Analyzing multiple elements of physical office environment for maximizing perceived work efficiency: Insights from surveys of 58 offices during summer

Worker performance is affected by environmental stimuli in the office. Therefore, it is important to analyze the relationship between workers and multiple environment elements simultaneously in order to understand the relationship between the office environment and worker performance. In addition, surveying a large sample of offices simultaneously is desirable to obtain more practical insights. Therefore, this study surveyed multiple elements of the physical office environment related to worker performance in a large sample of offices. The elements of the physical office environment surveyed were air temperature, relative humidity, CO 2 concentration, and sound pressure level during the summer. Along with measurements from 58 offices across 29 buildings in Tokyo, Japan, 947 responses to a questionnaire survey of workers conducted to evaluate work performance were analyzed to elucidate the relationship between these elements of the physical office environment and perceived work efficiency. The analysis showed that air temperature was more related to worker performance than to the other elements. In addition, 25°C air temperature group was observed to be associated with high worker performance, with worker performance being lowest in the 27°C group. This finding is expected to provide insight into indoor environments that can effectively enhance office worker performance. • Measurement and questionnaire surveys were conducted in 58 offices in Tokyo, Japan. • Four physical elements were analyzed: Air temp., RH, CO 2 , and sound pressure level. • Air temperature was more related to worker performance compared with other elements. • Work performance was lowest when the air temperature was around 27°C during summer.