office Tag

Latest  designs encourage movement and discourage assigned work stations and offices Steelcase 2There is a counter-height desk on wheels for the worker who is more productive walking through the office while working on his computer. There are areas for groups of employees to collaborate. And private spaces for when workers need to take important or private calls. Work areas, equipped with traditional seating as well as counters for people who prefer to stand, are arranged for use by all. The corner offices for high-ranking  executives are gone. So are traditional work stations assigned to a specific worker. A work café – for group and individual work – also is a must. What is this place? It is the workplace that promotes health, wellness and the most efficient use of space at a time when businesses do not want to spend for new buildings, says John Shideler, workplace consultant for Steelcase.

Studies that show what “fringe,” green proponents warned of all along are an overdue validation of the environmental products industry I distinctly remember a small group of co-workers who voiced concerns that the windows did not open while everyone else was extolling the beauty of the newly constructed newsroom we worked in, complete with new cubicles, new computers, carpeting, paint, ceiling tiles and everything else that makes up a building’s interior. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) had not been created yet. Employees who raised questions about indoor-air quality were “strange,” possibly unbalanced.  You could have heard a pin drop when one of them asked what I now know was a very natural question: “Does the ventilation system bring fresh air into our work area?” Natural or not, the managers responded as though the question bordered on insubordination. Accordingly, it would have been beyond insane had the employee suggested that toxins in the indoor air be scientifically measured or a control group of employees be selected to have blood tests to determine what chemicals they were being exposed to.