The study was for a Channel 4 programme called The Secret Life of Buildings has found that the hustle and bustle of offices today means there can be a 32% drop in workers well being and reduce their productivity by 15%.
Open plan offices were also found to distract workers from their tasks at hand. The tests included using a cap that measure a workers brain waves whilst working in an open plan office and found that their was intense bursts of distraction.
Dr Jack Lewis, a neuroscientist who conducted the test, said: "Open plan offices were designed with the idea that people can move around and interact freely to promote creative thinking and better problem solving.”
"But it doesn't work like that. If you are just getting into some work and a phone goes off in the back ground it ruins what you are concentrating on. Even though you are not aware at the time, the brain responds to distractions."
In experiments that have an office that is enriched with flowers and pictures, and places where the employee can make their office space their own it has the opposite affect and will increase well being by 35% and productivity by up to 15%.
The research can show that the work environment can have a diverse affect on an employee’s productivity. Many graduates will be looking for jobs and will need to take this into account. Yet currently most graduates are looking for graduate jobs that are based more on remuneration and therefore won’t take job satisfaction into account.
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