This blog post is the follow-up to our last post: 9am co-founder and COO Elaine Hunag talks smart technology with UnWork analyst Arraz Makhzani. 

Arraz: What can organizations do to encourage a healthier workforce and reduce sedentary behavior at work? 

Elaine: There are many aspects to office health, including the air we breathe, the water and food we consume, the light and noise that affect people’s work efficiency, as well as people’s own behavior. How they use the place, how they interact with the environment, their sleep situation, the relationships between them and their team, their physical and mental health, etc are all factors. Office wellness needs to be discussed and planned systematically. Companies can apply for some certain certificates, like WELL Building Standard, to provide a workplace that meets the basic or higher requirements.

Organizations need to set up an environment to cater to users’ needs and help them to cultivate healthy habits by integrating new designs and office furniture. We could build indoor stairs to encourage more exercise; or utilize standing desks to give a better physical platform that helps people reduce the chance of sedentary sitting. 

And even more, we can utilize technical solutions to help our end-users or organizations to change their behavior models and build a better corporate culture. IoT and AI will act like an invisible assistant to help remind us to change our working behaviour. In many workplaces, we have integrated sensors into furniture and buildings to detect when the user is exhibiting unhealthy behaviors or habits, like sitting for too long; and unhealthy environmental conditions, including light and dirty air. Once the sensors have detected such abnormalities, the office can give feedback, like the desk rising up automatically, reminding us to stand up. It can also change the room temperature or humidity to make us feel better. Through the cloud platform and app, both end-users and companies can see how they are practicing a healthy working style, and they could even refer to their peers to get some insights on improving their own healthy workplace strategy. These will all together help build the workplace into a better and healthier place, whether consciously or not.

See the full video here.