Air is, by far, one of the most valuable resources on our planet and something that effectively makes life possible. Therefore, it is very interesting that, when you talk about air quality in office and strategies to enhance, indoor air quality usually gives way to topics like sustainability, environmental impact, and efficiency.
Well, putting aside the fact that indoor air has a tremendous impact on your employees’ health, its quality also affects occupants’ cognition and productivity. Putting more effort into the management of indoor air quality won’t only trim down the amount of sick leaves – it will create an environment where your workers will be able to thrive.
Well, let us take a look then at a couple of key strategies that will help you enhance the air quality inside your office.
Keep your offices as clean as possible
Garbage, dust, and other particles we can find lying around our offices are widely considered to be some of the most common and most dangerous indoor air pollutants. That is why, if you are looking for an opportunity to make the air around your premises healthier, there is no better place to start than by making sure your offices are regularly cleaned and properly maintained. But, don’t stop at simple recommendations. Your workers should be encouraged to take care of their immediate surroundings with a mix of small incentives (an extra day off or workplace perks) and penalties.
Make space greener with indoor plants
Even if we put aside the fact that indoor plants can improve indoor quality, they have a very positive effect on the mood of office occupants going as far as being cited as capable of optimizing workplace productivity. But, speaking strictly in terms of air quality, plants like Spider Plants, English Ivy, Chrysanthemums, Boston Fern, Aloe Vera, and Weeping Fig Trees can tick the odds in your favour negating a lot of negative effects associated with enclosed occupied environments. So, feel free to use them wherever possible and even encourage your employees to bring their plants from home.
Keep your HVAC equipment in good shape
No matter how hard you try to enhance the air quality in your office with the strategies we suggested above, it is hard to deny that all these efforts will fall flat if you fail to properly maintain your HVAC system. So, make sure this infrastructure is regularly inspected and keep an experienced air conditioning repair service on speed dial if you notice anything suspicious. As for the things you can do with your own resources, be sure the air filters are replaced frequently, on a usual 6 to 12 months basis. Your workers should also clean around the condensers, and check the batteries in the thermostats.
Vent out the space with fresh air
Fresh air is truly priceless, so venting your offices every couple of hours should be an integral part of the everyday office routines. However, fresh, clean air is also very hard to come by, especially in the urban and polluted environments where most office spaces are located. One of the ways to solve this issue is to use one of the numerous air quality tracker apps and services and check how things are standing in your specific area before opening the windows. As a rule of thumb, though, you will be just fine if you simply avoid periods with the highest volume of traffic like 6 AM to 9 AM and 3 PM to 7 PM.
Pay attention to building materials and furnishings
Both of them can feature high volumes of VOCs that will drastically undermine all of the efforts you were trying to achieve earlier. They are especially present in the insulation, carpentry, furniture made from pressed wood, and cabinetry. So, check the list of these VOCs and see if your office inventory contains any of them. The items that are dangerous for the health of your employees should be immediately replaced. As for the future, make sure that future painting projects are performed with VOCs-free paint and that dangerous materials are stored away from the occupants.
Introduce more efficient waste management routines
Waste and clutter can come in various shapes and forms. All of them have a very negative impact on the quality of air throughout your premises. So, for a start make sure to keep as little clutter around the offices as possible. Moving on to cloud infrastructure and trimming down the volume of paper documents can help this effort a lot. Also, encourage your items to use reusable items like utensils, and glasses. Food particles should be packed into enclosed containers before being stored away in the trash bins. Smoke vapours, chemicals, and cleaners should be moved outside without any delay.
Educate your employees on the importance of air quality
Last but not least, we would like to point out that the measures you have taken previously will be able to take full effect if your employees are aware of the importance of air quality and take this issue close to their heart. Try then to hold a couple of seminars that will outline why clean air is so critical and, more importantly, how making changes in your company can improve their own lives. Since the sense of ownership makes any effort more impactful, you can consider forming some sort of worker committee that will suggest air improvement strategies, mold testing, etc. and oversee their implementation.
Final thoughts
We hope these couple of suggestions will give you a better idea about the various strategies you can use to enhance the air quality in your office premises and how these changes can improve the health, morale, and productivity of your staff. Companies that care about their employees’ well-being are the companies capable of running long market races. Well, if you want to make any changes in this regard, there is no better way to start with the thing we need the most – fresh and clean air.
