Effect of green building certification on organizational productivity metrics

Abstract

There is increasing interest in understanding how office accommodation affects organizational productivity. Data on metrics of engagement, job satisfaction, job performance and facility complaints for thousands of employees (n = 14,569) of a large Canadian financial organization were analysed to explore differences in outcomes between those working in green-certified office buildings (n = 10) and those in otherwise similar conventional buildings (n = 10). Overall, green-certified buildings demonstrated higher scores on survey outcomes related to job satisfaction, value to clients and stakeholders, evaluation of management, and corporate engagement. There was also a tendency for manager-assessed job performance to be higher in green-certified buildings. Nevertheless, not all green-certified buildings outperformed all conventional buildings, and superior performance was not exhibited on all outcomes examined. A key observation is that such metrics are routinely recorded by organizations, but relating them to building characteristics is new. Recognition of such datasets opens up many promising avenues for buildings research.