Development and field testing of a multi-dimensional tool for benchmarking knowledge worker productivity

The impact of indoor environmental quality on human health and well-being has been widely documented, as has its impact on worker productivity in settings such as education, healthcare, and manufacturing. In the knowledge worker context, however, there is limited consensus on agreed metrics for productivity measurement, leading to a paucity of research regarding the impact of specific real-workplace interventions on worker performance. This paper presents an organizational benchmarking and evaluation tool to permit such tracking within an organization. Based on the results of a systematic literature review, five dimensions are used to evaluate productivity in this context: absenteeism, presenteeism, engagement, self-assessed (individual) productivity, and objective (office-wide) productivity. This data is collected from organizational reports, individual employee questionnaires, and field data. The resultant tool was refined through a series of public- and private-sector field tests and the evaluation of results was undertaken through post-analysis interviews with organizational partners who provided feedback on the clarity of data as-presented, alignment with known issues, and consistency with other studies. The evaluated tool provides a holistic means of assessing knowledge worker productivity and will support future research to evaluate and quantify the impact of specific interventions in workplace policy and environmental modifications.