Preferred workspace and building characteristics that affect knowledge worker productivity

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  • Year: 2017

Poor office buildings can result in occupants experiencing Sick Building Syndrome symptoms (Joshi, 2008). These symptoms include headaches, exhaustion, inability to concentrate and reduced work efficiency (Redlich et al., 1997; Joshi, 2008). The latter is disastrous for a company’s competitiveness. After all, less productive employees can get less work done, have a lower contribution in meetings, create less value for organizations and are in that respect more expensive (Mawson & Johnson, 2014). The importance of the (physical) workplace in affecting productivity of employees is acknowledged frequently (see e.g. De Been & Beijer, 2014, Mawson & Johnson, 2014).

However, the effect of the work environment on productivity is difficult to measure and thereby difficult to improve, especially for knowledge intensive firms (Mawson & Johnson, 2014). Simultaneously, the amount of knowledge intensive firms and thereby the number of knowledge workers, is increasing (Davenport, 2011; Hvide & Kristiansen, 2012). This change in economy makes knowledge workers an interesting research population. Nevertheless, many authors tried to gain more insights in this field. However, a clear overview of the most important workspace and building characteristics that affect productivity is missing.