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.