User preferences of office occupiers: investigating the differences

Abstract

PurposeThe work environment has been identified to influence employee satisfaction and work performance. In order to develop and provide work environments that meet the preferences of as many employees as possible, more information about user preferences and possible preference differences between different kinds of users is required. The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding concerning office users' work environment preferences. The aim is to investigate whether there are differences in the preferences of office users based on their age, gender, their mobility, and whether they work individually or with others.Design/methodology/approachOffice users' work environment preferences are studied through a survey directed to office employees. Statistical analysis is used in order to identify work environment preference differences between respondents of different age, gender, and the way they work.FindingsThe results indicate that there are differences between office users' work environment preferences concerning some characteristics of the work environment. The results show that the preferences vary both based on demographic issues such as age and gender as well as based on how they work.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is limited to the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland, so the cultural context has to be taken into account when generalising the results.Originality/valueThe paper provides several stakeholders, such as user organisations, designers, consultants, and investors, valuable information on what kind of work environments office users prefer.

Employee Satisfaction With the Physical Work Environment: The Importance of a Need Based Approach

“…The perceived importance of specific needs might further clarify the effects of the workspace, personal characteristics and activities on their work environment satisfaction. For example, Rothe et al (2011) found significant effects of several personal characteristics on their preferences for the work environment. It is therefore assumed that the effects of personal characteristics on work environment satisfaction are at least partly mediated by the importance of employee needs.…”

“…External mobility, gender, age -Besides activity patterns, Rothe et al (2011) used three main characteristics to explore differences in preferences, namely external mobility (number of hours outside the office) and the personal characteristics age and gender. External mobility was operationalized as the time spent away from the office during working hours.…”

“…Although numerous studies focus on the effects of office concept or workspaces on work environment satisfaction, employee needs (or their importance) are not always included as explanatory variables in such studies. Employee needs are generally only described (e.g., Hills & Levy, 2014), ranked (e.g., Fleming, 2005) or used as independent variable (e.g., Rothe, Lindholm, Hyvönen, & Nenonen, 2011). Also, the use of the workplace and time spent on certain activities are not always included.…”

Corporate real estate asset management: aligned vision

“…Increasingly, the CRE manager has to identify the needs and preferences of office workers (Rothe et al 2011;Joy and Haynes 2011;Haynes 2011). To really understand office occupiers' needs the CRE manager has to establish not only the work process requirements, as previously described, but also the psychological needs of office occupiers (Oseland 2009).…”

User-focused design factors of workspace for nearly zero energy office renovation: findings from literature review

“…Many studies have proven the correlation between better work environment and user satisfaction (Rothe et al, 2011a, Leifer, 1998, Wilkinson et al, 2011, Ornetzeder et al, 2016. At the same time, we all know we need to save energy and renovation of existing buildings is a potential solution to reduce energy consumption.…”