Combinations of concentrated work and interactions are facilitated by office environments such as activity-based flexible offices (A-FOs). A-FOs are characterized by activity-based workspaces, an ...open-plan layout, and desk sharing. Although there is a growing enthusiasm for replacing cellular offices with A-FOs, the effects of such changes on office workers are still unclear. Within this three-wave longitudinal study, we investigated the changes (time lag of 1 and 8 months after the redesign) in perceived need–supply fit, distraction, interaction across teams, and workspace satisfaction during relocation from a cellular office to an A-FO. Moreover, as previous case studies indicated individual differences in the use of A-FOs, we considered participants’ perceived need–supply fit as a moderator indicating an appropriate use of A-FO supplies. We found a linear increase of perceived need–supply fit, a decrease in distraction, and a significant interaction effect where workspace satisfaction and interaction across teams increased more strongly for participants reporting a better perceived need–supply fit.
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Although a number of researchers have responded to calls to better understand human experiences of weather in the context of a changing climate, there remain few studies that analyse the role of ...weather in everyday urban life, where mediating technologies such as air-conditioners and tumble dryers are widespread. To address that gap, this paper advances a concept of ‘weather-ways’, in which cultural understandings of weather are conceived as dynamic, unfolding and interactive. Empirically, we examine how weather is part of the daily practices of 20 Melbourne (Australia) participants using interviews conducted across four seasons in 2010–11. Findings show a particular distinction between work and home weather-ways. Office work practices provided a highly structured weekly temporal framework around which other practices were organised. Regardless of the weather, work practices continued undisrupted, particularly in air-conditioned buildings. Away from work, where participants had more freedom to engage with and respond to the weather, they demonstrated a willingness to remain weather-connected, despite having access to technologies. Participants modified their practices in accordance with weather and its variations, through both simple adjustments, such as modifying clothing layers, and broader responses including the temporal and spatial adjustments of leisure and laundering activities that took advantage of ‘good’ weather or avoided less favourable conditions. Vernacular adjustment strategies that may assist in adjusting to future climate changes are in tension with the structural and collective frameworks of most indoor workplaces.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
This study examines the effects of noise and the use of an Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA) on the task performance and workload of office workers. Data were collected from forty-eight adults ...across varied office task scenarios (i.e., sending an email, setting up a timer/reminder, and searching for a phone number/address) and noise types (i.e., silence, non-verbal noise, and verbal noise). The baseline for this study is measured without the use of an IVA. Significant differences in performance and workload were found on both objective and subjective measures. In particular, verbal noise emerged as the primary factor affecting performance using an IVA. Task performance was dependent on the task scenario and noise type. Subjective ratings found that participants preferred to use IVA for less complex tasks. Future work can focus more on the effects of tasks, demographics, and learning curves. Furthermore, this work can help guide IVA system designers by highlighting factors affecting performance.
•While in silence, IVA improves the performance of some tasks, such as sending an email.•Noise deteriorates the task performance improvement caused by IVA.•Verbal noise has the highest level of workload and displeasure with IVA.•Noise increases IVA error and task completion time.
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Workplace environments have a significant impact on worker performance, health, and well-being. With machine learning capabilities, artificial intelligence (AI) can be developed to automate ...individualized adjustments to work environments (e.g., lighting, temperature) and to facilitate healthier worker behaviors (e.g., posture). Worker perspectives on incorporating AI into office workspaces are largely unexplored. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore office workers' views on including AI in their office workspace. Six focus group interviews with a total of 45 participants were conducted. Interview questions were designed to generate discussion on benefits, challenges, and pragmatic considerations for incorporating AI into office settings. Sessions were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using an iterative approach. Two primary constructs emerged. First, participants shared perspectives related to preferences and concerns regarding communication and interactions with the technology. Second, numerous conversations highlighted the dualistic nature of a system that collects large amounts of data; that is, the potential benefits for behavior change to improve health and the pitfalls of trust and privacy. Across both constructs, there was an overarching discussion related to the intersections of AI with the complexity of work performance. Numerous thoughts were shared relative to future AI solutions that could enhance the office workplace. This study's findings indicate that the acceptability of AI in the workplace is complex and dependent upon the benefits outweighing the potential detriments. Office worker needs are complex and diverse, and AI systems should aim to accommodate individual needs.
Activity-based work environments (WEs) aim to support office workers doing both concentrated and communicative work, but empirical tests are rare. We expected the availability of different WEs to be ...beneficial for job attitudes and vitality, and that the benefits would be stronger when available WEs were perceived to fit to tasks, and when workers used WEs appropriately. As predictors of appropriate use of WEs, we postulated need for routine seeking and trust in management. Hypotheses were tested in a questionnaire study with 560 office workers from different organizations. The availability of WEs that support undisturbed working was positively related to job attitudes and vitality. For WEs that support communicative work, job attitudes and vitality were additionally explained by the relative fit to the task and appropriate use of WEs. Finally, appropriate use of WEs correlated positively with trust in management and negatively with workers’ need for routine seeking.
