Study reveals post-pandemic offices improve worker productivity as when it comes to getting down to work with the pending tasks, space matters, and a lot. It is not the same to work in a dark and poorly ventilated place as in a cool and well-lit one, while there are noticeable differences between an open-plan office and one with separate cubicles.
The pandemic has been a powerful trigger for office redesign: in the quest for ingredients to optimize workspace qualities and improve workforce performance, a new study by UCL researchers sheds some light on this issue.
Published in PLOS One, the report highlights that employees in open-plan offices that face the room, are next to a window and have few or no desks behind them are more productive. It also stands out that smaller offices with fewer desks help concentration.
To extract these keys, the researchers analyzed the four floors of the London headquarters of a large international technology company, compiling a staff survey on workspace satisfaction, combining it with specific data on the floor plan and seating positions of all workers.
Staff with a higher number of desks in their field of view rated the work environment less favourably, especially because of distractions and difficulty talking to co-workers without disturbing others.
Study reveals post-pandemic offices improve worker productivity
Another point that generated dissatisfaction or discomfort was being away from the main area of the room: having little visual control of the environment does not favor adequate performance. On the other hand, those whose desks stood in front of the windows said they felt more productive and concentrated than those who stood next to the walls.
"Our findings raise important questions regarding the current popular practice in workplace design of providing large open-plan offices for technology companies," apostille Kerstin Sailer of the Bartlett School of Architecture and one of the authors of the UCL practice. In short, "the greatest is not always the best".
Study reveals post-pandemic offices improve worker productivity
One fact stands out above the other conclusions of the study: staff with more visual control over their environment are up to 40 times more likely to report higher levels of productivity, concentration, teamwork and links with other employees.
As notes, the study's researchers advise providing visual control to employees and designing smaller, more intimate areas within open-plan offices.
# Study reveals post-pandemic offices improve worker productivity #
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Mango moves tab: culminates the integration of its Violet brand and expands the size of its general women's collection
Mango has completed the integration of its Violet brand into its general women's collection. In this way, next week, the more than 500 available references of the brand, which reached the size 54 (4XL), will be available in its woman line.
Last January, the Catalan company announced the intention to eliminate the Violet concept and integrate its plus size line into its main chain. I would do it progressively over the next 6 months.
Internal sources explained at that time to Moda.es that the objective of this movement was to boost the plus size business, a segment in which the company has detected great demand through Violeta. Thus, the group maintains that growth will be greater through the main brand of the group than through a sub-brand.
Now, with the integration already completed, the company, who details that all the garments will be available on the web and in the App, has also decided to extend the sizing of the rest of its collection and will add sizes 32 and 46 to practically all the designs. With this decision, the company headed by Isak Andic hopes to be able to dress a greater number of customers.
According to the documentation submitted to the Fixed Income Alternative Market (Marf) after the launch of its first promissory note program, in 2019 Violeta's sales represented 2% of the group's total business (i.e. around 48 million euros), compared to 3% in 2018 (around 67 million euros).
Mango launched the Violet chain in 2014. Before approaching the operation, the firm had 70 points of sale and a team of 180 people. Of this, some 140 were store staff who would be relocated, while the rest of the staff would be integrated into the Mango Woman design team.