#6 Sunday Studio: A Weekend Retreat
books/ideas/things to try/exploring/research insights
Amidst the horror of global events, I’m focussed on how I can use my research to improve the design of work and the workplace. We spend a third of our lives at work; making it better matters. Sadly, it isn’t at all surprising to find that 34% of employees report lower mental health levels compared to six months ago.
This week the Sunday Studio is centred around retreat, restoration, and how we might all go a little easier on ourselves and each other. Even though it’s spring here on the sub-tropical island I live on (Australia), I’ve felt drawn to retreating to the couch with a warm drink and our little dog to balance the overwhelm.
David Bowie sang about sitting in a tin can in the song Space Oddity. Millions of us hurtle along rail lines and motorways in tin cans every week just to get to our jobs. In a poll on LinkedIn this week, 20% of the almost 2000 respondents indicated that commuting was the most stressful thing about their work.
Research has long indicated that humans are happier and healthier in walkable cities. So I loved reading about a new neighbourhood in the US called Culdesac, created around a walkable, human-scaled community without cars. You can read about it here.
In our recent public research week event at my university, my research partners on several of our projects joined us to talk about how we can use the outcomes of the research we have been undertaking to change our workplaces and urban landscapes for the better.
We discussed our published and forthcoming papers from three different multi-disciplinary research projects on designing workspaces to optimise creativity, well-being, proactivity, and performance. Our research program incorporates organisational behaviour, neuroscience, organisational and environmental psychology, virtual reality, architecture, and management. We also discussed using data effectively in decision-making about spaces, occupancy rates, workplace strategy, and psychological safety.
Amongst the data-driven conversations about workplace design, it was refreshing to hear Alice Drew, Head of Workplace Futures at Lendlease talk about the design of the internal bridge at Lendlease's Barangaroo offices. After using digital twins and VR to help employees get a feel for the affordance of the bridge, employees were still unsure of what using it would be like in real life.
A cardboard prototype was created to allow employees and designers to experience what it would be like to cross when multiple groups were present, and if it supported pausing for serendiptious conversation.
A recording of the live broadcast is available, let me know if you would like it.
NEW RESEARCH
Meetings and individual work during the workday: Examining their interdependent impact on knowledge workers’ energy.
New research has examined how different types of work activities may interplay to influence our energy during the workday. The researchers examined two prominent types of work activities for knowledge workers—meetings and individual work—to investigate how time allocation and pressure complementarity between them influence workday energy. They found that the more time workers spent in meetings, the less time they spent taking mini-breaks, leaving less time to get individual work done, and harming energy. While this may be no surprise to anyone who spends a lot of time in meetings, the empirical data now proves it. You can use this with your boss next time you want to raise why having too many meetings is bad.
We conducted two experience sampling studies, one with 245 knowledge workers from diverse organizations and the other with 167 employees from two technology companies. We found a time allocation effect, such that for a given period of the workday (i.e., the morning or the afternoon), the greater the proportion of time a knowledge worker spent in meetings relative to individual work, the less this person engaged in microbreak activities for replenishment during that period. The reduction in microbreak activities, in turn, harmed energy. We also found a pressure complementarity effect in the morning (though not in the afternoon), such that when a meeting involved low pressure in the presence of high-pressure individual work or vice versa, when a meeting involved high pressure in the presence of low-pressure individual work, such complementarity benefited energy.
EXPERIENCE
I love working from home. But I also absolutely love the connections and serendipity of great community workspaces. If only I lived in Brussels, I’d certainly join Out of Office in Brussels. Anouk van Oordt posted about this inspiring experience-led space and community this week.
We offer a dynamic, diverse, industrial, flexible environment that stimulates creativity and innovation, encourages collaboration and interaction among members, that can lead to unexpected collaborations and the sharing of ideas.
So, if you're ready to work in a place that's more than just an office, where nature and networking go hand in hand, then this co-working spot next to the bois de la Cambre with its very own bar Met Plaizier is yours.
