[Urban Chronicles #WellBeingAtWork] #05 - Employees regain control over their work environment

The automation of control bodies has gradually taken away from the occupants the power over their environment. But a new trend is emerging that requires that final control be given to the employees who occupy, live and work in the building on a daily basis.

A diversity of parameters for the control of your work space

The power to choose the brightness of your workspace, using gradient switches or by acting on blinds or curtains, is essential. Indeed, the range of tasks performed throughout the day requires a diversity of working conditions, and the user is best able to decide on these configurations. Of course, the central computer intelligence implemented in most new buildings is able to understand the building as a whole and choose, for example, the ideal position of blinds to minimize air conditioning needs. But at the individual level, the stakes are different. Allowing everyone to be able to control their environment means accepting that everyone is different in terms of needs, evolving throughout the day and the seasons. Automation is therefore possible to improve building performance, but the final control left to the user must not be forgotten, at the risk of imposing counter-productive working conditions.

Control over its environment exceeds the dimensions of brightness and temperature. Let's take the example of office furniture. We spend most of our time there without being able to adapt it to our needs, which would be possible, for example, by adjusting its height so that we can work standing or on the ground. Having the possibility to change the layout of the furniture allows employees to feel better in their workspace. Some small arrangements (an easier passage, a created shortcut, a better view...) sometimes have big impacts. The power over decoration is also part of the aspects that make employees feel at home. Many impersonal offices are lit up by a brightly colored poster or a green plant.

However, not everything is intended to be adapted, particularly with regard to technical and regulatory feasibility, but a minimum must be allowed for the well-being of employees.

The positioning of environmental and well-being certifications

Environmental and well-being certifications address this issue in different ways. If for the HQE and BREEAM certifications, the user must be the final decision-maker, LEED certification requires, for example, through a prerequisite, a complete automation of the occultations, restricting the user's power. In terms of workplace control, WELL certification goes further by awarding points to projects that allow employees to change the height of their desks or open windows if they feel like it. These differences reflect a priority given either to energy efficiency or to the r well-being of users.

A dynamic to be established at the company level

In an open-space environment, the right to change the personal working environment necessarily has repercussions on office neighbours. For everyone to feel legitimate to have an impact on their office environment, beyond turning on the lights or closing the blinds, experimentation must be encouraged within the company. These changes can be discussed in advance, ideally during the building design phase, in order to integrate the needs of future users. They can then be reinforced by a clear internal policy indicating the limits to such practices for the well-being of all.

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