Contract - July/August 2016 - 130

WELLNESS

Healthy Workplaces Are
Critical to Business Success
The design of today's offices can positively impact
health, human performance, and the bottom line

Based in Washington, D.C., Leigh Stringer leads workplace
research for EYP, an architecture, engineering, and building
technology firm. A former senior vice president at HOK, Stringer
authored the book The Healthy Workplace: How to Improve
the Well-Being of Your Employees-and Boost Your Company's
Bottom Line (AMACOM), which was published in July. Here,
culling from the research for her book, Stringer offers Contract
readers some lessons related to the built environment.
By Leigh Stringer

130

Baicker, PhD, a professor in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public
Health, evaluated the return on investment for 22 companies
that have wellness programs. The study revealed that medical
costs fell by about $3.27 for every dollar spent on these programs,
and absenteeism costs fell by about $2.73 for every dollar spent.
In separate studies completed by Ray Fabius and Ron Goetzel
over the past three years, the authors compared the stock
performance of companies that won awards for their health initiatives
with the Standard & Poor's 500 index. No matter how the researchers
sliced the data, companies with a focus on health significantly
outperformed the S&P 500.
Clearly, human health is a driving force for business growth.
But how can the built environment play a more meaningful role?
Besides the obvious solutions, such as providing sit-stand desks
and access to natural light, how can workplace design positively
impact health and, ultimately, human performance? Here are
five particularly compelling strategies.

As a workplace consultant, I have always been aware of the influence
of the built environment on health. But it was not until I met with
a long list of physiologists, neurologists, anthropologists, physicians,
ergonomists, nutritionists, and sleep experts while researching my
book The Healthy Workplace that I realized the full impact of design,
not only on our health but also on our well-being and performance.
The truth is, I have most often considered employee health as
one item on a long list of project goals, along with saving money, being
environmentally responsible, and meeting my client's business needs.
But after digging deeply, I came to believe that human health should be 1. Provide workers with a choice on how, when, and where
they work
the foundation of both workplace design and business as well. Why?
Epidemiological studies from Robert Karasek and Töres Theorell,
Companies thrive on the innovation and abilities of their employees.
published in their book Healthy Work: Stress, Productivity, and
And if workers are sick, overweight, stressed, sleep-deprived,
the Reconstruction of the Working Life (Basic Books, April 1990),
or disengaged, the employer is prevented from maintaining
showed that, regardless of job function, workers who felt more in
a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
control of their work and work environment were less likely to suffer
The business case for employee health grows stronger every
from heart disease and stress. One suggestion, therefore, is to find
day. A well-respected 2010 meta-analysis study led by Katherine
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