Jahncke Helena, Hallman David M
Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Centre for Musculoskeletal Research, University of Gävle, Sweden.
J Environ Psychol. 2020 Dec;72:101503. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101503. Epub 2020 Oct 8.
Distraction from the background environment while performing concentrationdemanding tasks is a common issue for office employees in shared work areas. However, few field studies have been conducted on the effects of different office types and work areas on objective measurements of cognitive performance. The first aim of the present field study was to investigate, before relocation to an activity-based workplace (ABW), differences in performance on a concentration-demanding cognitive task between individuals in shared/open-plan offices compared to cell offices. The second aim was to investigate, after relocation, how performance differs (withinperson) between different work areas within the ABW. This study included employees from five offices (n = 113), of which four relocated into an ABW. An acoustician measured the equivalent sound levels of the work areas. Data were analyzed using linear regression (aim 1) and mixed models (aim 2). Before relocation, employees working in shared/open-plan offices performed significantly worse (14%) than those in cell-offices, which had a 15 LAeq lower noise level. After relocation, employees performed significantly worse in the active zone without noise restrictions, compared to all other work areas. When shifting open-plan area from the active zone to the quiet zone cognitive performance increased significantly by 16.9%, and switching to individual working rooms increased performance by 21.9%. The results clearly demonstrate the importance for organizations to provide quiet areas or rooms with few distractions for employees working on tasks that demand concentration in an ABW. A daily drop in performance for each employee may be expensive for the organization in the long run.
在执行需要集中注意力的任务时，来自背景环境的干扰是共享工作区域办公室员工的常见问题。然而，关于不同办公类型和工作区域对认知表现客观测量的影响，很少有实地研究。本实地研究的首要目的是，在搬迁到基于活动的工作场所（ABW）之前，调查共享开放式办公室与单人办公室的员工在一项需要集中注意力的认知任务上的表现差异。第二个目的是，在搬迁之后，调查ABW内不同工作区域之间（个体内部）的表现差异。本研究纳入了来自五个办公室的员工（n = 113），其中四个办公室搬迁到了ABW。一名声学专家测量了工作区域的等效声级。使用线性回归（目的1）和混合模型（目的2）对数据进行分析。搬迁前，在共享开放式办公室工作的员工表现明显更差（差14%），单人办公室的噪音水平低15 LAeq。搬迁后，与所有其他工作区域相比，员工在无噪音限制的活跃区域表现明显更差。当将开放式区域从活跃区域转移到安静区域时，认知表现显著提高了16.9%，而切换到独立工作室时，表现提高了21.9%。结果清楚地表明，对于组织而言，为在ABW中从事需要集中注意力任务的员工提供很少有干扰的安静区域或房间非常重要。从长远来看，每位员工每天的表现下降对组织来说可能代价高昂。
