Abstract
Purpose – The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive survey of workplace productivity key performance indicators used in the office context. Academic literature from the past ten years is systematically reviewed and contextualized through a series of expert interviews. Design/methodology/approach – The authors present a systematic review of literature to identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and methods of workplace productivity measurement, complemented by insights semi-structured interviews to inform a framework for a benchmarking tool. 513 papers published since 2007 were considered, of which 98 full-length papers were reviewed, and 20 were found to provide significant insight and are summarized herein. Findings – Currently, no consensus exists on a single KPI suitable for measuring workplace productivity in an office environment, though qualitative questionnaires are more widely adopted than quantitative tools. The diversity of KPIs used in published studies indicates that a multidimensional approach would be most appropriate for knowledge-worker productivity measurement. Expert interviews further highlighted a shift from infrequent, detailed evaluation to frequent, simplified reporting across human resource functions and this context is important for future tool development. Originality/value – This paper provides a summary of significant work on workplace productivity measurement and KPI development over the past ten years. This follows up on the comprehensive review by B. Haynes (2007a), providing an updated perspective on research in this field with additional insights from expert interviews.
Highlights
1 Introduction In the knowledge worker context, there is increasing interest in improving worker and team productivity, as human resources form the highest share of expenses and generate the majority of the organization’s income
Despite significant research correlating indoor environmental conditions on productivity in education and healthcare fields, there is a paucity of research on productivity measurement in the knowledge worker context
This literature review contributes to the ongoing discourse regarding workplace productivity, providing new insights both from the literature and from interviews with industry experts to provide an up-to-date holistic perspective on productivity measurement of knowledge workers
Summary
In the knowledge worker context, there is increasing interest in improving worker and team productivity, as human resources form the highest share of expenses and generate the majority of the organization’s income. Despite significant research correlating indoor environmental conditions on productivity in education and healthcare fields, there is a paucity of research on productivity measurement in the knowledge worker context. This literature review contributes to the ongoing discourse regarding workplace productivity, providing new insights both from the literature and from interviews with industry experts to provide an up-to-date holistic perspective on productivity measurement of knowledge workers. Substantial effort has been expended to develop KPIs and metrics for productivity in the construction (Thomas, 2015), healthcare (Walker, et al, 2017), and education sectors (Heschong, 1999). Industry-specific metrics for those contexts have been developed but few efforts (notably the White-Collar Index study by (Miller, et al, 2009)) have addressed the knowledge worker context. Labour productivity quantification is challenging because, as noted by Thomas (2015) it “is unique in that there is no single KPI that can be used to define best performance.” A multifactor and multi-dimensional approach is required, providing a complex research problem to be addressed in this project
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