Firms taking 'green' path in workplace

(Correction: Because of a reporting error, a story in Monday's Business section on environmental design in the workplace incorrectly identified Connecticut College professor Ann Devlin. Devlin is the May Buckley Sadowski Class of '19 Professor of Psychology at the college.)

The call center can look like the galley of modern commerce, a place where the din of chattering operators echoes around a dark, cramped space.

But the call center at First Marblehead Corp.'s new facility in Medford looks more like an executive suite, with workstations designed by Herman Miller laid out in a honeycomb pattern and panoramic views of the Boston skyline.

''Call centers can be oppressive environments," said architect John Fuller, who designed the facility. ''But this is a place where the perimeter takes advantage of the windows. Here, perimeter windows make the space light and bright."

Hoping to reduce costs and boost productivity, an increasing number of employers are developing healthy offices where all employees can have a view, fresh air, and plenty of daylight.

The US Green Building Council, which promotes renewable energy and environmentally sound construction, reported last month that US spending on green goods and services hit $7 billion in 2004, up 37 percent over 2003. Currently, there are 113 green offices in the country and 385 green buildings, with 3,073 more in development, the council said.

''Gradually, this shift is occurring in the workplace," said May Buckley Sadowski, professor of psychology at Connecticut College. ''Researchers are finding that if there is sunlight, there is less opportunity for depression. We also know that windows offer varying stimulation and allow you to refocus your energies."

Jim Holland, general manager of First Marblehead's Medford center, said the company, which designs private education loans, wanted a space that would accommodate the expansion of its workforce without feeling crowded. The 136,000-square-foot center, which opened in March, seats up to 1,000. Its staff -- which numbers 450 today -- includes call center, customer service, support, and information technology workers.

The company says it's already seeing benefits from the $3.5 million it invested in its new center -- absenteeism averages 11 percent in the new space, compared to 31 percent in its old facility in Boston.

''In Boston, we had higher cubicles and you couldn't see the people around you," said Kai Tong, 25, of Everett, a customer service supervisor who joined First Marblehead two years ago. ''Here, it's livelier. You don't feel like you're working in a box."

A 2003 study of ''green" architecture and design by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the state development agency for renewable energy, found that employers could increase workforce productivity by 7.1 percent per year by controlling indoor temperatures, increasing sunlight, and improving indoor air quality.

Many companies seem to be getting the message.

The Cambridge biotech company Genzyme spent two weeks scrubbing the indoor air at its new $140 million headquarters before allowing workers to occupy the site. The company also avoided using noxious plastics, paints, and adhesives.

In September, Genzyme received the platinum rating from the US Green Building Council. Genzyme's glass-and-steel building contains 18 indoor gardens, window blinds that capture and reflect light into office space, and giant mirrors or heliostats on the roof that follow the path of the sun and reflect it deep into the building, according to Rick Mattila, director of environmental engineering.

When 950 Genzyme workers were polled recently, 58 percent said they were more productive at the new 300,000-square-foot site than at the old building. Sick time is 5 percent lower than the combined rate for employees at Genzyme's other facilities in Massachusetts, the company said.

In New York, 4,300 Bank of America employees will move in 2008 to a site with air-filtration systems designed to remove 95 percent of the particles, ozone, and chemicals from the air outside.

MITRE Corp., the Bedford nonprofit defense contractor, has designed indoor ''neighborhood paths" to encourage physical fitness and promote good health in winter.

''There is not a lot of physical labor associated with jobs atMITRE," said Bill Albright Jr., its director of quality of work life. ''We are now considering putting paths outside to get people up and moving."

Diane E. Lewis can be reached at dlewis@globe.com.