Abstract
At this moment in time, there exists the opportunity not only to report the effects of what exists within the workspace and its changing nature, but to influence the redesign, development, and implementation of the workplace and its environmental factors (Davis et al. 2011). With the change in the nature of work, the spaces in which work is done have also changed. Such a change is partly due to the recent trend of designing and operating energy efficient green buildings. As green building standards require improvements to attributes of indoor environment quality, it is claimed that green buildings improve the health, productivity, and comfort of their occupants. The current research was part of a preparatory study conducted at a large South African organisation before they moved to their new green building. This research investigates how the different existing types of workplace layout, including agile workspaces, impacted on elements of the perceived comfort, health and satisfaction of the employees.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Allen JG, MacNaughton P, Satish U, Santanam S, Vallarino J, Spengler JD (2016) Associations of cognitive function scores with carbon dioxide, ventilation, and volatile organic compound exposures in office workers: a controlled exposure study of green and conventional office environments. Environ Health Perspect 124(6):805–812
Altomonte S, Schiavon S (2013) Occupant satisfaction in LEED and non-LEED certified buildings. Build Environ 68:66–76
Altomonte S, Schiavon S (2014) Influence of factors unrelated to environmental quality on occupant satisfation in LEED and non-LEED ceertified buildings. Build Environ 77:148–159
Baldry C, Barnes A (2012) The open-plan academy: space, control and the undermining of professional identity. Work Employ Soc 26(2):228–245
Bergs J (2002) Effect of healthy workplaces on well-being and productivity of office workers. In: Proceedings of International Plants for People Symposium, June 2002
Bodin-Danielsson C, Bodin L (2008) Office type in relation to health, well-being, and job satisfaction among employees. Environ Behav 40(5):636–668
Bos N, Molinaro K, Perrone A, Sharer K, Greenberg A (2017) Workplace satisfaction before and after move to an open plan office - including interactions with gender and introversion. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, pp 455–460
Bourbeau J, Brisson C, Allaire S (1997) Prevalence of the sick building syndrome symptoms in office workers before and six months and three years after being exposed to a building with an improved ventilation system. Occup Environ Med 54:49–53
Brennan A, Chugh JS, Kline T (2002) Traditional versus open office design: a longitudinal field study. Environ Behav 34(3):279–299
Candido C, Zhang J, Kim J, de Dear R, Thomas L, Strapasson P, Joko C (2016) Impact of workspace layout on occupant satisfaction, perceived health and productivity. In: Proceedings of 9th Windsor Conference: Making Comfort Relevant. Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, UK, 7–10 April 2016, pp 1214–1225
Danna K, Griffin RW (1999) Health and well-being in the workplace: a review and synthesis of the literature. J Manag 25(3):357–384
Davis MC, Leach DJ, Clegg CW (2011) The physical environment of the office: contemporary and ethical issues. Int Rev Ind Org Psychol 26:193–237
Dawson A, Steele EJ, Hodges PW, Stewart S (2009) Development and test-retest reliability of an extended version of the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ-E): a screening instrument for musculoskeletal pain. J Pain 10(5):517–526
De Been I, Beijer M (2014) The influence of office type on satisfaction and perceived productivity support. J Facil Manag 12(2):142–157
De Croon E, Sluiter J, Kuijer PP, Frings-Dresen M (2005) The effect of office concepts on worker health and performance: a systematic review of the literature. Ergonomics 48(2):119–134
Fischer GN, Tarquinio C, Vischer JC (2004) Effects of the self-schema on perception of space at work. J Environ Psychol 24:131–140
Fischl G, Varkevisser M, Gärling A, Keyson D (2007) The restorative potential of a built environment: development and evaluation of a research based design. In: Smart surroundings moving forward. Twente University of Technology, Enschede
Frontczak M, Wargocki P (2011) Human comfort and self-estimated performance in relation to indoor environmental parameters and building features. DTU civil engineering report, no. R-260. Department of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
Ghodrati N, Samari M, Shafiei MWM (2012) Green building impacts on occupant’s health and productivity. J Appl Sci Res 8(8):4235–4241
Hedge A, Dorsey JA (2011) The Ithaca College green building environmental survey. http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/AHSurveys/icgbs2011r.htm
Hedge A, Dorsey JA (2013) Green buildings need good ergonomics. Ergonomics 56(3):1–15
Keeling T, Clements-Croone D, Roesch E (2015) The effect of agile workspace and remote working on experiences of privacy. Crowding Satisfaction Build 5(3):880–898
Kim J, de Dear R (2013) Workspace satisfaction: the privacy-communication trade-off in open-plan offices. J Environ Psychol 36:18–26
Klitzman S, Stellman JM (1989) The impact of the physical environment on the psychological well-being of office workers. Soc Sci Med 29(6):733–742
Lee SY, Brand JL (2005) Effects of control over office workspace on perceptions of the work environment and work outcomes. J Environ Psychol 25:323–333
Lee SY (2010) Office layout affecting privacy, interaction, and acoustic quality in LEED-certified buildings. Build Environ 45:1594–1600
McGuire D, McLaren L (2008) The impact of physical environment on employee commitment in call centres: the mediating role of employee well-being. Team Perf Manag Int J 15(1/2):35–48
Parkin JK, Austin SA, Pinder JA, Baguley TS, Allenby SN (2011) Balancing collaboration and privacy in academic workplaces. Facilities 29(1):31–49
Perrin Jegen N, Chevret P (2017) Effect of noise on comfort in open plan offices: application of an assessment questionnaire. Ergonomics 60(1):6–17
Robertson M, Amick BC III, DeRango K, Rooney T, Bazzani L, Harrist R, Moore A (2009) The effects of an office ergonomics training and chair intervention on worker knowledge, behavior and musculoskeletal risk. Appl Ergon 40:124–135
Robertson MM, O’Neill MJ (2003) Reducing musculoskeletal discomfort: effects of an office ergonomics workplace and training intervention. Int J Occup Saf Ergon 9(4):491–502
Singh A, Syal M, Grady SC, Korkmaz S (2010) Effects of green buildings on employee health and productivity. Am J Public Health 100(9):1–4
Tennant R, Hiller L, Fishwick R, Platt S, Joseph S, Weich S, Parkinson J, Secker J, Stewart-Brown S (2007) The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS): development and UK validation. Health Qual Life Outcomes 5(1):63
Tham KW, Wargocki P, Tan YF (2015) Indoor environmental quality, occupant perception, prevalence of sick building syndrome symptoms, and sick leave in a Green Mark Platinum-rated versus a non-Green Mark-rated building: a case study. Sci Technol Built Environ 21(1):35–44
Thatcher A (2013) Green ergonomics: definition and scope. Ergonomics 56(3):389–398
Thatcher A, Milner K (2014) Changes in productivity, psychological wellbeing and physical wellbeing from working in a ‘green’ building. Work 49:381–393
Vischer JC (2005) Space meets status: designing workplace performance. Routledge, Oxon
Vischer JC (2007) The concept of environmental comfort in workplace performance. Ambiente’ Construido 7(1):21–34
Veitch JA, Charles KE, Farley KMJ, Newsham GR (2007) A model of satisfaction with open-plan office conditions: COPE field findings. J Environ Psychol 27:177–189
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Laughton, KA., Thatcher, A. (2019). Health and Wellbeing in Modern Office Layouts: The Case of Agile Workspaces in Green Buildings. In: Bagnara, S., Tartaglia, R., Albolino, S., Alexander, T., Fujita, Y. (eds) Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018). IEA 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 825. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96068-5_89
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96068-5_89
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96067-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96068-5
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)