Academic Awards 2024 booklet

83 The physical workplace as a resource for mental health - A salutogenic approach to a healthy workplace design at the office and at home Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the work environment has received much attention, due to the obligation to work from home and subsequent efforts to attract employees back to the office. The pandemic’s impact, including a 25% rise in mental illness rates, underscores its broad public health implications. Although office literature has emphasized the influence of indoor environmental quality aspects (e.g., temperature and sound level) on mental health (e.g., productivity), ‘tacit’ design aspects (e.g., use of colors and plants) have been largely neglected. The influence of physical home-workplace characteristics on mental health is even less explored. This dissertation therefore provided a holistic overview of the relationships between the physical workplace and mental health, considering both office-and home-workplaces. Defining mental health across ten indicators, from short-term to long-term and negative to positive consequences, guides this comprehensive approach. The novelty is the use of a variety of methodologies, including systematic literature reviews, cross- sectional surveys, a longitudinal field experiment, a scale-development, and a stated choice experiment using virtual reality. Findings reveal opportunities for organizations to optimize the fit of the workplace design -both at home and for the office- to users’ needs, which could potentially serve as a strong resource for employees’ mental health. Physical workplace characteristics Layout and design Light and daylight Noise,acoustics and privacy Indoorair quality and ventilation Thermal comfort and temperature Biophilia,views, and greenery Look, feel,and colour Well-being Productivity Stress Depressive symptoms Engagement Concentration Fatigue Sleep quality Mood Burnout Mental health indicators Individual Organisation Physical home workspace Physical office workspace FIT