Performance Of Office Workers Research Articles

The effect of indoor temperature on work performance of fifty-eight people in a simulated office environment

There is general agreement that indoor thermal conditions affect Office Work Performance (OWP); however, consensus on the specific characteristics of this relationship, such as its shape, effect size, and prediction accuracy, remains elusive. To address this gap, we conducted a study with fifty-eight participants exposed to temperatures (23°C, 25°C, 27°C, and 29°C) in a simulated tropical office environment over 165min to determine how temperature affects OWP. These temperatures were chosen to mirror typical conditions in tropical buildings. We maintained constant variables, including relative humidity (50%), clothing (0.5clo), metabolic rate (1.1MET), and airspeed (0.1ms-1). We measured OWP using one cognitive ability and seven neuropsychological tests targeting executive functions like flexible thinking, working memory, and self-control. OWP remained constant across all tested temperatures, despite some participants reporting thermal discomfort at the higher temperatures. Our findings support the Maximum Adaptability Model – aka extended-U model – which claims that human performance remains relatively stable over a wide range of thermal conditions typically found indoors. Given the consistent performance within the typical temperature range for tropical office buildings and participants’ preferred and accepted 25°C the most, we caution against lowering air conditioning set points below this level as it may lead to unnecessary cooling. We shared the database and code, to ensure our research data is openly available and our methodology can be used in other climates to reproduce our results.

Effects of indoor temperature on office workers’ performance: an experimental study based on subjective assessments, neurobehavioral tests, and physiological measurements

Indoor temperature has a critical impact on the performance of office workers. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of indoor temperature on work performance through subjective assessments, neurobehavioral tests, and physiological measurements. The experiment was conducted in a controlled office environment. Under each temperature condition, participants voted on their perception of thermal sensation, thermal satisfaction, and sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms. Participants were given neurobehavioral tests based on a ten-item task, and their body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and blood oxygen saturation were measured before and after the tests. The study showed that the effect of indoor temperature on the test tasks varied greatly and depended on the task type. The indoor temperature, thermal sensation votes, and body temperature for optimum work performance were 17 °C, −0.57, and 36.4 °C, respectively. Work performance was positively correlated with thermal satisfaction votes and negatively correlated with sleepiness intensity. Practitioner summary: Work performance is closely related to indoor temperature. This study evaluated the effect of indoor temperature on work performance through subjective assessments, neurobehavioral tests, and physiological measurements. The relationships between work performance and indoor temperature, perceived votes, and physiological parameters were established, respectively.

Perception of organizational justice and home office work performance: influence of affective commitment

Perception of organizational justice and home office work performance: influence of affective commitment

A Study on Legume-Based Noodles as Staple Food for Office Workers.

This study aims to verify the effects of “legume-based noodles” as a staple food for lunch, specifically: blood glucose, cognitive function tests, Kansei value, work questionnaires, typing, and body weight. The experiment is divided into two groups: the intervention group (legumes-based noodle) and the control group (regular lunch). Both groups have similar menu except the staple food. The intervention group resulted in a statistically significant lower blood glucose area under the curve (AUC) and lower maximum blood glucose levels during the afternoon work hours on weekdays. In addition, the Kansei value “concentration” decreased at the end of the workday in the control group compared to before and after lunch but did not decrease in the intervention group. Furthermore, the number of typing accuracy was higher in the intervention group than in the control group, and the questionnaire responses for “work efficiency” and “motivation” were more positive. These results suggest that eating legume-based noodles may lead to improved performance of office workers.

Pengaruh Tata Ruang Kantor, Lingkungan Kerja dan Prestasi Kerja Terhadap Semangat Kerja Tenaga Kependidikan di SMKS Krian 2 Sidoarjo

This research purpose to determine the effect of office layout, work environment and work performance on the morale of the teaching workforce at Krian 2 Senior High School Sidoarjo. This type of study is a descriptive study with a quantitative approach with multiple linear regression models. The population in this study was the educational staff of Krian 2 Sidoarjo SMKS, which amounted to 57 employees, but researchers only took educational staff whose work was related to administration, this was adjusted to the research objectives. The sample in this study was purposive sampling. Researchers took 50 employees from 57 populations. The results showed that simultaneously the office layout, work environment, and work performance affect work spirit on the morale of the teaching staff at Krian 2 Sidoarjo SMKS, while partially each variable has a significant effect on the morale of the teaching staff at Krian 2 Sidoarjo SMKS

