Key Takeaways:
For facilities managers, workplace wellness is no longer a question of whether to add a gym, meditation room or trendy cafe. It is now a question of whether the building’s core systems are helping people work effectively or quietly undermining their comfort and performance.
As hybrid work becomes a permanent part of the workplace landscape, coworking operators are competing to provide more than flexibility and amenities but rather the quality of the workplace experience and the way a space makes people feel.
The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) has helped bring greater structure to this conversation through the WELL Building Standard, an evidence-based framework focused on the way buildings and organizations support human health and well-being. To support flexible workspaces, IWBI developed the WELL Coworking Rating in partnership with the Instant Group to address the particular needs of shared, dynamic workplaces.
The WELL Coworking Rating is based on the health strategies in the WELL Building Standard and includes more than 50 features across all 10 WELL concepts: air, water, nourishment, light, movement, thermal comfort, sound, materials, mind and community.
“The WELL Coworking Rating was created specifically for the realities of flexible workspaces, recognizing that coworking environments operate very differently from traditional offices,” says Sam Pickering, managing director at Incendium Consulting, part of The Instant Group. “Unlike conventional workplace certifications, it considers the shared, dynamic nature of flexible work environments, where members, occupiers and visitors may use spaces in different ways and for varying lengths of time.
“The rating enables operators to demonstrate their commitment to the health, well-being and experience of their members while providing occupiers with greater transparency and confidence when selecting workspace partners.”
The growth of hybrid and flexible work has made this commitment more visible.
“The conversation has shifted significantly,” says Jessica Cooper, chief product officer at IWBI. “When people have more choice about where they work, the workplace has to earn the commute. Organizations are realizing that if they want people to show up at their best, they need workplaces intentionally designed and operated to support their health, well-being and performance, and mounting research data shows that investing in a healthy workplace pays back.”
Despite the rise of hybrid workplaces, misconceptions regarding workplace wellness still exist.
“One of the biggest misconceptions about workplace well-being is that it’s primarily about visible amenities,” Pickering says. “While those elements do play a role, the factors that have the greatest impact on people’s day-to-day experience are often the ones they rarely notice when they’re working well.”
Indoor air quality is a good example. Most occupants do not know the building’s ventilation rates or carbon dioxide levels. But they notice when a meeting room feels stuffy or when a workspace has persistent odors.
The same is true of thermal comfort, acoustics, lighting and water quality because all these conditions can influence comfort and productivity.
“Another misconception is that workplace well-being is simply a ‘nice to have’ or an employee perk,” Pickering says. “Increasingly, organizations recognize that health and well-being are closely linked to productivity, engagement and employee retention, which is as important as ever right now.”
IWBI has produced numerous studies and research in recent years regarding workplace wellness.
“Research has found that improved indoor air quality can increase cognitive function by 61 percent to 101 percent, depending on the level of improvement, while circadian lighting has been linked to a 32 percent improvement in employee decision-making,” Cooper says. “Another study found that WELL Certified buildings have reported 12 percent fewer sick building syndrome complaints and 6 percent fewer musculoskeletal complaints.”
A 2025 report from IWBI also found that improved ventilation can increase employee productivity up to $7,500 per person per year and that occupants in WELL certified buildings are 39 percent more likely to report satisfaction with the building compared to those in green-certified buildings.
Elaina Myers is the assistant editor of the facilities market. She has covered various topics from pest management to resilience to sustainability and covers all holidays and special days in the facilities field. She also manages the FacilitiesNet social media accounts.