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28.
Occupational asthma in office workers Huntley, C C; Burge, P S; Moore, V C ...
Occupational medicine (Oxford),
08/2022, Volume:
72, Issue:
6
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Office work has a relative perception of safety for the worker. Data from surveillance schemes and population-based epidemiological studies suggest that office work carries a low risk of occupational ...asthma (OA). Office workers are frequently used as comparators in studies of occupational exposure and respiratory disease.
We aimed to describe and illustrate our tertiary clinical experience of diagnosing OA in office workers.
We searched the Birmingham NHS Occupational Lung Disease Service clinical database for cases of occupational respiratory disease diagnosed between 2002 and 2020, caused by office work or in office workers. For patients with OA, we gathered existing data on demographics, diagnostic tests including Occupational Asthma SYStem (OASYS) analysis of serial peak expiratory flow and specific inhalational challenge, and employment outcome. We summarised data and displayed them alongside illustrative cases.
There were 47 cases of OA (5% of all asthma) confirmed using OASYS analysis of PEFs in the majority. Sixty percent of cases occurred in healthcare, education and government sectors. The most frequently implicated causative exposures or agents were: indoor air (9), printing, copying and laminating (7), cleaning chemicals (4), mould and damp (4), and acrylic flooring and adhesives (4). Exposures were grouped into internal office environment, office ventilation-related and adjacent environment.
Clinicians should be vigilant for exposures associated with OA in office workers who present with work-related symptoms, where respiratory sensitizing agents may be present. A structured approach to assessment of the workplace is recommended.
An increasing number of companies transform their traditional office spaces into open work environments, often as part of an effort for working relations to evolve away from rigid and hierarchical ...structures. Contrary to intentions, recent studies show how open office projects tend to re-produce social hierarchy and norms but say only little about how these socio-spatial structures come into being. In this study, we demonstrate how a workspace designed as ‘open’ is being (re-)produced and negotiated in everyday spatial practices. We investigate this question in an ethnographic research design using the example of office redesign at a German financial service company and from the perspective of social theories of space. First, we develop a critical perspective on the ‘new office’ by demonstrating that office work redesign is a political process. Through a focus on spatial practices of office work, we disclose movement and sound as crucial dimensions in the socio-political construction of ‘agile’ office work and of a social hierarchy in the open office. Second, based on our findings we propose that openness in organizational space, rather than being a design feature of a specific work environment, needs to be understood as a generative social process.
•New work environments turn office work into a front stage performance and create a focus on employee’s body, movement, and sound.•Three different embodied spatial practices are identified in the new open office: floating, crowding, and settling.•The notion of ‘agile’ work is constructed through a quality of movement and sound in everyday work practices.•Embodied spatial work produces a new hierarchy among workers ranging from ‘agile’ to ‘non-agile’ workers.•Rather than being a design feature, openness of space is a generative social process.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Sit-stand desks continue to be a popular intervention for office work. While previous studies have reported changes in subjective measures, there is limited understanding of how sit-stand work ...differs from prolonged sitting or standing work, from a biomechanical standpoint. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of prolonged sitting, prolonged standing, and a sit-stand paradigm on changes in trunk stiffness, low back discomfort, and trunk muscle activation. Twelve healthy participants performed 2 h of computer-based tasks in each protocol, on three different days. The sit-stand protocol was associated with a significant increase in trunk stiffness and a decrease in muscle activation of lumbar multifidus and longissimus thoracis pars thoracis, compared to both prolonged sitting and standing. Both sitting and standing were associated with increased low back discomfort. These findings may be worth exploring in more detail, for why alternating sit-stand patterns may help alleviate low back pain.
Practitioner summary: We explored changes in objective and subjective measures related to low back discomfort following prolonged sitting, standing, and alternating sit-stand patterns. Alternating sit-stand pattern was associated with increased trunk stiffness and decreased back muscle activity. Hence, sit-stand desks may have benefits in terms of preventing/mitigating low back pain.
Abbreviations: DOF: degree of freedom; EMG: electromyogram; ILL: iliocostalis lumborum pars lumborum; LTL: longissimus thoracis pars lumborum; LTT: longissimus thoracis pars thoracis; LBP: low back pain; LM: lumbar multifidus; MVEs: maximum isometric voluntary exertions; RANOVA: repeated-measure analysis of variance; RMS: root mean square
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