Reading: Can happiness boost productivity? asks Office Principles seminar

Leading office design company Office Principles is calling on UK employers to make their people happier at work and see a resulting boost in productivity.

'Happy people get more done.’  That was the rallying cry to business leaders attending the recent Office Principles seminar at Green Park in Reading, where workplace strategists Bertie van Wyk and Hannah Nardini backed up the claim with data and findings from their own work as well as analysis from Office Principles studies. 

Happy people are more productive. But how do we make people happy at work? It is common sense, but often not applied at work. People management and leadership have a part to play, so does the job itself – but what about the actual physical workplace? 

Stop and think, they asked. Do you like your work place? How does it make you feel? Is it somewhere that helps you do your job better? What do your colleagues think of it?

"Office designers like Office Principles are always asking these questions,” said Nardini, workplace strategist at Office Principles. "Backed by academic research from behavioural psychologists and evidence from corporations from Google to Jive Software (in Reading) we know that happiness fuels success. What’s more, good office design shapes an environment that engages employees, fosters a sense of creativity, motivation and, crucially, points to evidence of more productivity."

The Reading event was one in a series of seminars in which Nardini and van Wyk, who is a workplace specialist at Herman Miller, will explain how good office design creates an environment that engages employees, fosters a sense of creativity, motivation and, crucially, points to evidence of more productivity.

"The Confederation of British Industry estimates a £17 billion lost every year through absenteeism. But happy people come to work motivated,” said Nardini. "Google and other similar organisations have taken on board the findings of behavioural research: they have invested heavily in employee relationships and strategic workplace design seeing happiness and satisfaction rise by 37%. This underpins the focus of Office Principles mission to make the UK a happier workplace through outstanding design."