Office courtesy
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 […]
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 […]
Are outdoor offices too open for workers?
How often have you looked outside your window at work and wished you could be out in the open rather than cooped up inside? If architects Ju Hyun-Kim and Euno Cho have their way, you could be working at an outdoor cafe table instead of a cubicle. In Hyun-Kim and Cho’s vision for a truly […]
The key to a healthy workplace? A good boss
What do people want in a boss? It’s an important question for employees and employers alike – especially since bad bosses may jeopardize one’s health. And too many Americans say they serve under poor leadership. In fact, around three-quarters of U.S. workers consider their boss the worst part of their daily work grind, according to USA […]
New app lets coworkers anonymously rate each other
We rate our restaurants, our exes, our professors, our workplaces — why not our coworkers? A new app, Knozen, launched by Marc Cenedella, former TheLadders CEO, aims to do just that. As Business Insider reports, the free app “pits two coworkers against each other and asks the user a series of questions” to gauge their personalities. […]
Channeling FIFA fever can improve employee productivity
It sounds counterintuitive. Workers watching the FIFA World Cup means less work gets done, right? Not necessarily. If you assume workers are adults who plan their tasks around matches, productivity need not dip. Eighty percent of the world is watching the World Cup, and, according to a survey, a majority of employees watched or listened to […]
Privacy vs. partnership: Tweaking the office open-floor plan
As many cubicle workers can attest, the in-vogue office open-floor plan doesn’t always contribute to productivity. In fact, it can hinder it. While open-floor plans have been popular in interior design over the last decade or so, their efficacy is now being questioned by designers and planners — not to mention, the earplug-wearing workers long disturbed […]
Office perks: What employees really want
Last week, the Society for Human Resource Management released its annual Employee Benefits Survey. The survey provides comprehensive information about the types of benefits U.S. employers offer employees. The major takeaway from this year’s results: Employers are spending more to keep their employees in good health, even if they have to sacrifice other benefits. According to the […]