A healthy office and healthy employees: a longitudinal case study with a salutogenic perspective in the context of the physical office environment

This two-wave study (time lag of six months and two years post-relocation) investigated ways in which employees’ perceptions of the office environment relate to their perceived health in the long term, drawing on the salutogenic approach to health and the sense of coherence theory (comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness). A mixed-method approach was adopted. The data collection involved semi-structured interviews with employees, plus structured observations. The findings indicate that employees found the office environment less comprehensible and meaningful in Wave 2, while (somewhat) equally manageable. Comprehensibility was influenced by a lack of clear behavioural rules; manageability was influenced by a lack of control over the environment; and meaningfulness was influenced by social environment and lack of personalization. The contextual aspects of the office, including tasks, flexible working culture and the change processes were critical to these findings. This study has demonstrated that negative influences caused by poor design choices do not resolve themselves over time. When there is limited support for one component of sense of coherence, the initial observed benefits wear off and negative influences may spill over into other components. Therefore, office design should be approached with balanced attention to comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness.

本研究为两波追踪研究，两轮数据采集分别于办公场地搬迁后6个月与2年开展。本研究基于健康生成（salutogenic）视角与连贯感（sense of coherence）理论（包含可理解性、可管理性、意义感三大核心维度），探讨了员工对办公环境的感知与其长期感知健康水平之间的关联机制。本研究采用混合研究方法，数据采集环节包含针对员工的半结构化访谈与结构化观察。研究结果显示，在第二波数据采集中，员工感知到的办公环境可理解性与意义感均有所降低，而可管理性则（大致）维持在相近水平。其中，可理解性受缺乏清晰行为规范的负面影响；可管理性受环境控制权缺失的制约；意义感则受社交环境欠佳与个性化不足的影响。办公环境的情境要素——涵盖工作任务、弹性办公文化与搬迁变革流程——对本研究结果具有关键影响。本研究证实，因办公空间设计缺陷引发的负面影响并不会随时间推移自行消解。若连贯感理论的某一维度未得到足够支撑，最初观测到的积极效应会逐渐消退，且负面影响可能会蔓延至其他维度。因此，办公空间设计需兼顾可理解性、可管理性与意义感三大维度，实现均衡优化。