The wrong color or wrong light in the office makes you hungry or irrational - this is how you optimally organize a workplace for concentration

28 Mar 2024Updated: 4 hours ago | 52 people are reading

The wrong color or wrong light in the office makes you hungry or irrational - this is how you optimally organize a workplace for concentration

© Offered by Business Insider Inc ANP

Do you ever have trouble concentrating on your work? There is a chance that this is not your fault, but that your concentration problems are caused by the colors on the wall, the lighting of the office or even the acoustics or temperature of your workplace.

American architect firm HOK in a new report. In the report, the architects draw attention to a neurodiverse workplace.

In short, a neurodiverse workplace is a workplace that is suitable for all employees, including employees with brains who function slightly differently than the majority . Although many people go through life without diagnosis, researchers estimate that about 15 to 20 percent of the population have dyslexia, ADHD, autism or another disorder that causes them to have atypical brain patterns.

Although people tackle problems in their work much more creatively and often pay more attention to details, our workplaces are often not suitable for them at all. And that ensures that they cannot perform optimally. That is annoying and, from the employer 's point of view, a pity.

That is why the architects have a number of tips for employers to ensure that the office is suitable for everyone.

1. Note the colors © Offered by Business Insider Inc. The office of easyJet. Source: ANP Photo: The easyJet office. Source: ANP

Nice idea to paint one large wall in your company color, but that may not work out well at companies such as EasyJet or Blendle. Orange is not necessarily an ideal color for the shop floor, write the architects. It easily irritates employees and even makes them hungry.

HOK Kay Sargent tells the Quartz website that companies need to think better about the psychological and emotional effects of color in the office. Bright colors, but also striking artworks, can be intimidating for employees who are easily overwhelmed. "If I used bright colors here, it would cause a short circuit in your head," says Sargent, who himself has a child with ADHD. "You have to look at the space through their lens."

Although Sargent knows from her personal experiences which colors work and which do not, research has also been done. For example, this 2016 study shows that yellow rooms are not at all pleasant for people with autism, because they are already more sensitive to stimuli.

The ideal colors for spaces where employees need to concentrate are light green and blue . But that does not mean that you have to paint the entire office in those colors, because neurodiverse employees also need places where they get more incentives. "Spaces where people can play games are essential for employees who have too much energy," says Sargent. You can use great bright colors in those spaces.

2. Consider the acoustics © Offered by Business Insider Inc Photo: Christina@wocintechchat.com/Unsplash

If someone distracts you, it takes about 20 minutes to get back to work with concentration. That is quite a long time, especially when you consider that something happens on average in the workplace every seven minutes that distracts people from their work. These are often noises, and neurodiverse people are extra sensitive to that.

For the majority of employees, it is nice when it is quiet in the office, so if, for example, there are separate rooms to call and to call chatting with colleagues, but it should also not be too quiet. When it's quiet at the office, like in a very quiet library, every cough from a colleague distracts. That is why, according to the architects, it is a good idea to have some soft background noise. And by that they do not mean the radio. The sound from the road that runs past the office or from the fan in the corner may already be sufficient.

Yet that sound can be very distracting for people with ADHD or autism. They might prefer to put on their noise-canceling headphones in such a room, or look for another way to control the incentives they receive.

Employers who have the means , can choose to create different rooms with different acoustics. There may be more noise in one room, while it is silent in the other. This way there is an ideal workplace for all employees.

3. Take a critical look at your lighting © Offered by Business Insider Inc office, clichés Photo: ANP

Do you have old fluorescent lighting in the office? Chances are that the lamps flicker regularly, but you do not realize that yourself. Employees who are more sensitive to incentives see that and are constantly distracted by it.

According to the architect firm, you can prevent this in a simple way: hang LED lamps. And if you do replace your lamps, consider making them smart right away. That has several advantages, the architects write.

First, you can easily adjust the light intensity with it. Bright light causes people to feel their emotions more intensively, both the positive and the negative. If you dim the lights a little bit, it can cause people to make more rational decisions.

In addition, all your employees benefit if your lights follow the natural course of the day in terms of color and intensity. That can reduce stress.

Finally: open the curtains. Employees who can look outside from their workplace and see real daylight feel better physically, mentally and emotionally and are also more productive and happier, write the architects.