The impact of motivation and training on civil servants' work performance

This study's objectives were: (1) to determine and analyze the influence of motivation on employee performance at the BPBD South Sulawesi Province Office. (2) to determine and analyze the variables that have a dominant effect on the BPBD south Sulawesi province Office employees' performance. This research was conducted at the BPBD office of South Sulawesi Province, with a population and sample of all employees totaling 42 people. The data analysis used was descriptive and multiple linear regression analysis. The study results prove that the performance of employees at the South Sulawesi Provincial BPBD Office is influenced by training. This means that the independent variables studied simultaneously affect improving performance; this shows that employees as human resources need opportunities to develop themselves through increased training to higher levels, impacting the South Sulawesi Provincial BPBD Office's work performance

Effect of Office Ergonomics on Office Workers’ Productivity in the Polytechnics, Nigeria

The study was anchored on the ergonomic theory of production and design that stress the importance of office workstation as imperative for workers enhanced productivity. Quasi-experimental design was used to determine the relative performance of office workers with ergonomically fitted furniture, equipment and environment on their keyboarding tasks performance. The study lasted for three months with the post-test results indicating better performance from the experimental group. This implies that office workers with ergonomically fitted furniture, equipment and environment in the tertiary institutions in Nigeria are likely to have enhanced work output. Therefore, the institutions should be provided with well-furnished office with appropriate technological devices and environment. Keywords: Office ergonomics, ergonomics, Office workers, Productivity, Keyboarding, work environment DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-3-10 Publication date: January 31 st 2021

Perceived Air Quality and Productivity in the Office Building

Problems of perceived quality of the environment find its reason especially when monitoring performance and productivity of work. Thus, verification of the degree of environmental quality impact on employee performance comes into consideration. The results of two independent studies involving 50 subjects, and using similar procedures and blind exposures have shown that increasing the air quality (by decreasing the pollution load or by increasing the ventilation rate, with otherwise constant indoor climate conditions) can improve the performance of simulated office work (text typing, addition and proof-reading). Performance testing was performed in the open space office of an office building at three air exchange intensities: n1 = 0.5 h−1, n2 = 1.5 h−1 and n3 = 2.5 h−1. Other physical environmental parameters that could have affected the assessors’ performance were maintained in the range: indoor air temperature θai = 22 - 24 °C, relative air humidity φai = 40 - 60%, air velocity vai ≤ 0.25 m.s−1, noise level load L = 40 - 50 dB (A), daylight - diffuse radiation component. The present results document the productivity benefits of providing good indoor air quality and indicate that providing indoor air of a higher ventilation level will increase productivity.

Effects of Bluetooth-Enabled Desk Ellipticals on Office Work Performance: Rationale, Design, and Protocol for a Randomized Trial With Overweight and Obese Adults.

BackgroundWorkplaces that provide opportunities for physical activity without requiring extra time for activity could help counteract the obesity epidemic. Desk ellipticals can contribute to activity-supportive workplace environments; however, the feasibility of engaging employees in pedaling ellipticals during simultaneous office work has not been well evaluated.ObjectiveWe aim to present the rationale and methods from an ongoing randomized trial with overweight and obese employees that will evaluate (1) the effects of pedaling a compact desk elliptical on work performance and (2) the influence of different incentive types and schedules on desk pedaling quantity.MethodsOverweight and obese medical center employees are being recruited in dyads for a 2 (gift card type: healthier food vs Amazon) by 3 (gift card schedule: immediate incentive contingent on individual pedaling quantity; immediate incentive partially contingent on dyads’ joint pedaling quantity; and delayed noncontingent pedaling incentive) cluster randomized within-subjects factorial trial. All participants receive a Bluetooth-enabled desk elliptical for 4 weeks and access to a mobile app that provides real-time pedaling feedback. The primary aims are to assess (1) change in employee work performance from pre- to postelliptical installation via employee and supervisor ratings and (2) effects of gift card type and schedule on quantity of objectively measured desk pedaling completed.ResultsData collection is ongoing. We expect to complete main outcome analyses in 2020.ConclusionsThis trial represents one of the earliest attempts to assess the effects of desk pedaling and pedaling-incentive types in real-world offices. It could help bridge the research-to-practice gap by providing evidence on whether desk pedaling can be sustained without compromising work performance.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/16275

