Personal control over indoor climate and productivity

Abstract

A multilayer study was designed to investigate how having or not having control over one's indoor climate affects work performance in office buildings. The study consisted of 2 stages. The HOPE database (with results from a large study in 64 European office buildings) was reanalyzed on correlations between perceived control and self-assessed productivity. Next a field study (that included an occupant questionnaire) was conducted in 9 Dutch office buildings with different kinds of control options. The study showed that office workers that say to have a high amount of control over their indoor climate perceive to be significantly more productive than those that say to have a low amount of control. The quantitative effect of improving a no control situation towards a full control situation was estimated to be at least 6%. More research is needed in this relatively new area before final conclusions can be made.