International. The amount of ventilation, or fresh air brought indoors, is a critical determinant of health, so good ventilation reduces symptoms of sick building syndrome, absenteeism, and even the transmission of infectious diseases.
Therefore, researchers from Harvard University, University of Syracuse among others, asked if better air influences a worker's ability to process information, make strategic decisions and respond to crises.
In the first phase of the study, they enrolled 24 "knowledge workers" – managers, architects and designers – to spend six days, over a two-week period, in a highly controlled work environment at the Syracuse Center of Excellence. Every day they were asked to show up at this place and do their normal work routine from 9 AM to 5 PM. Meanwhile, without your knowledge, we changed the air quality conditions of your workspaces from a conventional environment, which simply met minimally acceptable standards, to an optimized environment.
At the end of each day, workers' decision-making performance was tested using a standardized cognitive function test that researchers have used for decades.
Researchers said: "We found that breathing better air led to better decision-making performance among our participants. We saw higher scores in nine domains of cognitive functions when workers were exposed to higher ventilation rates, lower levels of chemicals, and lower carbon dioxide. The results showed the greatest improvements in areas that tested how workers used information to make strategic decisions and how they plan, stay prepared and strategize during crises. These are exactly the skills needed to be productive in the knowledge economy."
"In the second phase of the study, we moved from the laboratory to the real world to test additional factors beyond ventilation, VOCs and CO2 that could influence cognitive function. We enrolled more than 100 workers in 10 buildings in the United States, six of whom had achieved "green certification."
Controlling for factors such as salary, job type, building owner/tenant, and geographic location, they found that workers in buildings that were green certified scored higher on tests. In addition to air quality, we saw that temperature had an effect on workers. When they worked under a comfortable range of temperature and humidity, they performed better in decision-making tests, regardless of the building they were in.
"We estimate that the productivity benefits of doubling ventilation rates are $6,500 per person per year. This does not include the other potential health benefits, such as reduced sick building syndrome and absenteeism."
In addition to managing VOCs, ventilation rates, and temperature, managers can consider other critical aspects of the indoor environment that influence health and productivity, such as lighting and noise.
Source: Harvard Business Revew.
