New Fitwel test shows you how your office affects your health

Employers are now expected to have a greater impact on their staff’s health and wellbeing. Research shows that the design of our environment influences our behaviours, so the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the General Services Administration (GSA) in America have developed a certification called Fitwel to encourage healthier workplaces.

The CDC has partnered with the Center for Active Design to make Fitwel available to any workplace. “We’re a health agency, so we’re trying to make sure we’re operating to promote health and taking those lessons learned and sharing them more broadly,” the CDC’s Chief Sustainability Officer Liz York told Fast Company.

Fitwel is a unique, low-cost, high-impact certification standard enabling positive impacts on building occupant health and productivity through improvements to workplace design and policies. It enables buildings, often workplaces, to be assessed against a baseline of evidence-based criteria that define a health-promoting environment. In office environments, Fitwel’s initial target market, the expected improvements in employee wellness may result in lower health care costs, lower rates of absenteeism and increased revenue from enhanced employee performance. The Fitwel certification responds to the growing demand for recognition of healthier buildings and workplaces, serving as a market differentiator to retain and attract tenants and future employees.

To find out more, visit fitwel.org.

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