{"id":25676,"date":"2026-08-24T10:45:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T08:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hiptown.com\/optimizing-the-quality-of-life-at-work-qwl-how-to-choose-the-right-office\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T11:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T09:06:16","slug":"optimizing-the-quality-of-life-at-work-qwl-how-to-choose-the-right-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hiptown.com\/en\/optimizing-the-quality-of-life-at-work-qwl-how-to-choose-the-right-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Well-being at the office: what criteria should you check to improve QWL?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A bright, well-designed office that is pleasant to visit can make an excellent first impression. Yet that does not guarantee it will feel just as comfortable once the workstations are fully occupied. Noise levels rise, meeting rooms fill up, some desks become too exposed to foot traffic, temperatures vary from one area to another, and confidential calls become harder to take. The true quality of a workspace often becomes more apparent when it is operating at full capacity than during a visit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well-being at work does not, of course, depend on office design alone. Organisation, management, workload and professional relationships all form part of a broader approach to quality of working life and working conditions. In France, the term QVT (quality of working life)<\/strong> is still commonly used, although the current institutional term is QVCT, qualit\u00e9 de vie et des conditions de travail, meaning quality of working life and working conditions<\/strong>. Anact<\/a> places this concept within a much broader framework than workplace comfort alone.<\/p>\n

Offices nevertheless represent a very tangible part of that experience. The workstation itself, sensory comfort, the ability to work privately or meet with others, social spaces and the quality of day-to-day management all influence the conditions in which a team works. Their importance also varies considerably depending on the activity: sales teams that spend much of the day on the phone will not have the same needs as a project team alternating between individual work and meetings, or a company whose employees only come together on site a few days each week.<\/p>\n

The aim is therefore not to find the office with the longest list of equipment or services, but to determine whether the space genuinely supports the way the team works<\/strong>, including on the busiest days.<\/p>\n

Here are the criteria that help you move beyond first impressions and assess the quality of an office more accurately.<\/p>\n

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Key takeaways<\/h2>\n

An attractive office is not necessarily an office that is pleasant to use.<\/strong> Light, decoration and furniture are immediately visible; noise, temperature, meeting-room availability and lack of privacy often become apparent later.<\/p>\n

The workstation and sensory comfort deserve proper attention.<\/strong> An adjustable chair, a suitable desk, screen positioning, lighting, acoustics and air quality all contribute to comfort throughout the working day.<\/p>\n

Social spaces have a real function of their own.<\/strong> A cafeteria, break room, lounge, terrace or planted area can provide a genuine change of pace, provided it is well located and suited to the team\u2019s actual uses.<\/p>\n

The quality of a workplace also depends on how it is managed.<\/strong> An identified office manager can resolve everyday issues more quickly and prevent small problems from becoming recurring sources of frustration for the team.<\/p>\n

A visit should help you test how the space works, not simply look at it.<\/strong> Seeing offices while they are occupied, trying a workstation and asking how services are managed often reveals what a quick walk-through does not.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Start by looking at how the team actually works<\/h2>\n

Two companies with twenty employees may occupy offices of the same size and yet have very different needs. In the first, employees spend much of the day on calls or video meetings. In the second, individual work dominates and meetings are concentrated into a few time slots. A third team, present only two or three days a week, may experience very pronounced peaks in occupancy while the premises remain almost empty for the rest of the week.<\/p>\n

These differences often have a greater impact on quality of working life than the number of workstations alone. They determine the need for quiet areas, meeting rooms, confidential spaces, shared zones and the way people will move around and interact over the course of the day.<\/p>\n

Before assessing a workplace, it is useful to look at a typical week almost hour by hour: when are the offices busiest? How many conversations or video calls take place at the same time? Are meetings scheduled or often improvised? Do certain roles regularly need privacy? Are clients or candidates welcomed on site?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This approach is consistent with INRS recommendations on workplace design<\/a>: future activities and users\u2019 needs should be taken into account when planning workspaces.<\/p>\n

Above all, it helps avoid a common mismatch between theoretical capacity and comfortable capacity. A floor may accommodate twenty workstations without any obvious difficulty, then become much less pleasant when ten people are on the phone at the same time and two meetings are taking place only a few metres away. Conversely, a highly mobile team may need fewer fixed desks and more places where people can come together easily when they are on site.<\/p>\n

