Science-Backed Excuse for When You Feel Unproductive At Your Office

We all have those conversations with our friends or co-workers, complaining about things in our office. During the winter, it is too warm whilst during the summer it is too cold. Sometimes, you have too much of crowd in your office or perhaps you are absolutely lonely in your aisle. There are loud people in your office, or maybe the office has absolute silence, too much brightness or maybe too less brightness.

Usually, these issues are not really solved, you just keep complaining about it. So all you are left to do is adjust. You may wear more clothes, buy seat supports or get a noise canceling headphones.

But there are high chances that these issues are not just affecting your comfort but also influence your productivity.

According to a recent analysis published in Harvard Business Review, your office’s air quality can be blamed for your inability to complete all your work.

The research conducted had 24 employees to spend 6 days over a period of two weeks in a controlled workspace. As the employees went about their usual routine, the researchers changed the room’s conditions. They controlled the outdoor air that ventilated in, chemicals from dry erase markers and building materials concentration in the air and the carbon dioxide levels.

The analysis showed that better air is really good for your work. They found out that breathing fresh air led to remarkably efficient decision-making among the participants. They noted high test scores when the participants were exposed to increased ventilation rates and lower chemicals and carbon dioxide levels. They found that the participants had improvements in skills for strategic decisions and preparations.

The results prove that proper ventilation is necessary for high productivity. Also, building with a green certificate and with consistently maintained comfortable temperatures enhance performances.

Certainly, you might not hold the authority to employ construction crew to fix the ventilation or perhaps even open all the windows. However, the study might give you the idea on why you cannot focus on productivity and get things done on time.

You know you are not lazy so it is most likely that the office air quality is the reason behind your low efficiency. Maybe this is why you turn to check your newsfeed on social media accounts and are not able to get control on your concentration towards a spreadsheet or conference call.