Due to the pandemic, remote and hybrid work are here to stay – What started as a necessity, has become common practice in many workplaces.
At the same time workers’ own responsibility for maintaining their health and work ability has increased. A study, conducted by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health found out that the most significant health threat identified in working remotely was short nights’ sleep. The lack of recovery and sense of community during the working day were significant factors for work ability.
While working remotely has become an established way of working, it is important for organizations to take responsibility and develop practices that can support health-related behaviors and maintain work ability.
Moving to activity-based offices
Another recent study investigated the long-term well-being effects of activity-based offices. Since the hybrid work has also become increasingly common, many workplaces are updating their space solutions and prefer multi-functional working spaces. The number of open-plan offices is decreasing and multispace offices are becoming more common.
Research shows that unassigned workstations encourage staff to use a variety of spaces. Yet the choice of workspaces is influenced by various individual and situation-specific factors that need to be considered in office space design.
More information
Virpi Ruohomäki, Chief Researcher
Tel. +358 30 474 2941
virpi.ruohomaki@ttl.fi
