Employee Satisfaction With Working Space and Its Association With Well-Being-A Cross-Sectional Study in a Multi-Space Office

Designing LTC Physical Work Environments to Support Worker Well-being: A Review and Recommendations

OBJECTIVES

Well-designed, health-promoting physical work environments have the potential to reduce burnout and attrition for employees who work in long-term care (LTC) facilities. Unfortunately, there is limited existing guidance for LTC facility owners and operators related to specific health-promoting design strategies for LTC work environments. This narrative review aims to fill this knowledge gap.

METHODS

Information was synthesized from healthy-building certification standards for health care and non-health care buildings, LTC design guidelines, academic studies, and expert commentaries. The review was conducted in 3 phases to (1) identify specific space types and design characteristics generally considered to be health-supportive, (2) gather existing research on the identified strategies to critically analyze their supportive value, and (3) communicate the findings to a broad audience of stakeholders.

RESULTS

Five specific space types and 21 design characteristics were identified as both supportive of employee health and well-being, and relevant to LTC physical work environments.

CONCLUSIONS

When health care organizations construct new facilities or renovate existing facilities, using these health-promoting design strategies should be considered. Benefits of health-promoting physical work environments include better employee mental and physical health, less burnout, and less turnover. Reducing burnout and increasing employee retention is essential to mitigate the ongoing staffing crisis in the LTC industry.

The implementation of large-scale genomic screening or diagnostic programmes: A rapid evidence review

Genomic healthcare programmes, both in a research and clinical context, have demonstrated a pivotal opportunity to prevent, diagnose, and treat rare diseases. However, implementation factors could increase overall costs and affect uptake. As well, uncertainties remain regarding effective training, guidelines and legislation. The purpose of this rapid evidence review was to draw together the available global evidence on the implementation of genomic testing programmes, particularly on population-based screening and diagnostic programmes implemented at the national level, to understand the range of factors influencing implementation. This review involved a search of terms related to genomics, implementation and health care. The search was limited to peer-reviewed articles published between 2017-2022 and found in five databases. The review included thirty articles drawing on sixteen countries. A wide range of factors was cited as critical to the successful implementation of genomics programmes. These included having policy frameworks, regulations, guidelines; clinical decision support tools; access to genetic counselling; and education and training for healthcare staff. The high costs of implementing and integrating genomics into healthcare were also often barriers to stakeholders. National genomics programmes are complex and require the generation of evidence and addressing implementation challenges. The findings from this review highlight that there is a strong emphasis on addressing genomic education and engagement among varied stakeholders, including the general public, policymakers, and governments. Articles also emphasised the development of appropriate policies and regulatory frameworks to govern genomic healthcare, with a focus on legislation that regulates the collection, storage, and sharing of personal genomic data.

How to Alleviate Feelings of Crowding in a Working from Home Environment: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic

The sudden adoption of working from home (WFH) during the COVID-19 pandemic has required the reconfiguration of home spaces to fit space for remote work into existing spaces already filled with other domestic functions. This resulted in blurring of home and work boundaries, the potential lack of space for telecommuting from home, and telecommuters' feelings of crowding. Numerous studies have shown the negative effects of crowding feelings on workers' responses. This study focused on the issue of crowding in the residential workspace. An online survey was conducted to investigate how features of the home workspace correlate with telecommuters' feelings of crowding and how these feelings affect satisfaction, health, and productivity. As a result, we found that various environmental features of home workspaces (e.g., house size, purpose of workspace, accessible balcony, lighting, noise, etc.), as well as psychological aspects (e.g., individual control over space use), had significant effects on telecommuters' feelings of crowdedness. It was also found that feelings of crowding in the WFH environment can directly and indirectly affect teleworkers' satisfaction with work environments, well-being, and work performance. Based on the results, we offered various potential ways to alleviate overcrowding issues in the WFH context.

Relationships Between the Physical Work Environment, Postures and Musculoskeletal Pain During COVID-19: A Survey of Frequent Computer Users

OBJECTIVE

To understand the flexible work practices during the COVID-19 pandemic and their impact on work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and depression in frequent computer users.

METHODS

An e-survey determined the extent of workplace changes and MSD, and the relationships between them using descriptive-statistics and chi-squared tests.

RESULTS

Of 700 who commenced the survey, 511 were analyzed. Since the pandemic commenced, 80% of respondents reported they were working more from home; and 89% reported some musculoskeletal pain. Compared with prepandemic, more people worked in nonergonomic environments, computer configurations and body postures. Work location was associated with upper back pain ( P = 0.011); body posture with headache ( P = 0.027) and low back pain ( P = 0.003).

CONCLUSION

Nonergonomic work environments of frequent computer users during COVID-19 are related to having upper back pain, whereas nonergonomic postures are related to having headache and low back pain.

A review of research in activity-based working over the last ten years: lessons for the post-COVID workplace

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to map and describe findings from research conducted in workspaces designed to support activity-based working (ABW) over the past 10 years (2010–2020) with a view of informing post-COVID workplaces of the positive and negative attributes of ABW.

Design/methodology/approach

Scopus was used as the search engine for this review. Papers which reported findings related to ABW and performed field study in ABW workspaces with adult occupants were included. Out of the 442 initial papers, 40 papers were included following iterative title and abstract and full text review process and consideration of inclusion and exclusion criteria. These papers were divided into three groupings (organizational, human and physical environment) based on their major focus. Positive and negative effects of ABW environments on occupants are discussed within these three topics in consideration of the implications for the post-COVID workplace.

Findings

Although the included studies were inclined to be either more positive (i.e. interior design) or negative (i.e. indoor environmental quality, productivity, distraction and privacy) in relation to various attributes of ABW, no single effect of ABW environments on occupants was in full agreement between the studies. The shortcomings of ABW environments are more related to how this way of working is implemented and how occupants use it, rather than the concept itself. A partial uptake of ABW leads to occupants’ dissatisfaction, lower productivity and lower well-being, while a holistic approach increases the chance of success. It is hypothesised that many currently reported negative aspects of the ABW concept might diminish overtime as ABW evolves and as new challenges arise. A continuous post-occupancy evaluation after relocation to an ABW-supportive environment can inform the organization about the changing needs and preference of the occupants; hence, the organization can tailor the ABW solution to the arising needs. The inter-connection between the three key ABW pillars (organizational, human and physical environment) is crucial to the success of this concept specifically in the context of the post-COVID-19 workplace.

Originality/value

This paper highlights the key shortcomings and limitations of studies produced over the past decade and identifies keys gaps in the current body of literature. It provides a new insight on how findings related to open-plan offices designed to support ABW can be categorized on the three big heading of organizational, physical and human-related aspects, and further investigates the positive and negatives outcomes reported on ABW under these headings. It also discusses how the findings arising from this literature review can inform the post-COVID workplace.