Experts say that benefits and salaries account for about 90% of a business’s operating costs. This makes your company’s employees your biggest investment by far. Employees perform poorly in uncomfortable and unhealthy environments, and that costs your business money. You can improve productivity by improving the environment where your employees work. By making smart upgrades to your commercial building, you can reduce employee absenteeism, increase employee output and improve employee morale. You can even improve staff retention.
What Building Conditions Affect Worker Performance?
Many building conditions affect worker performance. Some of these conditions are difficult to measure and hard to detect, so knowing when something is wrong can be tough. If your business has a safety officer, they may be able to measure and monitor the conditions and decide what needs to be done to improve life at your business, company, agency or organization.
Indoor Air Quality
Most employers don’t realize how much their indoor air quality affects worker performance. A meta-analysis on air quality in 2006 showed that poor indoor air quality reduced employee performance by as much as 10%. Poor air quality also increased employee short-term sick leave dramatically.
Lighting
The relationship between daylighting and sick leave seems clear in studies. In offices with better daylight and more attractive views, employees took 6.5% fewer sick days. Why is this?
There could be many reasons. Exposure to daylight has been shown to improve mood, boost the immune system, improve heart health and more. In fact, people who work in offices that receive 173% more daylight even sleep an average of 46 more minutes per night. Better sleep (and more sleep!) can help employees ward off illness.
Other Building Conditions that Affect Worker Performance
There are many conditions in commercial buildings that can affect worker performance, including:
- Thermal comfort
- Good views
- Amenities
- Good acoustics
- Good location
What You Can Do to Make Your Building More Healthy
So, what then can you do to make your building more healthy?
Install High Performance Skylighting
Install high performance skylighting that allows more daylight into your commercial building. You don’t have to install skylights at the time your building is constructed. Skylights can be installed even after the building is constructed, as long as you hire the right contractor and also install the right skylights. Look for high performance skylights that are energy efficient and ultra-durable, to allow maximum daylight into your building without making the indoor environment uncomfortable.
Improve Indoor Air Quality
Work with your HVAC professionals to draw in fresh air. Maintain your HVAC system with regular tune-ups, and modernize your HVAC system as needed. Avoid blocking air vents with furniture, to keep air circulating throughout the building. Avoid using products that contribute to the buildup of toxins and chemicals in the air. Work with your building management to identify sources of indoor pollution, and eliminate those issues.
Improve HVAC Efficiency
Relatedly, the health of your HVAC system also improves indoor comfort for your employees. An inefficient HVAC system can lead to a variety of problems including cold or hot temperatures, and high humidity. Improving your HVAC efficiency helps ensure that your employees will feel comfortable throughout the day, which in turn can help them be more productive at the workplace.
The efficiency of your HVAC system also ties back to the efficiency of your building’s windows and skylights. Installing windows and high performance skylights can help make temperature control easier in your commercial building.
Contact VTECH Skylights
You can improve the working environment for members of your staff and people who work for your organization by contacting VTECH skylights. Our high performance skylights are designed through a reaction injection molding (RIM) process to create solid-state skylights that are ultra-resistant to leaking. We also use LoĒ³ 366 glass to improve their energy efficiency, to help ensure that your workplace maintains a comfortable temperature all year long. Contact us to find out. more about installing VTECH skylights on your property.