All work occurs in a place, and the debate about where and what that place should be remains contentious. Workers are making more conscious choices about where to place themselves — be it in a home office or bedroom, at the local cafe or coworking space, in transit on the train or in a hotel, or in a traditional office in the city. This is for good reason: Where you do your work matters, because without you even knowing it, places are anchoring your career and shaping your sense of self.
How Your Physical Surroundings Shape Your Work Life
Takeaways from research on environmental psychology, organizational behavior, and workplace design.
April 11, 2023
Illustration by Mary Haasdyk Vooys
Summary.
The past few years have encouraged us to revisit many assumptions about our lives, including the state and function of our workplaces. More than ever, it’s clear that our workplaces both shape and reflect important parts of ourselves, impacting our performance and well-being. While there are clearly limits to the places we have available to us for work (and our agency in making them “ours”), there are always at least small opportunities to engage in placemaking. Drawing from their theory of workplace identification, which integrates research on environmental psychology, organizational behavior, and workplace design, the authors offer insight into how you might consider and shape the physical landscape of the workplaces you have available to you in ways that can help you become your best self at work.