Office type's association to employees' welfare : Three studies

• BACKGROUND: The workplace is important for employees' daily life and well-being. This article investigates exploratory the office design's role for employees' welfare from different perspectives. OBJECTIVE: By comparing different studies of the office, type's influence on different factors of employees' welfare the aim is to see if any common patterns exist in office design's impact. METHODS: The three included studies investigate office type's association with employees' welfare by measuring its influence on: a) perception of leadership, b) sick leave, and c) job satisfaction. The sample consists of office employees from a large, national representative work environment survey that work in one of the seven identified office types in contemporary office design: (1) cell-offices; (2) shared-room offices; (3) small, (4) medium-sized and (5) large open-plan offices; (6) flex-offices and (7) combi-offices. Statistical method used is multivariate logistic and linear regression analysis with adjustment for background factors. RESULTS: Overall results show that shared-room office, traditional open plan offices and flex-office stand out negatively, but to different degree(s) on the different outcomes measured. CONCLUSIONS: This explorative comparison of different studies finds a pattern of office types that repeatedly show indications of negative influence on employees' welfare, but further studies are needed to clarify this.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik -- Pappers-, massa- och fiberteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering -- Paper, Pulp and Fiber Technology (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Arbetsmedicin och miljömedicin (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Occupational Health and Environmental Health (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

design features

job satisfaction

leadership

Office type

sick leave

human

human experiment

linear regression analysis

medical leave

office worker

perception

welfare

work environment

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)