Smart Work Network

Fireside chat with  with Esther Sternberg M.D, Author of Well at Work, and Philip Vanhoutte, Co-Founder of the European Smart Work Network.

Since the start of the millennium intense scientific research has highlighted the impact of the built environment on our working lives.

With her unique research track record at

• the US National Institute of Health,
• the Andrew Weil Center of Integrative Medicine and
• the Institute of Place, Wellbeing and Performance,

Esther Sternberg is surely the godmother of wellbeing at work.

In her book Well at Work: creating wellbeing in any workplace Esther brings the journey of scientific discovery of what impacts stress and resilience and how these findings have boosted the adoption of a holistic approach to wellbeing. But it took a pandemic for designers, architects, and employers to take prescriptions for healthy buildings seriously and invest accordingly.

Esther explains that although research has leveraged sophisticated wearables and environment sensors to show the impact of workspaces on health and productivity, it is hard to measure such real-time with currently available personal wearables.

The way forward is to design healthy buildings around well-known issues of air quality, humidity, temperature, and noise; whilst adding nature and movement doses to good work well rituals. The monitoring and control tools for such are readily available for offices and domestic work locations.

The rationale for and approach to wellbeing at work has never been so well argued and passionately shared.

Enjoy and apply!