Survey shows staff satisfaction depends on work environment

Businesses that fail to think about their employees work environment are risking the wellbeing of their staff, according to the results of a new survey.

The findings of a survey, which asked 342 senior human resources professionals in the private sector, showed that an overwhelming 92% believed the physical working environment impacted on the wellbeing of employees. 82% thought the same about its influence on job satisfaction with only 3% thinking it had no impact on productivity.

The survey was conducted by the Spaceworks Project Team at Sheffield Hallam University, led by Dr James Pinder of the Facilities Management Graduate Centre (FMGC). The findings were presented at the annual British Institute of Facilities Management conference by Jill Fortune, a senior lecturer at the University.

She said: Overall, the findings suggest that human resource professionals recognise the physical working environment is an important people management issue. But it transpires that many organisations were failing to consider their employees when making decisions about the physical working environment.

The research concludes that organisations that value their employees should give more consideration and actively communicate with the people who the changes will affect when changing their working environment.

The survey recommends that businesses give more consideration to the working environment in order to maximise productivity and wellbeing, knowledge sharing and collaboration plus recruitment and retention of employees.

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