This is a guest post by the wonderful Lucy Rose. Thank you, Lucy for another fabulous article.

If you are a manager or HR professional, you are probably on the ball when it comes to the many ways in which team building activities, conflict resolution strategies, and physical activity can all contribute to building happier, more cohesive teams. However, if you are ignoring indoor air quality, you may just be missing one crucial piece of the work happiness and wellbeing puzzle. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the air inside our homes and buildings are often two to five times worse than the air outside. How can this impact teams and what can be done to counter indoor air pollution?

Indoor Air Quality and Mood

One way that air quality can affect teams — how they interact and how they perform individually — is its relationship to mood. A 2019 study undertaken by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that higher levels of pollution can negatively impact behaviour. As phrased by one researcher, “Pollution also has an emotional cost. People are unhappy, and that means they may make irrational decisions.” This can affect not only one’s own productivity, but also the way one works as part of a team.

Mold, Depression, and Absence

Of the many elements that can cause indoor air pollution — including dust, volatile compounds released by pressed wood furniture, and flame retardants on soft furnishings — one toxin that is particularly harsh on health, is mold. In one study by Brown University scientists, indoor mold was found to be linked to depression. Of course, mold can have serious effects on workers’ physical health as well, causing damage to their respiratory system when exposure is long term. Eliminating mold from surfaces is more than a superficial matter. Offices should be light-filled and relatively minimalist in terms of design, so that all areas can easily be cleaned — both daily and on a deeper level if mold is discovered in basements, bathrooms, or more humid areas of the office.

Taking Steps to Improve Indoor Air Quality

In addition to cleaning offices regularly, teams should take steps to reduce their indoor air footprint. Any furniture with flame retardants should be replaced, and ideally, solid wood should be used instead of pressed furniture. Employees wishing to bring in household plants should be encouraged to do so, since a 2018 study shows that the right plants, when used alongside smart sensor-controlled air cleaning technologies, can improve air quality in a sustainable and cost-effective manner. The bonus is that plants can also help boost productivity. In 2014, University of Exeter scientists found that green offices make staff more productive and happier. Scientists stated that ”investing in landscaping the office with plants will pay off through an increase in office workers’ quality of life and productivity.”

Stick minimalism isn’t always the best bet when it comes to boosting your staff’s happiness and boosting indoor air quality. Plants can help, but so can structure, order, and smart, sensor-based cleaning technologies. Air quality has a powerful effect on mood and health, so if you want to keep your team at their desks with a positive and sociable attitude, one good place to start, is cleanliness and the selection of the right materials to furnish your office.

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