Office design as a risk factor for disability retirement: A prospective registry study of Norwegian employees

The contribution of office design to the appraisal of job control: A longitudinal study

The appraisal of control over work intensity and decisions at the workplace is a well-established determinant of health and well-being among employees. Building on job design theories, the overarching aim of this study was to determine office layout as a predictor of perceived job control. Specifically, we investigated between-group differences in control by contrasting employees in cellular offices with employees in shared/open offices, as well as effects on control among employees transitioning from one office design to another. This is a longitudinal study with three survey points across 48 months comprising 3,415 Norwegian office employees. Data were analyzed with latent growth curve analyses, adjusted for gender, age, leadership responsibility, and teleworking. Employees in cellular offices reported significantly higher control over work intensity and control over decisions when compared with employees in shared/open workspaces. Transitioning from a shared/open workspace to a cellular office led to a significant increase in perceived control regarding work intensity. As the experience of control may buffer the negative impact of job demands, organizations that rely on shared or open office solutions may benefit from identifying tools that can contribute to enhancing their employees' perceived control.

Understanding user behaviour in activity-based offices

Little is known about the factors that explain the differences in the ways that individuals use activity-based offices (ABOs). This study aimed to investigate whether person-related and situational factors are associated with self-reported use of workspaces and the perceived person-environment (P-E) fit in ABOs, independently of the job profile. Survey data were gathered in one organisation (N = 332) 7-11 months after an office re-design. Younger age, male gender, managerial position, and better work ability were associated with more frequent use of different workspaces. Workspace switching was perceived as more time-consuming by employees who worked at the office less, had a high workload, and were dissatisfied with ergonomics. All variables except gender were associated with the P-E fit. Person-related and situational factors appear relevant to workspace use and P-E fit, independently of job contents. Contextual, cultural, and office design differences should be considered when generalising these results.Practitioner summary: This case study investigated individual differences in how activity-based offices are used. Being younger, male, a manager, or having good work ability were associated with using workspaces more actively. Person-related and situational factors appear relevant to how offices are used and perceived, in addition to job characteristics.Abbreviations: ABO: activity-based office; P-E fit: person-environment fit; RQ: research question; SD: standard deviation; IN: interactive needs; CD: cognitive demands; OR: odds ratio; M: mean; ref.: reference category; CI: confidence interval; h: hour; PO: proportional odds.

Office design, telework from home, and self-certified sickness absence: A cross-sectional study of main and moderating effects in a nationally representative sample

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to investigate (i) the main effects of office design and access to telework from home (TWFH) on self-certified sickness absence and (ii) the moderating effects of access to TWFH on the relationship between office design and self-certified sickness absence.

METHODS

The study used cross-sectional survey data from a nationally representative sample from Norway (N=4329). Research objectives were investigated with negative binomial hurdle models, adjusting for age, gender, education level, leadership responsibility, and time spent on office work. Moderating effects of TWFH were evaluated with pairwise comparisons and plots of estimated marginal means.

RESULTS

In adjusted models, employees in conventional open-plan offices [odds ratio (OR) 1.32, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.13-1.54] had significantly higher odds of sickness absence than employees in private offices. Employees with access to TWFH (OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.74-0.99) had significantly lower odds of sickness absence than employees with no access. Among employees with access to TWFH, those in conventional open-plan offices had significantly higher predicted probability of self-certified sickness absence than those in private offices (z=4.41, P<0.0001). There were no significant differences between office designs among employees who did not have access to TWFH. There were no significant main or moderating effects on the number of sickness absence episodes in adjusted models.

CONCLUSIONS

The current study identifies conventional open-plan offices as a potential risk factor for sickness absence. While access to TWFH may be a protective factor overall, it amplified - rather than attenuated - differences in sickness absence between employees in private offices and conventional open-plan offices.

Academics’ preferences for office spaces

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate preferences for office spaces among academic staff at a university. The authors consider differences across age groups, seniority, position type and current office situation.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is an empirical investigation of survey data using descriptive statistics and regression analyses. The sample consists of 485 academic employees at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Findings

Staff in individual offices are substantially more satisfied with their office space than those who share office space. Moreover, those in large offices are more satisfied than those in smaller. Large offices are occupied by staff with high seniority, and staff with large offices tend to host meetings more frequently than their colleagues. However, it is not clear whether differences in office spacing reflect real needs or mostly status.

Originality/value

Understanding which office spaces that stimulate the best research and higher education is of great importance when policy makers plan resource allocation.