Indoor environmental quality factors that matter to workplace occupants: an 11-year-benchmark study

Post-occupancy evaluations (POE) have been often used to study user satisfaction with office environments. More recently, POEs have been recognized for documenting occupant well-being and responses to 26 indoor environmental quality (IEQ) factors that incorporate sustainable design guidelines such as thermal, lighting, and acoustic conditions. The Sustainable Post-Occupancy Evaluation Surveys (SPOES) have measured occupants’ (n =2836) satisfaction with IEQ factors for 11 years. This paper presents findings from this 11-year-benchmark study. It suggests a lower satisfaction rating for adjustability than other IEQ factors. Based on further logistic regression analyses of the IEQ factors, occupants tended to be dissatisfied with their primary workspace when they were dissatisfied with acoustic conditions, furnishings, and privacy. The results imply that improving acoustic and privacy conditions, especially, would bring the most significant impact on the positive experience in built environments, whereas improving thermal conditions would impact relatively less significant on the positive experience. Acknowledging how differently each IEQ factor can affect building occupants’ satisfaction and perception is important for determining benchmarks that support occupants’ health and well-being in the workplace environment, where they spend much of their time.