Glass Walls: Positive Working Environment

Concerned that your office or workplace is looking a little shabby? Maybe you just want to bring in a little bit of light or just brighten up a meeting room to help promote an open atmosphere?

According to Judith Heerwagen, a former scientist with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory who now works as a program expert with the General Services Administration, there is a clear link between productivity and the workplace:

• “A building can positively affect ability by providing comfortable ambient conditions, by enabling individual control and adjustment of conditions, and by reducing health and safety risks. Negative impacts on ability to do work are associated with conditions that are uncomfortable, distracting, hazardous or noxious.
• “A building can positively affect motivation by providing conditions that promote positive affective functioning, psychological engagement and personal control. Moods create the ‘affective context’ for thought processes and behaviours and are directly tied to motivation.
• “A building can affect opportunity by providing equitable access to conditions that reduce health and safety risks, equitable access to amenities and compensatory design options where inequities exist and are difficult to eliminate entirely.”

A quick and affordable way to transform your workspace into one which will promote a positive environment such as the one that Judith mentions above is to introduce some glass partitions or glass walls. Research has proven that by echoing a more natural environment or by simply adding more natural light to a space, you can improve employee satisfaction and work rate. Daylight is known to help people regulate their circadian rhythms (the daily cycles of waking and sleeping hours). When these rhythms are upset or a person does not experience enough natural light, they can become more easily stressed.

Another easy way to alter your workplace is not incorporate colour alongside your glass partitions or walls. Brighter colours such as reds, blues and greens have for a long time been associated with a faster work rate and a more dedicated work force. Varied colour can also help keep the attention of your work force focused, as well as helping employees relate certain mind-sets to particular rooms.

• Blue is seen as a calming and cooling colour, it promotes mental control and clear, creative thinking, making it a good choice for offices or other high stress environments
• Pink has been proven to lessen feelings of  aggression, loneliness, discouragement and irritations, making it a good choice for rooms where you want your staff to ‘recharge’ and relax, maybe such as an entrance room
• Red is used as it enhances feelings of strength and energy; it is also associated with vitality and feeling a sense of ambition.
• Yellow is known to help make people feel clear-headed and alert, promoting clear thinking when having to make decisions.
• Orange is used to helps ease emotions and boost self-esteem, making it a popular choice for private staff areas such as a staff café or kitchen.