what makes employees in modern offices happy and productive: the effects of internal ... · • pew...

What makes employees in modern offices

happy and productive:

the effects of

internal and external office environment

Ieva Augutytė-Kvedaravičienė & Rūta Kazlauskaitė

ISM University of Management and Economics, Lithuania

Topic relevance

Modern office PEW effects on employees

• Growing investment in office premises to attract and retain

talent and enhance their motivation and performance,;

• second largest overhead for many organisations, but still

an unacknowledged and unmanaged risk;

• increasing use of open-plan offices and related paradoxes

and contradictions;

• existing knowledge on the effects of physical environment

of work (PEW) is fragmented, isolated in specific

disciplines & lacking solid theoretical framing;

• nascent research on external PEW effects.

Research aims

• To explore employee satisfaction with PEW in modern

offices,

• Study the effects of overall physical environment of work

(PEW) on employee well-being and performance?

Modern office PEW effects on employees

Research framework

Internal PEW:

Air quality

Temperature

Noise

Temperature

Interior

Layout

Privacy

Office type, size, density &

functionality

External PEW:

Window view

Supply of places to eat out

Space for taking breaks

outside

Overall PEW satisfaction

Well-being:

Job satisfaction

Motivation

Performance:

Cooperation

Self-perceived work

performance

Modern office PEW effects on employees

Theoretical framing

• Job demands and resources model;

• Evolution theory;

• Distraction theory.

Modern office PEW effects on employees

Research design & sample

• Survey of office employees in two largest cities in Lithuania;

• modern offices - A and B class, newly constructed or fully

renovated not earlier than 2000;

• economic activity of respondent organisations – financial

services, IT services, professional services, real estate

services & advertising;

• pilot study (n=31);

• 3,412 invitations / 448 meeting requirements / 354 completed /

274 usable for analysis;

• 54% women, 69% < 40 yrs./avg. 36 yrs., avg. tenure 3.6 yrs, 22%

professional services, 21% financial services, 19% IT services.

Modern office PEW effects on employees

Measures

• Internal PEW – 8 items (adapted from OFFICEAIR scale);

• External PEW – 3 items (adapted from Lottrup et al, 2015 and Lottrup

et al, 2013, or self-developed);

• Overall satisfaction with PEW – 4 items (O’Neill, 1994);

• Job satisfaction – 4 items (Spector, 1985);

• Motivation – 9 items (Miao & Evans, 2007);

• Collaboration – 3 items (Campion et al, 1993);

• Self-perceived work performance – 2 items (Welbourne et al, 1998);

• Social climate – 8 items (Stokols et al, 2002).

All items measured on a 10-point Likert scale.

Modern office PEW effects on employees

Satisfaction with internal PEW

6.0*

6.1*

6.6

6.8

6.9*

7.5

8.2

Interior

Layout

Temperature

Air quality

Overall

Noise

Lighting

Modern office PEW effects on employees

* depends on age

Satisfaction with privacy

3.4

4.2

5.0

Privacy (audio)

Overal

Privacy (visual)

Modern office PEW effects on employees

Satisfaction with external PEW

5.7

6.0*

7.1**

Window view satisfaction

Space for taking breaks

outside

Supply of places to eat

out

Modern office PEW effects on employees

*Depends on gender

**Depends on age

Overall satisfaction with PEW

• Overall (affective) PEW satisfaction – 6.23;

• Depends on age, window view (nature view vs street view) and office

functionality (quiet space for work, meeting rooms, positive emotions);

• Effects of office type, size & density – non-significant.

Modern office PEW effects on employees

Internal PEW effects

Internal PEW Job

satisfactionMotivation Cooperation Performance

Noise .129* .120** ns .081*

Layout .201** ns ns -.087*

Interior .161* ns .244*** ns

Temperature ns ns .099** ns

Air quality ns ns ns ns

Lightning ns .102* .100* .148***

R2 .263 .086 .221 .033

Modern office PEW effects on employees

Privacy effects

Job

satisfactionMotivation Cooperation Performance

Privacy.129** ns .122** ns

R2.030 .028

Modern office PEW effects on employees

External PEW effects

External PEW Job

satisfactionMotivation Cooperation Performance

Window view satisfaction .144** ns .153*** ns

Space for taking breaks

outdoors

ns ns .169*** ns

Supply of places to eat

out

.190*** .111*** ns .049*

R2 .115 .045 .116 .017

Modern office PEW effects on employees

Overall PEW satisfaction effects

Job

satisfactionMotivation Cooperation Performance

Overall PEW

satisfaction

.546*** .172*** .446*** .057*

R2 .341 .074 .244 .012

Modern office PEW effects on employees

Social environment effects

Social work

environment

Job

satisfactionMotivation Cooperation Performance

Social climate .716*** .278*** .627*** .102**

R2 .470 .156 .387 .030

Modern office PEW effects on employees

Conclusions

• PEW – internal, external & overall satisfaction, is positively

related to employee well-being & performance (job satisfaction

& cooperation in particular);

• overall PEW satisfaction matters the most;

• relevance of the social environment.

Modern office PEW effects on employees

Acknowledgments

Research conducted in cooperation with

“Sustainable urban lab”

Modern office PEW effects on employees

What makes employees in modern offices

happy and productive:

the effects of

internal and external office environment

Ieva Augutytė-Kvedaravičienė & Rūta Kazlauskaitė

ISM University of Management and Economics, Lithuania