How does the working environment affect your work efficiency? Mostly, it can either boost your effectiveness or severely decrease it. Dream workplaces for every worker are Google and Facebook’s offices. They are beautiful and can boost your creativity and inspiration. Many factors can affect working efficiency. Today I bring you the top 5. Let’s see what they are.
1. Brightness
The brightness in the workplace does affect your work efficiency. First of all, the Daylight which is white and eyes-friendly can make you feel focused and help you work smoothly. Next is indirect lighting or what call hidden lighting. It is the brightness that doesn’t come directly from the bulb which can help reduce eye soreness. Lastly, I would like to talk about Warm White and Cool White lighting. These kinds of light can create a cozy or luxurious atmosphere which helps you focus on your work, be less sleepy, and see things more clearly. The most important thing is the light level intensity. It should be between 400-600 lux. If the light is too bright, it will make our eyes burn, teary, and sore, but if the light is too dim, it will tire our eyes and lead to eyestrain. To sum up, natural light or sunlight is the best. If the light in the office is too low, you can use the table lamp to protect your eyes in the long run.
2. Scent
Pleasant scents can reduce negative emotions (e.g. anger, annoyance, stress, boredom, loneliness) and can stimulate positive emotions (e.g. happiness, relaxation, amusement, serenity). It can help you feel energetic and boost your creativity. Let’s see what different smells can do. Rose scent can make you feel relaxed, and focused, and help with memory. Orange scent makes you feel refreshed and reduce stress. Lime or lemon scent can stimulate creativity and make you feel less stressed. Peppermint and menthol scents make you breathe more easily and stimulate brain work. Eucalyptus scent can tone down your mood and make you feel calm. The chemistry in eucalyptus oil can reduce stress, relax your nerve, and make you feel less tired and more energetic. Vanilla scent makes you feel cozy and secure, make your brain clear, and boosts your digestive system. Lavender scent can make you feel relaxed and less stressed with Linalool in its oil. Reed diffuser or aroma diffuser is a good choice if you want your room to have pleasant scents.
3. Temperature
Mostly, we have a common problem in the offices. The temperature might be too cold or too hot which, unfortunately, cannot be adjusted due to the system. I used to bring a coat to survive in the workplace, but since now I am working from home, I can adjust the temperature freely. The temperature affects the ability to calculate. According to Cornell University’s research, the best temperature for work is 25 degrees Celsius. It makes you have our 100% typing speed with 10% error.
4. Sound
When we talk normally, the voice is usually around 60 decibels which is considered safe. The dangerous voice is the voice that is leveled above 85 decibels, mostly the voice from a machine such as traffic noise, noise from an electric drill, grinding machine, road excavator, or lawn mower. This level of voice can affect your health if you listen to it consecutively. It can make us feel annoyed, frustrated, moody, and uneasy, and make our nerves stressed and lack focus. It also decreases our work efficiency and affects our sleeping quality. If this kind of voice continued, it can lead to health problems such as stomach disease, high blood pressure, and chronic stress. Moreover, if you listen to the voice leveled higher than 120 decibels (e.g. ambulance siren, noise of taking off airplanes) either consecutively or suddenly, it can harm our hearing ability temporarily or even permanently. Using headphones to listen to loud music also leads to untimely hard of hearing.
5. People
People are the ultimate factor that affects your work efficiency. They can either create a positive working environment or can make you super stressed. I recommend you to use positive psychology in work by listening to each other. This can lead to understanding and decrease conflicts. More importantly, try putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. It can change the working environment in a positive way and makes everyone feel comfortable doing their work.
Let’s try changing from these little things. They can make you work more efficiently, relax, and be a nice co-worker to others.
References:
https://ltnlighting.com/แสงกับการทำงาน-แสงแบบไห/
https://homeguru.homepro.co.th/not-enough-light-in-the-office/
https://www.thansettakij.com/lifestyle/396507
https://web.facebook.com/futuretrends.th/posts/845049439194836/
https://idofragrance.com/สาระน่ารู้/กลิ่นหอมแบบไหนที่สร้างความผ่อนคลายในวันทำงาน/
https://www.doctor.or.th/article/detail/1948
https://voicetv.co.th/read/TqHYQrBSl
https://today.line.me/th/v2/article/VmyRzl
https://www.istrong.co/single-post/5-pillars-ofhappiness-in-positive-psychology
