundational Considerations and a Five-Step Design Process.

There are wide variations in personal preference by age, gender, culture and even personality type. Perhaps that’s why, in many studies including this post-occupancy survey, the ability to adjust the lights and the availability of task lighting makes the biggest difference when it comes to satisfaction and comfort – The Impact of Measurable Findings from Pre- and Post-Occupancy Evaluations of Indoor Environmental Quality in the Primary Workspace, The impacts of building characteristics, social psychological and cultural factors on indoor environment quality productivity belief. Some degree of individual control can even help sustain concentration over the course of the day – Lighting quality and office work: two field simulation experiments. 

Activity-based workspaces is a popular alternative with different settings on offer that employees can head to, based on the task in hand. Surprisingly, this approach can even boost well-being and improved productivity. This study found that the people who took advantage of the different space experienced greater benefits. It does note that he best pods in the world won’t help if you spend ages looking for a free one and then waste time getting set up. You might as well stay at home – Implementing an activity-based work environment: A longitudinal view of the effects on privacy and psychological ownership.

Something for your ears in transit

If you’re doing the school run or sitting on another delayed train, consider tuning in to Light O’Clock a fascinating listen for anyone curious about light and the brain. Just 25 minutes long and in its second season, each biweekly episode offers a super-accessible but solid evidence-backed introduction to a sleep-and-light-related topic. Last week it was chronotypes, this week’s topic has yet to be revealed. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/light-oclock/id1730890303

And finally, a plea to any trade show organisers out there – 

I’m grateful for the incredible work you do to put the programme together,

For the chance to network, to learn and see products in real life.

But please could you take a look at the lights?

Just getting into the show can be a barrier for spiky profiles like me

The headache continues as you walk into the hall

Glare and flicker on speed

Low light levels and poor colour rendering compound the issue.

Then there’s the noise – the talks are great but it’s hard to take anything in.

I love going to the shows

But I’m glad to leave!