New Products
Take more breaks, says productivity science
Having productivity issues at the office? It’s time you took a break. Going on vacations, taking time out for coffee, working from home, or browsing through fun stuff on the internet during work hours may make bosses frown, but taking frequent breaks is a guaranteed way to increase productivity, improve focus, and boost creativity, according […]
Smile, you’re on camera: How being filmed affects employees
Ever feel like you’re being watched at work? Being filmed might do more than provide a record of employee behavior, reports the Huffington Post: Cameras can actually change employee behavior. “The most significant impact of bodycams, taxi-cams, and the like is not reliving the past but, rather, changing behavior in the present. We act differently […]
Google Glass finally finds place among ‘hands-on’ working professionals
With a San Francisco-based startup integrating workplace software with Google Glass, the wearable technology can now expect something better than the criticism it often receives for breaching privacy. Drawing upon features of Google Glass to improve the performance of professionals at work, Wearable Intelligence (one of the five partners certified by Google) is creating professional […]
Workplaces struggle to adapt to medical marijuana users
Although medical and recreational marijuana has been legalized in 23 states, most employers have not yet relaxed their “drug free workplace” rules. This is causing clashes between people who rely on medical marijuana to treat ailments and tough organizations that don’t hesitate to fire employees using the drug. In Colorado, Brandon Coats was fired by Dish Network […]
Offices plants make employees happier, study discovers
A few office plants can work wonders for workers, according to a new study on “green versus lean office space.” As Time reports, the study — the first of its kind — found a noticeable long-term impact of office plants: Researchers from Cardiff University, the University of Exeter and the University of Groningen measured a 15 percent […]
Redesigning hospital rooms for improved patient experience, health
Hospital room design may impact more than just patient comfort. As the University Medical Center of Princeton discovered, it may also affect patients’ health. The hospital reimagined its patient rooms, as part of a new hospital, and found that the redesign led to a particularly startling side affect: patients requested 30 percent less pain medication, reports the […]
Fantasy football costs are real at the workplace
Even as many companies found ways to channel FIFA fever among workers to their benefit this year, it’s not surprising to find some productivity drop during major sporting events. And it’s not just the ones that are played on field, virtual sports like fantasy football can also pull attention away from work. A recent study […]
New smart sensors are a multifaceted fix for office woes
It may sound like the miracle pill of the 9-to-5 world, but hear us out: New sensor technology can save energy, track employees, and perhaps even improve worker morale. A startup company called Enlightened has developed wireless heat and motion tracking systems to make a heat map of employee movements and more effectively adjust office […]
Your freezing office is killing productivity
Can’t seem to concentrate because you’re shivering in your chair while your co-worker a few cubicles away is sweating bullets? It could be the symptoms of meeting an impossible deadline, but more often than not, it is just an effect of bad building design. A combination of factors is responsible for situations in which a […]
Check out MyDoorSign’s new All-Gender signs
We’ve written extensively on the growing acceptance of all-gender bathrooms, and as awareness has grown, so has the importance of all-gender restroom signs. You may have noticed that we redesigned our all-gender signs (thanks, GLAAD!). We replaced the cisgender-based icon, which social justice activist Sam Killermann criticized, with the simpler imagery he proposed: a toilet. […]