Preferred luminance distributions in open-plan offices in relation to time-of-day and subjective alertness

ABSTRACT Dynamic lighting is one of the new trends in lighting research; providing the right lighting level at the right time could possibly increase the alertness and performance of office workers. However, they might have preferences that deviate from this “healthy” lighting. Simultaneously, the building environment becomes increasingly automated, with occupancy-based control as one of the most well-known examples to reduce offices’ lighting energy consumption. Nevertheless, preferences for lighting levels in the unoccupied area of the multi-occupant office space have not been addressed yet. Therefore, we studied luminance distribution preferences in relation to time of day and subjective alertness (SA) in a single occupancy scenario. Participants (N = 30) set the surrounding and background lighting six times a day as we first probed for SA. Our results clearly showed that a subset preferred varying luminance distributions; participants had fluctuating feelings of alertness, too. Preferences deviated sometimes from the typical dynamic lighting scenarios, suggesting that they do not always prefer healthy lighting. Moreover, we identified an effect of SA on the preferences, both with and without controlling for time of day. Hence, this study showed that we need to address these two factors when we want to provide satisfactory lighting conditions in case the office is not fully occupied. These are likely to affect other lighting preferences and therefore deserve more attention from research. Because we identified large individual differences, we suggest personalizing dynamic scenarios as the focus of future research.

Prediction of temperature induced office worker's performance during typing task using EEG.

Understanding how indoor environment affects office worker's performance and developing methods to predict human performance in changing indoor environment have become highly important research topic bearing significant economic and sociological impact. While past research groups have attempted to find predictors for performance they do not provide satisfactory predictions. We conduct in this paper a study to predict human performance by developing a regression model using neurophysiological signals collected from electroencephalogram (EEG), during simulated office-work tasks under different indoor room temperatures (22°C and 30°C). We found that using brain power spectral densities (PSD) from EEG as predictors provides the higher R2 than predictors using skin temperature or heart rate by approximately over 3 folds. Finally, we showed that the predictor using EEG is more robust than regression models using skin temperature and heart rate. Our work shows the potential of using brain signals to accurately predict human office work performance.

The quest for good, quiet spaces: Evaluating the relationship between office noise annoyance, distraction, and performance

To facilitate office work performance, acousticians must design spaces that minimize annoyance from background noise, primarily from HVAC equipment, and reduce worker distraction caused by intermittent sounds, e.g., ringing telephones. Increasing background noise can mask intermittent sounds and mitigate distraction, but negatively affects annoyance. Additionally, some disrupting sounds, such as alarms, contain informational content necessary for workplaces. Balancing worker annoyance and distraction can be difficult since the definition of what constitutes a good, quiet space is yet unclear. The goal of the present work was to perform a literature review to inform ideal office noise conditions and develop an experimental procedure to test such environments. The review included papers about indoor environmental quality and the effects of acoustics on environmental satisfaction, job performance, and noise annoyance, as well as cognitive, neurobehavioral, and physiological measures that can quantify work pe...

Ten questions concerning thermal and indoor air quality effects on the performance of office work and schoolwork

Energy conservation in buildings as a way to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases is forcing an urgent re-examination of how closely thermal and air quality conditions should be controlled in buildings. Allowing conditions to drift outside the optimum range would conserve very large amounts of energy and would in most cases have only marginal effects on health or subjective comfort. The question that then arises is whether occupant performance would be negatively affected and if so, by how much. This information is required for cost-benefit analyses. The answers in this paper are based on laboratory and field experiments that have been carried out since the massive increase in energy costs that took place in the 1970s. Although only a few of the mechanisms by which indoor environmental effects occur have been identified, it is already clear that any economies achieved by energy conservation will be greatly exceeded by the costs incurred due to decreased performance. Reducing emissions by allowing indoor environmental conditions to deteriorate would thus be so expensive that it would justify greatly increased investment in more efficient use of energy in buildings in which conditions are not allowed to deteriorate. Labour costs in buildings exceed energy costs by two orders of magnitude, and as even the thermal and air quality conditions that the majority of building occupants currently accept can be shown to reduce performance by 5–10% for adults and by 15–30% for children, we cannot afford to allow them to deteriorate still further.

