According to The Health & Safety Executive* in 2016/17 the UK workforce lost 31.2 million working days to work-related ill health. A staggering 12.5million of those are attributed to stress, depression or anxiety. This equates to an average of 23.8 days, per person, being lost to stress-related illness through work.
At Workagile, we aim to combat negative ill health trends such as these.
We actively subscribe to the theory of Salutogenic design – it’s what inspires and informs all our concepts.
Salutogenesis is a term that was introduced by a medical sociologist, Aaron Antonovsky. He developed it from his studies of “how people manage stress and stay well”. He found that despite stress being omnipresent, some people managed to achieve good health despite being exposed to ‘potentially disabling stress factors’. A person’s environment is believed to have a notable impact on their ability to maintain good health despite stressful factors.
The salutogenic design focuses on creating environments that support health and wellbeing. This can include a variety of factors from the shape and layout of rooms and furnishings, to lighting, natural elements/materials used, space for people to be alone, and the colour of the paint on the walls.
We know that people perform better, and have a greater sense of wellbeing when they have some autonomy over how, where and when they work. All of our designs are inspired by this insight, and our ambition is to create products that help to make workspaces happier and healthier places to be.
*Reference: The Health & Safety Executive
