Workplace Health and Its Impact on Human Capital: Seven Key Performance Indicators of Workplace Health

Abstract

Health, a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being according to the World Health Organization, is a critical issue in the workplace as it is directly related to human capital, the most important and expensive asset of an organization. When it comes to workplace health, there are seven key performance indicators to consider. These include physical fitness, physical comfort, physical nourishment, cognitive well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being, and environmental well-being. Various environmental attributes in these seven KPIs in the workplace affect not only health but also performance and engagement of employees via their physical, mental, and social interactions within the environment. For instance, ergonomics, acoustics, lighting, thermal comfort, and olfactory comfort address the overall physical comfort while biophilic components contribute to employee cognitive functions as well as their capacity to cope with mental stress and fatigue. These seven KPIs of workplace health ultimately contribute to five positive organizational outcomes, including healthy organizational culture, higher productivity, improved individual health and safety, financial savings, and enhanced reputation of the organization. This chapter discusses critical health factors in the workplace and their contributions to the capacity of human capital at the individual as well as organizational levels.

Acoustical planning for workplace health and well-being: A case study in four open-plan offices

“…In general, this kind of assessment also offers an opportunity for reflection about whether certified buildings that are efficient according to established protocols actually also achieve high performances in terms of indoor environmental quality from the occupants' perspective, as a holistic approach. 24,36 The case study shows a snapshot of an imbalanced focus in practice related to acoustic environments. The most frequently achieved type of measures across the four offices was spatial zoning and planning strategies followed by construction method strategies (Figure 3).…”

“…In general, this kind of assessment also offers an opportunity for reflection about whether certified buildings that are efficient according to established protocols actually also achieve high performances in terms of indoor environmental quality from the occupants’ perspective, as a holistic approach. 24,36…”

“…One is via environmental designs of spatial layout and design features, and the other via environmental control and monitoring of toxins and chemicals as well as provision of human comfort factors. 24 To understand newly emerging design practices to promote health in the built environment, it was decided to employ the content and visual analysis. Once all dimensions, KPIs and measures were finalized from the discussions with the focus group, an online analytic system was implemented.…”

“…These KPIs included Ergonomics, Visual Comfort, Thermal Comfort, and Olfactory Comfort. 24 The performance of these KPIs under PC were correlated with acoustic performance. Considering the limited sample size (four offices) and the lack of data normality, a non-parametric approach was sought in an exploratory data analysis.…”

Scoping review of health in office design approaches

“…The built environment is an important determinant of health (Barton and Grant, 2006; Villanueva et al , 2013). Considering that people spend approximately 40 per cent of their waking time at work and the majority of the workforce in the Western world works in offices (Bodin Danielsson and Theorell, 2018), the office becomes an essential setting for developing and maintaining the health of employees (Jones, 2018; Lee, 2019), and in turn, the health of their families, communities and society (Chu et al , 2000). The need to look at health from a design perspective is particularly urgent now as the body of research that relates office design to employee health is growing (World Green Building Council, 2014; Clements-Croome, 2018; Jensen and van der Voordt, 2019).…”