Over the past year, LCMB have spent time investigating the impact of indoor environment factors (temperature, light, pollutants etc.) on workplace productivity, as part of our WLP+ research project.
The conclusion is a clear relationship exists, but there is a lack of understanding around what the ideal environmental conditions look like. To understand the impact of the environment on productivity, we first need to establish what we mean by productivity. Arguably the world’s most productive building in 2016 was Trump Tower, which produced the President of America from a 150/1 outsider. By any measure, that’s a major achievement, but is it a marker of productivity?
In its simplest definition, productivity is efficiency, i.e. output versus input. However, our research has shown that there is no one generic definition of productivity as organisations prefer to use their own productivity metrics. In the Trump organisation, size seems to be a particular area of importance, be it hand size, crowd size, or even the size of Trump Tower (which is claimed by Trump to have 68 floors, but actually has 58!).
Workplaces in our WLP+ project have very different metrics, ranging from data driven administrative tasks like applications processed, through to mental alertness and concentration for workers involved in critical decision making. Applying this to the research setting presents a further challenge. How do you measure productivity in the real world? In more administrative job roles with routine task completion, this can be relatively straight forward, but in creative jobs or roles that involve a lot of agile working, the impact of the workspace is much harder to assess.
The WLP+ project that LCMB are currently running, supported by Innovate UK, is seeking to understand the relationship between indoor environmental quality and productivity in real-world office environments. The study is the most comprehensive research in this area to date, with academic expertise provided by the EPSRC funded Low Carbon Buildings Group at Oxford Brookes University. The output of this research will allow LCMB to support our clients to make their existing offices as productive as possible for their people whilst improving their well-being and reducing their absenteeism.
Peoples first question about the project is always “but how do you measure productivity?”. After studying previous research, Oxford Brookes have come up with the answer to this question. Our data collection will include taking organisation specific data (call rates, sales conversions etc.), staff self-reported metrics, assessment with performance tasks such as numerical reasoning, and looking at longer-term trends with data on absenteeism and staff turnover. This four-pronged approach allows us to negotiate some of the pitfalls associated with productivity measurement by capturing data from a mixture of sources, and sampling enough people over a long enough period of time to add validity and reliability to the research. The organisation specific data allows us to assess meaningful outcomes to the organisation in question, and the generic measures allow a cross-comparison of data from different case study partners.
The project case studies reflect three very different workplace environments to understand how different organisational models impact on the results. The study is being conducted with King’s College London who own and operate their own buildings, EMCOR UK who provide Facilities Management services to a range of companies, and Argent who are a developer and landlord.
The outcomes from the research are giving us a better understanding of how environmental factors impact on productivity. As for what is going to be the most productive workplace in 2017 – if you believe the hyperbole, lies and half-truths to come, I’m expecting the Oval Office to claim this title.
To learn how you can apply the lessons from WLP+ to improve the productivity of your people and return on investment from your real estate contact:
John O’Brien, LCMB Founder and MD t: 01295 722823, or e: [email protected] or
Tom Cudmore, LCMB Senior Consultant t: 01295 722823, e: [email protected].
To learn more about the WLP+ project read the following CIBSE article. To sign up for updates and more information on the WLP+ project visit www.wlpplus.com.
