Companies can gain a competitive advantage by designing workplaces that encourage wellbeing, argued the authors of a new book in a talk Dezeen hosted with Haworth in Chicago.

Dr Michael O'Neill, an expert on the relationship between office design and worker performance who leads Haworth's Global Workplace Research department, claimed that architects and interior designers should be building spaces that prompt healthy behaviours in the workplace.

O'Neill was joined at the talk by his co-writer Rex Miller, a futurist, author and consultant.

In a conversation moderated by Dezeen US editor Dan Howarth, the pair explained the findings of the research presented in their book The Healthy Workplace Nudge.

The book builds on the previous work of behavioural economist Richard Taylor, who posits that policies and programmes could be designed to 'nudge' people towards decisions that benefit themselves.
"The idea of the nudge is very simple," O'Neill explained. "A nudge simply makes it easy for you to make the choice that?s in your best interests. It?s about making the right choice easy to make."

Read more on Dezeen: https://www.dezeen.com/"p=1286332

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