The business case for a healthy office; a holistic overview of relations between office workspace design and mental health

Figures & data

Figure 1. Division of physical workspace elements and components related to mental health indicators.

A flow diagram with elements in the first column, components in the second and mental health indicators in the third.

Table 1. Office layout and design and mental health indicators.

	Insufficient	Sufficient	Optimal	Stress	Well-being	Burnout	Mood	Sleep quality	Depression	Engagement	Fatigue	Concentration	Productivity
Office type	Open plan office	Group office	Private office	−	+			+				+	+
Workspace use	Dedicated seating		Flexible seating	−									+
Concentration spaces/breakout rooms	No		Yes	−	+							+	+
Vitality zones/aspects	Not present		Present	−		−		+		+			+
Easy access to facilities	No		Yes										+
Separated refreshment areas	No		Yes									+	+
Cluster size	>20 people	6–20 people	2–5 people	−	+					+			+
Cluster separation	No	Visual or acoustic	Visual and acoustic							+			+
Decorative elements	Not present		Present		+								+
Workspace adjustability	Not adjustable		Adjustable										+

Table 2. Look, feel, and color and mental health indicators.

	Insufficient	Sufficient	Optimal	Stress	Well-being	Burnout	Mood	Sleep quality	Depression	Engagement	Fatigue	Concentration	Productivity
Room color	Dark colors	Neutral colors	Blue and white colors	−			+						+

Table 3. Biophilia, greenery, views, and plants and mental health indicators.

	Insufficient	Sufficient	Optimal	Stress	Well-being	Burnout	Mood	Sleep quality	Depression	Engagement	Fatigue	Concentration	Productivity
Number of plants	No plants	>3 plants per desk	1–3 plants per desk	−8%					−			+20%	+15%
Plant placement	No plants	Office or breakout rooms	Office and breakout rooms	−
Visual contact to the outdoors	No visual contact	<100% of workspaces	100% of workspaces		+		+	+		+
Views	No visual contact	Neutral views	Pleasant views	−4%									+

Table 4. Temperature and thermal comfort and mental health indicators.

	Insufficient	Sufficient	Optimal	Stress	Well-being	Burnout	Mood	Sleep quality	Depression	Engagement	Fatigue	Concentration	Productivity
Room temperature	<18 or >25 °C	18–20 or 25 °C	20–24 °C	−	+		+	+		+	−20%	+26%	+30%
Relative humidity	<30 or >60%	30–60%	40–55%	−22%			+	+		+	−	+	+
Personal control over thermal conditions	No		Yes										+
Satisfaction with thermal conditions	PPD >15%	PPD 6–15%	PPD <6%										+30%

Table 5. Noise, acoustics, and privacy and mental health indicators.

	Insufficient	Sufficient	Optimal	Stress	Well-being	Burnout	Mood	Sleep quality	Depression	Engagement	Fatigue	Concentration	Productivity
Background noise	Exceeding limits		Workspace <48 dB Quiet areas <35 dB	−					−		−	+	+3%
Satisfaction with acoustical quality	Dissatisfied employees		Satisfied employees										+
Low frequency noise	Present		Absent								−4%	+
Speech privacy	STI > 0.6	STI 0.3–0.6	STI 0.0–0.3		+							+	+

Table 6. Indoor air quality and ventilation and mental health indicators.

	Insufficient	Sufficient	Optimal	Stress	Well-being	Burnout	Mood	Sleep quality	Depression	Engagement	Fatigue	Concentration	Productivity
CO2 concentration	>1400 ppm	1000–1400 ppm	<1000 ppm	−							−16%	+	+24%
Formaldehyde concentration	Exceeding limits		ASHRAE standards								−
TVOC concentration	Exceeding limits		ASHRAE standards								−2%
Ventilation rate	<1L/s/person	1–8 L/s/person	>8 L/s/person								−	+	+5%
Personal control of IAQ	No		Yes								−	+	+15%
Satisfaction with IAQ	Dissatisfied employees		Satisfied employees				+	+			−70%	+70%	+12%

Table 7. Light and daylight and mental health indicators.

	Insufficient	Sufficient	Optimal	Stress	Well-being	Burnout	Mood	Sleep quality	Depression	Engagement	Fatigue	Concentration	Productivity
Daylight exposure	CS < 0.15 or <2%	CS 0.15–0.30	CS > 0.3 or 2–6%	−10%	+		+	+30%	−20%		−		+
Skylights (only if insufficient daylight exposure)	Conventional lighting		Use of skylights	−			+10%
Glare	Present		Absent				+				−		+
Shading	No shading	Blinds	Dynamic glazing				+25%				−29%	+13%	+22%
Direct and indirect lighting	Only direct		Direct and indirect		+
Correlated colour temperature	<3000K	3000–6500 K	>6500 K	−			+	+	−		−27%	+37%	+19%
Illuminance	<500lx	500–750 lx	>750 lx				+	+			−		+
Personal control	No		Yes		+		+
Satisfaction with lighting conditions	Dissatisfied employees		Satisfied employees		+		+			+			+

Figure 2. Overview empirical relationships.

A diagram with left seven boxes with the workspace elements and right 10 boxes with the mental indicators. Arrows from left to right connect the elements with the indicators where proof was found.