The effect of sit-stand workstations to decrease sedentariness in office work

Sedentary behaviors in office workers has become a major public health concern and several initiatives have been proposed to break up sedentary behavior patterns during the performance of computer-intensive office work (Neuhaus et al., 2014; Toomingas et al., 2012). Among such initiatives, the use of sit-stand workstations has been suggested to be one of the most promising by recent reviews (Commissaris et al., 2015). However, there still is only limited scientific evidence showing how effective sit-stand workstations are, in reducing sedentary behaviors and also documentation of their sustainability of use in studies of regular office work (i.e. as the “newness” of the system wears off, with time since introduction). This study aimed to document user behaviors and compare the use of two sit-stand workstation based interventions among two groups of administrative office workers: an “autonomous” group in which these workstations were introduced following some general ergonomic guidelines, and another “feedback-system” group in which the sit-stand tables were furnished with an automatic reminder system: users were prompted to accept, delay or refuse pre-programmed changes in table position, and if they accepted, the system automatically raised the table to a high (i.e. standing) position. This system was programmed for 10 minutes of standing after every accumulated 50 minutes of the table being in a low (i.e. sitting) position. In addition to documenting average use of the two sit-stand workstations, the sustainability of their use over two continuous months since their introduction was also studied. The results averaged over two months of usage of the two interventions showed that the percentage (%) sitting time was 87.4 (84.9-89.2) and 84.0 (83.5-85.4) on average ( P=0.001), and the frequency of switches between sitting and standing was 0.3 (0.2-0.3) per hour and 0.7 (0.6-0.7) per hour ( P=0.001) in the autonomous and feedback-system groups respectively. These usage behaviors were found to be stable over the entire 2 months of use in both groups. Thus, the sit-stand table system integrated with the automatic reminder system led to more reduction in sitting time and more switches in posture between sitting and standing as compared to the traditional sit-stand table, and behaviors of both groups were seen to be sustained over the 2-month intervention period. In conclusion, a semi-automated sit-stand table may thus offer an effective contribution to making sedentary behavior patterns more variable among office workers, and thus aid in preventing negative health effects associated with prolonged sitting times.

Effect of Enzyme-Treated Asparagus Extract (ETAS) on Psychological Stress in Healthy Individuals.

The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of Enzyme-Treated Asparagus Extract (ETAS) on improving stress response. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over trial was undertaken in healthy volunteers. ETAS (150 mg/d) or a placebo was consumed for 28 d, with a washout period. Psychological parameters were examined using a self-report scale questionnaire and psychological stress was applied using the Uchida-Kraepelin (U-K) test. During the stress load, autonomic nervous function was analyzed. After the stress load, a profile of mood states (POMS) psychological rating was performed, and serum cortisol, plasma catecholamine, salivary secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA), and salivary cortisol were analyzed. ETAS intake improved the self-reported rating for the items "Feel tired," "Hard to get up," and "Feel heavy" in the psychological questionnaire; ameliorated the self-reported rating for the items "Depression-Dejection" and "Fatigue" in the POMS questionnaire; and increased salivary sIgA levels after the U-K test. In contrast, serum and salivary cortisol levels, and plasma catecholamine did not change. During the U-K test, ETAS significantly upregulated the sympathetic nerve activity. Furthermore, ETAS intake significantly increased the number of answers and the number of correct answers in the U-K test, suggesting that it might improve office work performance with swiftness and accuracy under stressful conditions. In conclusion, ETAS supplementation reduced feelings of dysphoria and fatigue, ameliorated quality of sleep, and enhanced stress-load performance as well as promoted stress response by increasing salivary sIgA levels. These data suggest ETAS intake may exert beneficial effects, resulting from well-controlled stress management, in healthy individuals.

