A recent report from the British Council for Offices (BCO) in conjunction with Oxford Brookes University on “Improving Productivity in the Workplace” found that our indoor environment has a substantial effect on both our perceived and actual workplace productivity. With the UK showing the second-least output levels per worker amongst G7 countries (according to the most recent ONS report), perhaps our office environments are part of the problem.
Findings from the report, which highlighted three case studies of interior business work environments based on the collection of system data and a mixture of productivity tests and tenant surveys, showed a scientific link between occupancy comfort and job performance.
Despite housing “globally admired organisations”, the building’s internal environment was shown to be “undermining productivity” in all cases of the study. Task performance was particularly affected by the indoor environmental conditions of humidity and CO2 concentrations, with modern Building Management and HVAC systems lacking the necessary flexibility to correctly enhance workplace performance. The work environment was shown to affect occupants “physically, mentally and socially”, meaning indoor environmental conditions that were sufficiently optimised result in greater occupant performance.
The results of this study highlight the importance of the working environment in enhancing the efficiency of its occupancies. In particular, more efficient and considered control over the flexibility of our Building Management Systems (BMS) has to be considered in order to provide workers with the correct environment to be productive. With the rise of a “workplace as a service” mantra, tenants are beginning to realise that their office building should provide a service to them, with employee comfort driving the way to results. In light of this research, landlords and property management firms should consider the implementation of IoT platforms that allow occupant control over their building management and smart HVAC device systems. This will help provide an atmosphere of productivity and attract high-class occupancies.
Smart Spaces is an intelligent, granular BMS control platform, giving tenants the ability to decide on their access, lighting, air quality and HVAC controls from the comfort of their mobile phones. The platform works on top of modern building systems, providing your building with the aptitude to predict and automate systems to provide each occupant with a unique experience. This white-label software comes equipped with a “Social Wall”, whereby inhabitants can post, share and message one another, as well as check out relevant local events and offers. “Concierge” systems allow for room booking and fault reporting, while “Insights” provides tenants with real-time operational feedback on their energy use and expenditure. For more information, contact us at 020 7841 1655 or hello@smartspaces.app
