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Introduction: Different kinds of shared and activity-based offices are common today and employees' experiences, perceived health, well-being, satisfaction, and productivity have been studied in different types and sizes of environments.Objectives: In this study we aimed to determine employee satisfaction with a multi-space office. We also aimed to find associations between satisfaction with working space and both individual and social well-being.Methods: A total of 91 employees from a multi-space office shared by six municipality-owned companies answered a self-administered questionnaire. Frequencies, percentages, averages, and minimum and maximum values are used to describe the results. We used cross-tabulation and Pearson's Chi-Square test to study the associations and linear regression analysis to create a model describing the variability of workspace satisfaction.Results: The employees were most satisfied with the workspace furniture (82% of respondents) and most dissatisfied with workspace acoustics (44%). Workspace satisfaction was associated with self-satisfaction, good self-perceived future work ability, and good recovery. As regards social factors, workspace satisfaction was associated with good atmosphere among colleagues and good social capital. Satisfaction with acoustics was also associated with good self-perceived future work ability, recovery, and good social capital. Social capital best explained the general variation in workplace satisfaction.Conclusions: Many individual- and social-related well-being outcomes, and especially social capital, were associated with workspace satisfaction. To maintain workplace satisfaction and well-being, attention should be paid to the design, functionality, and management of the used workspaces.

Open and shared work environments such as activity-based offices, multi-space offices and co-working spaces have become more popular in recent years. This paper reports the results of a qualitative case study of community and collaboration in a multi-space office shared by six publicly owned companies in Finland. Using interviews (n = 29) and participant observation, the study examines how collaboration and community are understood in the six companies, and how they change during an intervention process. We argue that even though a sense of community, collaboration and synergies are expected to arise from sharing an office space, they do not necessarily emerge spontaneously without effort on the part of management.

PurposeThis study identifies how self-employed older women experience and represent self-integrity – an element and source of meaningfulness – in their work, and how these experiences are intertwined with gendered ageing.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used thematic analysis, influenced by an intersectional lens, to scrutinise qualitative data generated during a development project, with ten over 55-year-old self-employed women in Finland.FindingsThe study reveals three dominant practices of self-integrity at work: “Respecting one's self-knowledge”, “Using one's professional abilities”, and “Developing as a professional”. Older age was mostly experienced and represented as a characteristic that deepened or strengthened the practices and experiences of self-integrity at work. However, being an older woman partly convoluted that. Self-integrity as a self-employed woman was repeatedly experienced and represented in contrast to the male norm of entrepreneurship.Originality/valueThe authors contribute to the literature on gender and entrepreneurship by highlighting the processual dimensions – how integrity with self is experienced, created and sustained, and how being an older woman relates to self-integrity in self-employment. The results show a nuanced interplay between gender and age: Age and gender both constrain and become assets for older women in self-employment through older women's experiences of self-integrity.

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