Workplace productivity and individual thermal satisfaction

This study examines the relationship between individual thermal satisfaction and worker performance. Field measurements and a questionnaire survey were conducted within an organization participating in the COOL BIZ energy conservation campaign. A subjective experiment was also conducted in a climate chamber with eleven Japanese male subjects, testing five scenarios combining operative temperature (25.5 °C and 28.5 °C), clothing (with and without suits), and cooling items (desk fan, air-conditioned shirt, mesh office chair). From the individual analysis, actual air temperature in the COOL BIZ office was poorly correlated with self-estimated performance, whereas perceived thermal satisfaction correlated well with self-estimated performance (R2 = 0.944, p < 0.001). The results of the subjective experiment indicate that performance during simulated office work (i.e. multiplication and proof reading tasks) increased with greater individual thermal satisfaction (R2 = 0.403 and 0.464, p < 0.001). The finding that perceived thermal satisfaction of occupants is reflected in objective measurement of office work performance has practical implications for the evaluation of thermal satisfaction in real offices as a means to boost workplace productivity.

The effect of indoor office environment on the work performance, health and well-being of office workers.

BackgroundThe effect of indoor environment may have an influence on the performance, productivity health and well-being of office workers.MethodsEnvironmental factors such as indoor temperature and illumination have been investigated at three levels. A neurobehavioral test (NBT) has been proposed for the evaluation of office workersc performance. A field lab to emulate an office has been created. In controlled condition of environmental factors, the neurobehavioral test was conducted. The response time and the number of errors in each test have been recorded. A randomized block factorial design was used to analyze the responses of office worker’s performance.ResultsThe results revealed that the independent and interaction effect of temperature and illumination have significant effect on the office workers’ performance. The effect of indoor room temperature has more influences than the effect of illumination. The effect of indoor temperature has 38.56% of contribution on the performance. The optimum levels of indoor temperature at 21°C and illumination at 1000 lux have improved the work performance and health of office workers.ConclusionThe indoor room temperature and illumination are more influence on the performance of the office workers. It may be concluded that the impact of indoor room temperature (38.56%) is more on the office worker’s performance than the effect of illumination (19.91%). Further, it may be concluded that the optimum level of indoor room temperature (21°C) and illumination (1000lux) have improved the work performance, health and productivity of office workers.

Personal control over indoor climate and it's impact on comfort, health and performance of office workers

Traditional indoor air quality and thermal comfort standards prescribe ideal indoor environments in terms of e.g. minimum fresh air supply rates, maximum pollutant concentrations or minimum winter ...

Performance of Office Workers Under Office Sounds and Various Enclosure Conditions in Open Workplaces

Effects of physical attributes of workstation enclosures on the performance of office workers with different difficult levels of office tasks and moods are presented. Performance scores in complex tasks were expected to increase with greater workstation enclosures while those in simple tasks would be the same. Mood ratings were expected to be higher in lower workstation enclosures. Performance of 102 college students on ambient office sounds (45 dBA) with office tasks were measured for 100 minutes under three different workplace enclosures: (1) four foot partitions on two sides; (2) six foot partitions on three sides; and (3) a fully enclosed workstation with eight foot partitions. The tasks were to memorize a paragraph with 130 words (complex task) and to search phone numbers (simple task). The complex task performance in the fully enclosed workstation was increased compared to that in the workstation with four foot partitions (p < 0.001) and to that in the workstation with six foot partitions (p < 0.05). However, occupants in the fully enclosed workstation with office sounds without speech generally gave higher mood ratings. It indicates that closed individual offices may offer important contributions to collaborative work as well as individual productivity. These findings would help design community revise open plan design to increase collaboration among office workers.

Influence of indoor air temperature variation on office work performance

Abstract Indoor air quality as well as thermal comfort has a significant effect on productivity of the employees in office buildings. It may reduce work performance and cause financial losses in a long term perspective. Sudden temperature swings may have an impact on the work performance as well. The aim of this study was to assess the change of office work performance of the same individuals affected by unsteady air temperature. Office work was simulated in the test chamber with two workplaces and two persons at the time. 78 individuals of age 19 to 31 were divided into three groups and took participation in performing productivity tests. Two cases were analysed: one with the temperature rise from +22 to +26 °C and another with the temperature drop from +22 to +18 °C. The same tests were performed with the placebo group under a constant air temperature of +22 °C. Results of the study showed that subjects in the placebo group performed better while executing tasks for the second time and the overall produ...