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Team well-being for sustainable growth

Written by Projects on . Posted in Workplace

People are the lifeblood of any business. No matter how automated our world becomes, it will always be people that make the real difference to a company’s growth and success. Workplace design company Evoke Projects examines the effect of team well-being on business growth.


With so much of our life spent at work, our well-being will undoubtedly affect our performance. The Workplace Design for Well-being report by Haworth is interesting as it reports how companies perform better and have stronger teams through workplace well-being initiatives.1 Their report states that when health and well-being are actively promoted in an organisation:

  • The organisation is seen as 2.5 times more likely to be a best performer
  • Employees are 8 times more likely to be engaged
  • The organisation is seen as 3.5 times more likely to be creative and innovative
  • The organisation is seen as 4 times less likely to lose talent in the next year.

Reducing absenteeism will contribute to business growth and lower operating costs. According to a recent Harvard Business Review case study, Johnson & Johnson’s leaders estimated that their wellness programs had cumulatively saved the company US$250 million on healthcare costs over the past decade.2

An engine for sustainable growth

Many factors can cause short-term growth but workplace well-being initiatives drive sustainable growth.

Glenn Llopis writes in Forbes about the traditional mindset of seeing health and wellness programs as a cost to a business when, in fact, they are “an engine for growth”.3 What a wonderful and insightful term! Llopis explains that “a growth-engine mindset asks: why wouldn’t we want to invest in individuals in every way possible?”.

This is backed up in the same article by MetLife’s annual U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study 2021: “Redesigning the Employee Experience: Preparing the Workforce for a Transformed World”. MetLife identified the top three factors that will affect the workplace of the future. Employee well-being is predicted to have the greatest impact (74%), followed by the ability for employees to work remotely (71%), and employee mental health, stress, and burnout (70%). Nearly three-quarters (72%) of employees rank work-life management benefits and programs among their top five desired benefits to improve well-being.

7 workplace design tips for better team well-being

For your next office fit-out or refurbishment, the workplace designers at Evoke Projects have these tips to improve well-being:

  1. Spend time in each work zone to assess the impact on mental health and well-being, listening to noise, re-enacting people’s workflow and observing light and temperature at different times of day. Soak up the atmosphere and imagine what motivators you could inject into your “engine for growth”.
  2. If you do not already have activity based work zones, create different areas in the office fit-out for focused work, collaboration, brainstorming, training, breakout, privacy and technology/printing.
  3. Invest in office furniture such as sit-stand desks, treadmill desks and ergonomic chairs.
  4. Improve air quality with an air filtration system, opening windows and natural plants. One plant for every ten metres is a good guide. Spider plants are low maintenance and look fantastic in pots or hanging baskets. Peace lilies are another easy office interior plant.
  5. Increase the opportunity for views and natural daylight exposure in your next office fit-out. Window blinds offer the flexibility to have light without glare at different times of day.
  6. Nature-resembling colours such as green, blue and brown positively impact employee well-being.
  7. The WELL Building Standard offers guidance for best practice workplace design. Developed over 10 years and backed by the latest scientific research, WELL sets pathways for better health and well-being across 10 core concepts: Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind and Community.
    Link to https://www.wellcertified.com

Workplace well-being initiatives

A structured program to enhance the emotional, mental and general psychological well-being of all employees can be achieved through a formal Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Visit the EAPAA website for a list of members who can help you design an EAP for your business.
Link to https://www.eapaa.org.au/
 

For workplace design and fit-out ideas that improve team well-being, please call Evoke Projects on 1300 720 692.

1. https://www.thercfgroup.com/files/resources/workplace-design-for-well-being.pdf
Citing J. Parsons, M. Powell, and V. Culpin, 2012.
2. https://www.thercfgroup.com/files/resources/workplace-design-for-well-being.pdf
Citing L. Berry, A. Mirabito, and W. Baun, 2010
3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2021/07/24/theres-no-growth-without-health-employee-wellbeing-is-non-negotiable/?sh=572aee072986

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