Freeing employees from their desks with mobile technology could lower stress levels and increase productivity by 400%, new research suggests
Dr David Lewis, research director at Mind Lab, which conducted the research on behalf of HP, created two offices, one “free range” the other “battery”. The free-range office was more spacious and equipped its workers with mobile technology including laptops and smartphones, while the battery office workers were tied to desktop computers in a smaller office.
Workers in the modern office had relaxed deadlines and access to mobile technology which enabled them to avoid the morning rush-hour commute, while workers in the older office had tighter deadlines, which were deliberately interrupted by meetings on the opposite side of London.
“On every measure from memory to IQ to the speed with which new information was processed, the battery office produced a marked decrease in intellectual performance combined with a sharp increase in stress levels,” says Lewis.
“The study clearly shows that restrictive working conditions are not just bad for employees, they are also very bad for business.”
The technology used in the ‘free-range’ office is all freely available today, simply consisting of laptops and smart phones, and was “nothing which you’d have to spend a fortune to equip your people with,” says Lewis.
Additional benefits apparently discovered by the research included 50% lower stress levels, 28% improved IQ figures and 33% better memory retention for workers in the modern office.
Disclaimer: Some pages on this site may include an affiliate link. This does not effect our editorial in any way.
