What makes a workplace healthy? NICOLE MATER A truly healthy workplace evaluates employee health and well being both mentally and physically. Effectively healthy workplaces increase employees’ physical health statuses, improve job satisfaction levels, increase productivity, and reduce office turnover. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and synthesize proposed design solutions for healthy workplaces by dissecting current strategies used to design offices and uncovering information that may be used in evidence based design. This information will then be analyzed within the context of four existing office buildings of varying scales and used to determine their effectiveness as healthy office spaces. Architects should use evidence-‐based strategies to design healthy workplaces that can improve the mental and physical well being of the employees who work in the building, in turn, benefit employers by increasing productivity and job satisfaction.
HEALTH
PHYSICAL
MENTAL
Mental and physical health must be considered of equal importance because mental health has the ability to influence physical health and physical health may influence mental health. People that are physically ill or injured my become depressed by their inabilities and therefore become mentally unstable and unproductive. People who have mental maladies have a higher probability of becoming ill, or in extreme cases may be driven to injure themselves.
Strategies Beneficial to Health The surgeon general recognizes the need for change within American office types. The majority of the 140 million men and women who are employed in the United States spend a significant amount of time each week at their work site. Because obesity reduces worker productivity and increases health care costs, employers are becoming more aware of the need to help promote health within the workplace. Employers can implement wellness programs