Headcount therefore remains a starting point. It needs to be considered alongside attendance patterns and the nature of the work<\/strong>. We explore this question of sizing and changing needs in more detail in our article on which office format to choose for teams of 5 to 30 people<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Light, air and temperature: the foundations of sensory comfort<\/h2>\n

Some problems are obvious as soon as you enter a room. Others take several hours to emerge.<\/p>\n

A large glazed fa\u00e7ade may immediately create a feeling of openness and comfort, then cause distracting reflections on several screens as the sun moves. A room that feels pleasant in the morning may become difficult to work in during the afternoon if heat builds up. A space that seems properly ventilated when almost empty can feel much more confined once every workstation is occupied.<\/p>\n

These factors change depending on the time of day, the season and the level of occupancy. A thirty-minute visit only provides a snapshot.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Natural light is about more than large windows<\/h3>\n

Natural light is a real advantage, but its presence alone is not enough to judge the quality of a workstation. Screen orientation, the depth of the floorplate, shading options and artificial lighting also matter.<\/p>\n

In its recommendations on screen-based work<\/a>, INRS notably recommends arranging workstations in ways that limit reflections and glare.<\/p>\n

During a visit, sitting at several different workstations for a few minutes is therefore often more informative than simply noting that the room is bright. Where is the window in relation to the screen? Are blinds available? Are workstations further from the fa\u00e7ade still comfortable? Do some areas depend almost entirely on artificial lighting?<\/p>\n

A few minutes can sometimes reveal differences that are invisible from the entrance to the room.<\/p>\n

Air quality is easier to assess when the space is occupied<\/h3>\n

Ventilation is one of those systems that attracts little attention as long as it works properly. When it is insufficient, the feeling of stuffiness tends to build gradually.<\/p>\n

Air renewal should therefore be considered beyond the simple presence of ventilation or air conditioning. How does the system work? Is it regularly maintained? Can settings vary between different areas? Can windows be opened where the building configuration allows it?<\/p>\n

These questions are also worth asking when the space already has occupants: their feedback can sometimes provide a more accurate picture than a technical specification sheet.<\/p>\n

Temperature can vary from one area to another<\/h3>\n

Within the same office floor, not every workstation necessarily benefits from the same conditions. A highly exposed fa\u00e7ade, an air vent, a denser area or proximity to an opening can create noticeable differences.<\/p>\n

Before choosing a workspace, a few checks can already provide useful information: can different areas be regulated separately? Who intervenes when a problem is reported? Are exposed fa\u00e7ades equipped with solar shading?<\/strong><\/p>\n

These are not the most spectacular criteria during a visit. That is precisely what makes them revealing: when they are well managed, you almost stop noticing them.<\/p>\n

Noise: listen to the office when it is really in use<\/h2>\n

An empty office is almost always quiet.<\/p>\n

Acoustics are therefore difficult to assess during a visit early in the morning, late in the day or when a space is still lightly occupied. The sound environment changes once conversations begin, video meetings multiply, meeting-room doors open and movement becomes concentrated around certain workstations.<\/p>\n

In open-plan offices, the issue is generally not noise at a level that threatens hearing. INRS does, however, highlight the effects of noise disturbance in open-plan offices<\/a>, particularly on perceived discomfort and concentration. Speech is especially difficult to ignore when nearby conversations remain intelligible.<\/p>\n

This explains why two environments with apparently similar sound levels can be experienced very differently. Continuous ventilation noise and a phone conversation taking place just behind your screen do not demand attention in the same way.<\/p>\n

The organisation of the floorplate therefore becomes just as important as its acoustic treatment.<\/p>\n

A discussion area positioned in the middle of a zone intended for focused work will naturally create disruption. Phone booths or phone boxes<\/strong> can be very useful, but much less so if there are too few of them or they are constantly occupied when calls peak. A glazed meeting room may visually separate its occupants while still allowing conversations to carry outside.<\/p>\n

To assess this criterion, it is better to imagine what happens at 10:30 a.m. on a Tuesday when the floor is almost full<\/strong> than to rely on how quiet it happens to be during the visit.<\/p>\n

A few observations are particularly revealing:<\/p>\n