The effect of physical environment comfort on employees’ performance in office buildings

Abstract

Purpose – Maintaining a comfortable physical environment in the workplace is claimed to be vital as it will create a “healthier” building with optimum environmental conditions, which enable employees to be healthier and have a lower absenteeism rate, and hence be more productive. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to deal with the importance of physical environment comfort in the office workplace. Evaluation was made of the office workers’ performance that is mainly affected by levels of comfort in the office. Design/methodology/approach – Three selected case studies were evaluated based on aspects of employees’ comfort, perceived health and absenteeism rate, by considering the elements of physical comfort that consist of room temperature, relative humidity and luminance level. The selected case studies were the Department of Development and Estate Maintenance of three research universities in Malaysia. Field studies were carried out using hygrometers and lux meters in measuring the said elements as well as post-occupancy evaluation, which involved 30 respondents for each case (total 90 respondents), to determine their perception of comfort and its effect on their health and absenteeism rate. Data collected were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Findings – The results suggest that employees did not find luminance level uncomfortable, when compared with room temperature, thus proving that employees are more sensitive to room temperature comfort. Furthermore, when the room temperature comfort was low, significant correlations were found with health-related issues such as feeling “stuffy”, being easily tired and having difficulty concentrating. Originality/value – This paper investigates the relationship between employee performance and a comfortable workplace environment. It could be concluded that an uncomfortable environment in an office workplace leads to health-related issues as well as increasing the absenteeism rate. High levels of employee absenteeism lead to decreased employee productivity, therefore affecting their work performance.

Introductory Chapter: Indoor Environmental Quality

“…Kim et al [46] focused on the impact of IEQ and work stress on the physiological responses of office workers and concluded that the most noticeable result of the experiment in this study is that a high CO 2 concentration and work stress could detrimentally influence the physiological and physiological responses, leading to abnormal variations in blood pressure. Similar studies on the effect of IEQ on office workers' performance are those reported by Haapakangas et al [47], Suk [14], Zuo and Malone Beach [48], Ali et al [49], Huang et al [50], Frontczak et al [51], Wong et al [52], and Kosonen and Tan [53,54].…”

Evaluating the effect of new working practices on office space usage in Hong Kong

“…There has been an argument as to whether the types of workspace design (such as hive, cell, den, and club; see Haynes (2008)), helps or hurts performance within an organization (Waber, Magnolfi, & Lindsay, 2014). Some studies revealed negative effects of new office workspace arrangement such as open-plan offices (Ali, Chua, & Lim, 2015;Binyaseen, 2010;Smith-Jackson & Klein, 2009) while some studies emphasized the benefits of such arrangement (Chilton & Baldry, 1997;Waber et al, 2014). However, a recent study by Gerdenitsch, Korunka, and Hertel (2018) revealed that the effects of some changes in workspaces on office workers are still unclear.…”

Knowledge mapping of office workspace: a scientometric review of studies

“…There has been an argument as to whether the types of workspace design such as hive, cell, den, and club (see Haynes, 2008) help or disturb the performance within an organization (Waber, Magnolfi, & Lindsay, 2014). Some studies revealed negative effects of new office workspace arrangement such as open-plan offices (Ali, Chua, & Lim, 2015;Binyaseen, 2010;Smith-Jackson & Klein, 2009) while some studies highlighted the benefits of such arrangements (Chilton & Baldry, 1997;Waber et al, 2014). However, a recent study by Gerdenitsch, Korunka, and Hertel (2018) revealed that the effects of some changes in workspaces on office workers are still far from clear.…”