Please contact us at admin@weareooo.be
LISTEN/WATCH
🎙 Episode 5 of The Floorplan is out now. How much Clutter is too Much? Matthew Webber and I talk through the financial, mental, and physical cost of a messy office, and what the research says about why we should get rid of clutter. But fear not, desktop hoarders! There is a loophole. We also take a look at Matt's desk, applying the science and seeing how his work habits stack up. I'm still recovering from this as you can hear in the clip below 😂
I also joined ABC News to discuss why going back to the office might be making us more stressed. You can watch the segment below.
READ
I wrote a new article for The Conversation - Stress levels in Australian workplaces among the highest as we battle constant interruptions and irritating colleagues.
In it, I talk about the various reasons why being in the office might make us more stressed, including new research by the American Psychological Association on the negative effects of technology monitoring on employees.
As more companies mandate the amount of time to be spent in the office, employee stress levels are on the rise.
So why might the return to the office be increasing employee stress? Research indicates a combination of commuting, cost of living pressures, noisy open-plan offices, work culture, interruptions, decreased autonomy and coworker relations are contributing to workers feeling more stressed.
A recent study found 34% of employees reported lower mental health levels compared to six months ago. Alarmingly, 37% also reported decreased levels of engagement and sense of belonging.
As resistance to returning to the office continues, companies including Meta, Google, JP Morgan Chase and Amazon have stated they will use technology to monitor building access card data and system usage to track employees who are not complying. Employees have been advised repeated violations could lead to termination.
A recent study by the American Psychological Association found employees who were subject to monitoring technology were 14% more stressed than those not monitored.
And 42% of employees who were monitored intended to look for a new job within the next 12 months, compared with 23% who were not monitored.
Returning to the office is great for social connection and can lead to a range of positive work outcomes. However, our coworkers can also be a source of stress.
During my research, I am frequently told by employees of colleagues who eat offensive smelling foods at their desk, make loud sounds while eating, and conduct animated personal phone calls right next to them. Then there are those who wear sweaty gym gear for the rest of the day after working out at lunchtime.
And for those of you who really dislike your coworkers, spare a thought for this employee.
Most famously perhaps in the annals of annoying colleagues was the case of the employee on a research station in Antarctica who stabbed a coworker who persisted in telling him the endings of books he was planning to read.
REVISTA
The new quarter’s edition of Revista will be out on November 1. You can get this quarter’s edition here (or for annual subscribers to the Future of Work Studio ($A80) you’ll receive the current quarter’s for free). Revista is a magazine packed with uncommon content to uncover ideas, insights, and opportunities that are just out of view. It’s 43 pages of content and evidence-based tools to create change in your business and life.
In the New York Times, a data-backed piece by Stanford Prof Nick Bloom, The Five-Day Office Week is Dead.
Can happiness be taught? Harvard Business School Professor Arthur Brooks thinks so. His new book co-authored with Oprah Winfrey has instantly shot to the top of bestseller lists.
INSPIRATION/IDEAS TO TRY
What can you change this week to shift the focus to a sense of satisfaction in the work itself? Rick Rubin writes about this in his brilliant book The Creative Act.
“Success isn't about popularity, money, or critical esteem,” he says. “Success has nothing to do with variables outside yourself...All that matters is the work itself. Success occurs when you've done all you can to bring out the work's greatest potential.”
Put down the to-do list.
What small things can you do to make your home feel like a sanctuary?
Asynchrony: It’s a mood. Deliberately take time to do things alone and slowly.
Stop booking back-to-back meetings (note to self).
Re-read the stats above on how stressed employees are right now. Do at least one thing that will lower your cortisol levels and allow your brain and body to destress.
Atelier Sukha in Amsterdam is a beautiful curation of slow-living wares and cosy sustainable clothing, perfect for retreating and restoring. After you’ve been inspired to declutter your space following the latest episode of The Floorplan podcast, this is the perfect place to find something you love that changes your experience of home. And I wish I lived somewhere where I could wear Skall Studio sweaters.
It takes a while to seek out and write about things that are worth your while reading. To that end, The Sunday Studio will be published fortnightly going forward. Thank you for being here. I’d love to hear what is making you stressed at work, how you are restoring and getting cosy, and photos of your workspaces.
Libby x