Healthy Places + Happy People = A recipe for productivity and growth

The number of people dropping out of the workforce for health reasons is growing nearly 10 times faster than the working-age population. With employees already averaging nearly two weeks of absence last year, it’s clear that businesses striving for growth will have to navigate a wellbeing crisis.

Helping our clients to find the right path was the motivation behind Sodexo’s new report, Healthy Places + Happy People = The Dynamic Workplace Experience. Created with the support of two industry innovators – the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) and SHAPE – it shares the latest evidence connecting health, happiness and productivity and offers a blueprint for a workplace that puts wellbeing centre-stage.  

It’s been 50 years since the World Health Organization made the link between poorly ventilated spaces and employee ill health. Today, thanks to the work of experts like IWBI, we can quantify the business benefit of getting ventilation right.

1. Better air quality: removing harmful substances, allergens and pathogens  
2. Sufficient clean water: good hydration for sharper decision-making
3. Nutritious food: fuelling physical and cognitive performance
4. The right light: boosting mood, productivity and a good night’s sleep  
5. Enough movement: creating opportunities for breaks and chats
6. Comfortable heat and humidity: improving focus and relieving dry eyes
7. Noise control: keeping concentration levels high
8. Safe materials: supporting employee health for the long term
9. Less stress: giving people a chance to switch off and recharge
10. The human touch: in-person collaboration to boost wellbeing and productivity.

While the absence of pathogens can reduce absenteeism, it’s the presence of delicious, healthy and sustainable food – and the chance to share it with others – that can help to build the engagement that high performance requires. As our report makes clear, retention is fragile. People who feel undervalued by their employer or disconnected from their colleagues are far more likely to slow down or step away.  

Research by Oxford University's Saïd Business School shows that happy workers are 13% more productive ^.i Yet employers are grappling with rising burnout and hybrid working fatigue, creating a drag on business performance. Isolating the determinants of happiness and embedding them within the workplace could therefore elevate the physical building into a strategic resource.     

One of our collaborators for our report, SHAPE Global, is a member of Harvard University’s Flourishing at Work community of practice. Using peer-reviewed studies and the latest data science, SHAPE identified the most predictive factors behind a happy and thriving workplace, tracking aspects like culture and co-worker dynamics.  

The benefit of SHAPE’s model is that it’s data-rich and action-oriented, sharing suggested ‘fixes’ with employees as well as employers. This helps organisations to avoid survey fatigue, make the right changes and boost engagement by demonstrating that the employee voice matters. Armed with the right insight and a flexible approach, companies can adjust their offer to maximise value for the long term.   

To simultaneously match the experience top talent craves, promote engagement, boost wellbeing and manage ongoing cost pressures, employers will need their workplace to do more. Through a series of coordinated improvements to facilities management and food services, from better lighting to varied menus and community-building events, they can maximise the value of their buildings and better support their people.   

As our clients seek to explore in more detail the factors affecting wellbeing and productivity, we are ready to support them. We believe that healthy spaces and happy people are far from a luxury but rather a prerequisite for high-performing, productive  workplaces.