* And other tidbits to keep you out of the office
Now that I’ve been commuting semi-regularly to the office, I admit there’s something to be said for walking out on a sink full of last night’s dinner dishes, getting all hopped up on Irish Breakfast Tea, and driving my fast car really fast down the Mass Turnpike – all to roam around the office talking to living breathing human beings – even if just to see what everybody’s wearing and who needs a haircut.
I mean at home, nobody yells out, “Hey, Toni, what’s the ‘F’ stand for?” referring to my middle initial.
Those of you who read my blog know I haven’t readjusted to office culture all that gracefully – and some officemates have been none too pleased by my reflections (see editorial link below). But now that I’m getting the hang of it, telework friends have begun battling for my soul, forwarding more than the usual number of illuminating articles on the perils of commuting to the office.
Take a German study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine that found people caught in traffic are three times more likely to suffer a heart attack within one hour than those who aren’t. The study, based on interviews with 691 people who’d suffered a heart attack from 1999 to 2001, found women and those over 60 at highest risk.
But get this: While heart attacks were found to be 2.6 times more common for people stuck in cars, they were 3.1 times more common for those taking public transportation, and 3.9 times greater for cyclists. So much for biking to work.
For the BBC News article that reported it, see editorial link below.
On my blog I’ll post a couple of other studies linking health problems to car exhaust.
Then there’s the Oct. 19 Wall Street Journal story (“Seeing the Light About Daylight”) that argues modern office buildings keep workers sunlight starved. A 2003 study of office worker performance by the California Energy Commission found exposure to daylight was consistently linked with a higher level of concentration and better short-term memory. Moreover, a 1999 study by Pacific Gas & Electric of 108 retail stores found those with skylights had 40% higher sales.
The article also cited studies proving good views increase productivity. Employees with good views processed calls 7% to 12% faster than those without, reported better health conditions and “feelings of well being,” while their counterparts reported higher fatigue. Another study cited found computer programmers with good views spent 15% more time on their primary task, while those without spent 15% more time talking on the phone or to colleagues.
Last, the article cites Dutch research that found “a significant percentage of sick leave was linked to complaints about the quality of the workplace,” and a healthy indoor climate lead to a 2.5% drop in absenteeism.
Of course, the idea here is teleworkers have more control over things like sunlight, views and air quality – at least those who don’t work in the basement.
