Biophilic Design in the Hospitality Industry: A Window Into Back of House Workspaces

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the physical work environment, in particular, the possibilities and limitations of biophilic design in hotel office space. Biophilic design has already gained attention in directly influencing the guest experience, but little focus has been given to workspace. Traditionally, the hospitality industry places employees' office spaces in parts of the hotel not appropriate as guest space due to lack of daylight and windows. Many studies have shown that improving the workplace with nature-based features can play a role in increasing employee well-being. Data collected from employees with both extensive managerial and back-of-house hotel experience established that employees would welcome the opportunity to work in such an environment and currently find back-of-house design basic and lacking any aesthetically pleasing elements. An understanding of the obstacles in initiating such changes was shown as well as employee initiatives to improve work spaces. This initial exploratory study concludes that the needs of employees in terms of comfort, wellbeing, motivation and work satisfaction are often overlooked when considering back-of-house spaces. There is a general understanding and expectation that management needs to develop awareness and practical initiatives to address the deficits of the physical work environment. Biophilic design can be influential in promoting a calming and restorative environment at the workplace and thus positively impacting employee motivation and performance.

Citation

Hindley, C., Legrand, W. and Zaslavskaya, A. (2023), "Biophilic Design in the Hospitality Industry: A Window Into Back of House Workspaces", Chen, J.S. (Ed.) Advances in Hospitality and Leisure (Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Vol. 18), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1745-354220220000018001