Sense of coherence in the workplace: design for well-being in the workplaces of academics

Workplace productivity can be improved by ensuring a sense of well-being and coherence in the workplace. The design of work- places needs to consider the type of work, behaviours, cultural differences, and backgrounds of its users which are associated with individual well-being. Design plays a key role in creating suitable work environments. But often the end-users’ sense of well-being is neglected and instead, design decisions are driven by attempts to maximise capacity and economic gain. However, the preferences for design and sense of well-being will vary among different workgroups. Academics play a key role in the dissemination of knowledge and academics’ workspaces have not gained much attention in the past. This study is focused on workspaces used by “academics” as a knowledge worker. A sample of six academics is selected from varying work settings. In-depth Interviews, questionnaires, checklists, and observations are done to explore the design features that are important for sense of wellbeing and coherence of academics. Findings show that privacy, accessibility, workplace fitting workstyle, biophilic design, informal (social) gathering and supporting personal identity expression to have a positive association with sense of wellbeing and coherence, and therefore are vital when designing workspaces for academics.