The impact of office comfort on productivity

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact that office comfort has on office occupiers’ productivity. Design/methodology/approach – The author evaluates the literature that claims to make a linkage between the physical comfort of the office environment and the effect on the productivity of the office occupiers. Office comfort will initially be discussed as a generic concept and subsequently be broken down into subcomponents. Findings – The review of the literature reveals that the evaluation of office comfort is a complex one. There appears to be no universally accepted definition of office comfort, and there is a clear lack of agreement as to how office comfort should be measured. Originality/value – This paper establishes that there is enough evidence to support the claim that office comfort can affect productivity. This paper adds to the debate by identifying the need for a common and universally accepted measurement of office comfort. It is proposed that this can largely be achieved by evaluating office comfort with a multi-item scale, and adopting an office occupier perspective to any future research.