Building a better mousetrap for indoor health & safety

Once upon a time, it was cool to have a foosball table and beanbag chairs in the workplace. Enter 2021 and employees are hankering for clean surfaces, proper ventilation and a place to hang their mask. Foosball: nice to have. Clean air: must-have.

And, as millions of employees continue to work from home during the pandemic, workplaces are preparing for some level of return while tending to their employees’ well-being from afar. Workplace safety and employee health and wellness have combined to present employers with unprecedented multiple challenges that are ever-changing. COVID-19 has had a transformational impact on all aspects of our society, including buildings.

Susan Illman is at the intersection of both these areas as director of Workplace Wellness at the International WELL Building Institute. Her job includes ensuring the wellbeing of the Institute’s 88-plus employees while collaborating with her colleagues to promote health and safety standards at buildings across the globe.

WELL projects have now crossed the 1.6 billion square foot mark worldwide in more than 80 countries. More than two million square feet are registered for WELL every day.  IWBI also administers the WELL Accredited Professional program in 98 countries, and more than 16,000 individuals have registered for or achieved the WELL AP credential.