IoT can be used to monitor and regulate people and their working environment through sensors that can measure various parameters. Analysing these measurements enables companies to pinpoint any invisible dysfunctions that could affect employees’ productivity and well-being – as GreenMe, a startup specialising in IoT, shows.

Real-time assessment of employees’ working conditions is now easy, thanks to IoT

French startup GreenMe – an Econocom partner – has devised a device with a built-in sensor that constantly measures parameters such as temperature, moisture, lighting quality, noise and air change rates in offices. At this year’s CES in Las Vegas, GreenMe presented its “cube,” which can be placed anywhere in the office and has built-in sensors that can map “comfort” and “discomfort” zones.

The cube can also measure each user’s impressions

For GreenMe believe that the people who occupy a building are just as important as the building itself – which is why the cube isn’t just an object you set up in a corner: it’s meant to gather feedback from the user. Installed on each desk, the user can turn the cube one way if they feel good, and the opposite way if they’re not feeling so good, so the cube can analyse each employee’s comfort and needs. The cube can measure up to ten health and wellbeing parameters.

The concept, which was devised in 2012 by Alexandre Dugarry, GreenMe’s founder, went into production in 2017 in the South-West of France. Over a thousand cubes have since been installed in the offices of major companies in France such as EDF, Dalkia, Vinci Facilities, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Bouygues Immobilier, MAIF, Owens Corning and l’Occitane. One client, a Lyon-based company, relocated and installed GreenMe cubes on its new premises after a number of its staff came down with sinusitis. After three months, the cubes revealed that very low humidity levels in the building was the cause of a series of ailments such as sinusitis, dry eyes and allergic reactions.

A direct correlation between quality of the workspace and productivity

According to a report by Loftness et al and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, better ventilation management could reduce absenteeism by 55%, whilst a more suitable temperature could increase creativity by 19% and better air pollution filtering could boost productivity by 3%. Combined with the human element – i.e. the users’ feedback – these measurements can help organisations control the working environment more effectively and correct any problems.

And yet the impact goes further than just optimising the material or environmental conditions of the workspace. Improving quality of life in the workplace improves employee satisfaction by assuring staff that their employer is concerned with their well-being – a major preoccupation for staff, according to a 2017 survey carried out by the Observatoire de l’Immobilier Durable. And these are precisely the kinds of concerns and needs GreenMe has set out to assess.

GreenMe with Econocom at SIdO 2018 (Lyon, 4th & 5th April 2018)

GreenMe will be on the Econocom stand at the 4th edition of SIdO, the French IoT expo, along with experts from digital.security, an Econocom subsidiary, and partners ffly4u and Intesens. Econocom will be taking part in the conference on “IoT: the pillar of your digital transformation: an operational challenge for your company” on 4th April whilst digital.security will be giving a keynote that same day on “Industry 4.0: Interoperability and security of industrial systems: making the right choice” and “Security by design: How to think cybersecurity from the start of your IoT project”