Would You Return to the Office if It Smelled Better?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your Money Briefing for Thursday, February 22nd. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. Companies have been trying all sorts of methods to get workers back in the office, everything from free coffee to pizza parties. Now they've moved beyond the sense of taste and are focused on making the office smell better.
You didn't want to end up with a fragrance that was so calming that people would fall asleep at work or be too relaxed at work, but you didn't want something that was so pungent that, you know, would be so noticeable that it would be a distraction even, rather than something that would help them do their work better.
Why are companies scenting offices to attract employees back?
Wall Street Journal reporter Ray Smith sniffed out the details. He'll talk to us about it after the break.
More offices and companies are trying to encourage workers to return by improving the smell. Wall Street Journal reporter Ray Smith joins me. Ray, why do offices and real estate companies feel they have to turn to improving the smell of the workplace?
Managers and real estate executives are keenly aware that there are still a lot of workers who dislike the office experience and dislike having to go back to the office after working remotely. So their thinking is that anything that can lift people's moods like a scent is worth trying. There have been studies that show that scent can have a positive effect on one's emotions and mood.
How does scent affect mood and the brain according to experts?
So that's what office landlords are banking on. Smell is one of those that immediately affects the part of the brain, and it's called the limbic system part of the brain. And it's basically associated with mood and emotion, and it's highly sensitive to scent. And so that's another reason why retailers And hoteliers and now office buildings are specifically looking at Scent as a way to boost the mood of workers or shoppers or guests.
So all that free coffee and free pizza didn't do the trick.
They still haven't done the trick. They're trying out everything but the kitchen sink. And Scent is just the latest in the arsenal of things they're hoping will make people feel better about returning to offices.
How do they figure out what fragrances work and which ones don't?
It was a bit of trial and error. There were a lot of smell tests, whether it was on the fragrance strips, like the ones that you get in department stores, for instance, as well as just scenting some areas of their office buildings and getting feedback from employees on how they felt about it or whether they liked it or whether they even noticed it.
So there were actually some studies being done about this?
What methods do landlords use to test which fragrances work?
Not on Office, though, yet. But there's a famous study on Nike where this expert scented some rooms with Nike sneakers and then had a room full of sneakers in an unscented room. It was a mid-floral scent. And basically, they discovered that the people that were in the scented room with the Nikes were more likely to purchase than those in the unscented room. So there is some proof that scent can have an impact on how people feel or whether they want to purchase something or whether they want to linger in a store or linger in a hotel.
So is this a two-pronged problem to solve in the workplace, finding a fragrance that people like and one that encourages them to work?
Yes. And I got the impression when I was talking with Hines, the landlord that is going to be pushing this in offices throughout the world, I got the sense that there were a lot of different objectives. They wanted a scent that would make people excited and energized and alert, but they also wanted a scent that was kind of calming and anti-anxiety. So Already, it just seems like that those are cross purposes because you want something that's energetic, but yet you want something that is calming people down.
Can a fragrance be both energizing and calming for workers?
So it was a lot of tweaking to sort of get those both points across. You didn't want to end up with a fragrance that was so calming that people would fall asleep at work or be too relaxed at work. But you didn't want something that was so pungent that, you know, be so noticeable that it would be a distraction even rather than something that would help them do their work better.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–0:39
2
Why are companies scenting offices to attract employees back?
0:39–1:38
3
How does scent affect mood and the brain according to experts?
1:38–2:46
4
What methods do landlords use to test which fragrances work?
2:46–3:57
5
Can a fragrance be both energizing and calming for workers?
3:57–5:25
6
What feedback have workers given about office scent experiments?
5:25–6:00
7
What other sensory design trends are companies using to improve workplaces?
6:00–6:50
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from WSJ Your Money Briefing
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