Free range workers suffer less stress
Published January 18, 2008 at 1:46 pm · Filed under Features
As the Government outlines plans to extend the right to flexible working to parents with children up to 17 years of age, HP has released new research showing that people with flexible working arrangements have higher IQ levels and are happier and more productive.
HP’s conclusions are based on a flexible working experiment conducted in the London offices of its PR agency ,Porter Novelli, and on the results of a supporting survey of 800 workers in small businesses with fewer than 100 employees.
The two-day experiment conducted by HP and independent research company The Mind Lab was devised to assess the effects on morale and productivity of the latest technology and flexible working practices.
Four volunteers spent one day working in a cramped underground ‘battery-style’ office with slow PCs and bulky CRT monitors and the next in a ‘free range’ office with the latest mobile computing tools and the freedom to decide how and when they worked.
Volunteers were wired up and monitored by Mind Lab director and cognitive neuropsychologist Dr David Lewis.
Not surprisingly, volunteers were found to be happier, less stressed and more productive when given wireless technology and the freedom to move around the office.
Productivity rose by 400%; stress levels fell by 50%; IQ scores increased by an average of 28%; and short-term memory retention was improved, with volunteers retaining 33% more information in the free-range office. The speed and efficiency with which new information was processed also improved.
Commenting on the findings, Dr David Lewis said: “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. The study clearly shows that restrictive working conditions are not just bad for employees, they are also very bad for business.”
The results of the experiment are supported by the findings of a separate survey of workers in small businesses, in which 46% of respondents said that having greater flexibility would make them more productive and 45% said that they would feel more motivated.
Almost half (46%) said that they would be happier if they could work from home when they really needed to and four out of ten workers would be happier if they could dictate their own working hours.
http://www.hp.com/
