The influence of work group size and space sharing on the perceived productivity, overall comfort and health of occupants in commercial and academic buildings

Abstract

The influence of work groups (the number of occupants sharing an office) on occupant satisfaction with workplace environments was compared between commercial buildings and academic buildings. Using the Building Use Studies (BUS) methodology, a sample of 5000 surveys was collected over a 12-year period from 67 buildings around the world. In both academic and commercial buildings, solo offices (single occupant) obtained the best scores regarding productivity, overall comfort and health. Academics most disliked middle-sized open-plan offices (shared by 6 to 9 occupants), while in commercial buildings, office occupants most disliked large open-plan offices (shared by over 9 occupants). Occupants had higher productivity and perceived health in commercial buildings than those in academic buildings in all work groups. Productivity decreased as the number of occupants in the office increased in both academic and commercial buildings for all work groups except for middle-sized open-plan offices. Age had a significant influence on occupant perception in different work groups, when comparing commercial and academic buildings. Trivial differences regarding the effect of gender on occupant perception in commercial and academic buildings were also identified. The findings of this study points to the significance of office sharing in influencing high-performance working environments, especially in relation to open-plan layouts.