The impact of workspace location and indoor environmental quality on employees' satisfaction within office buildings: A case study in Cairo

Abstract

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) could influences employees' satisfaction and performance in office buildings. Previous research have suggested that factors such as gender, age, proximity from a window could influence employees' perceived satisfaction with IEQ. This study as a part of an ongoing research attempts to investigate the impact of workspace location on employees' satisfaction with IEQ parameters and overall satisfaction with personal workspace within office buildings in Cairo. Employees' subjective evaluation of satisfaction with IEQ parameters were collected using a questionnaire as a post occupancy evaluation survey. Responses were collected and quantitatively analysed using software package used for statistical analysis (SPSS). Diversity in levels of satisfaction among employees within the same building was found highly sensitive to their workspace location. Building orientation and external views could influence employees' satisfaction with IEQ parameters and overall satisfaction with personal workspace. Employees with highest perceived satisfaction with IEQ parameters and overall satisfaction with personal workspace seem to prefer their workspaces to be located on the ground floor, away from a window, either in the middle of the building or on the southern façade and not overlooking the courtyard. The study recommends that Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification criteria should reconsider employees' satisfaction with IEQ parameters in developing IEQ credits and LEED certification process.