Photo Source: C&W Services
What makes you happy and satisfied at work?
Is it your compensation? The access to employer-sponsored benefits? Your work culture? Or the recognitions you receive for being effective?
Job satisfaction may come from various reasons. Besides having competitive salary, receiving awards, and having harmonious relationships with your members and peers, your office environment, which includes indoor air quality, surrounding noise, light levels, as well as the way office chairs are arranged, can affect your satisfaction at work.
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A recent report from the 8World Morning Express shares how a local property company, C&W Services, focused on boosting job satisfaction by renovating their 35,000-square-foot office in March 2022. The major office improvements were based on employee surveys conducted by the company and on the Singapore Green Mark standard introduced by the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore in 2005. The standard was recently updated with six categories such as energy efficiency, health and well-being, intelligence, whole of life carbon, resilience, and maintainability.
As part of their move towards job satisfaction, C&W Services provided elevated desks, lighting systems, and freestanding soundproof booths. Their employees are also encouraged to move more in the office. The company also promotes wellness by installing indoor air quality monitors from uHoo in various corners of the building. IAQ monitors, such as uHoo, help businesses track the presence and levels of air quality factors including temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, formaldehyde, and more. With the right IAQ data, C&W Services are able to devise strategies to create an indoor environment that enables employees to get sick less and be more productive. Additionally, indoor air quality monitoring also allows C&W Services to ensure that their workplace’s air quality constantly meets their local indoor air quality standards.
After conducting renovations and making improvements on indoor air quality, C&W Services conducted its first post-renovation survey and found out that more than 90% of employees are satisfied with the new office.
English Translation:
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Job satisfaction generally refers to how you feel and experience about your job.
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Studies have shown that in addition to salary, benefits, and corporate culture, the work environment, such as air quality, the surrounding noise, and even how the office desks and chairs are arranged, can affect people’s satisfaction with their jobs.
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Studies have also shown that employees who are one to two times happier with their office environment are more satisfied with their jobs.
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Today, we will explore the link between job satisfaction and environmental satisfaction.
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Bright lights, freestanding soundproof booths. This property [of C&W Services] just underwent a major renovation in March of this year [2022].
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After conducting research with reference to the Singapore Green Building Council’s Green Mark standard,
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they renovated their 35,000 square feet office to promote employee wellness.
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We want our office to be more than just an office space, but a multi-element and multi-experience space that can support different activities.
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This can be done through everything from holding regular meetings to timely group work, or individual-focused work and, to social events.
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Our design direction is based on a human-centered approach. The Green Mark standards were introduced by the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore in 2005 and were updated in 2021 with six categories.
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These are energy efficiency, health and well-being, intelligence, whole of life carbon, resilience, and maintainability.
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One of the most important aspects is the occupant’s health.
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For example, in addition to providing elevated desks, employees are encouraged to move more in the office.
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C&W Services ] also installed air monitors [from uHoo] in various locations to ensure that the air quality in the workplace constantly meets the local indoor air quality standards.
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The amount of PM2.5 and CO2 in the room can’t be easily measured. So, we needed a platform to detect, control, and report the quality of our indoor air.
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The [uHoo] platform can also monitor our temperature and humidity levels so that we can adjust the air conditioning and ventilation in real-time.
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With good IEQ (Indoor Environmental Quality), our employees are able to work in a healthier environment; and if they are healthier, they will get sick less and be more productive.
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There are various indicators for reference and people may have different opinions about each. It is then necessary to understand the personal preferences of employees individually.
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The indoor environment index is a number that can be objectively measured. However, we can only know the satisfaction level of IEQ by asking people.
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For instance, we can’t have 10 to 15 degrees Celsius in our work environment.
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It would be too cold. It also can’t be more than 30 degrees Celsius. We would normally set it to 23 to 25 degrees Celsius.
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Most people may be satisfied with this and accept this as the standard.
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However, even if the office is set to 23 to 25 degrees Celsius, people sitting close to the window may feel warm.
Zhang Zhantao, who once worked in the Berkeley Education Alliance Research in Singapore and participated in the research project on building energy conservation and sustainability, published a research report in March this year [2022].
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The study surveyed 1,162 occupants of nine Green Mark certified buildings.
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The results showed that 85% were satisfied with the lighting of their indoor environment.
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23% were very dissatisfied with the temperature of their office. By understanding every employees’ situation, they were able to make some adjustments that improved employee satisfaction.
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We are able to control the temperature using the air conditioning system to prevent overcooling and install ceiling fans to allow the air to flow.
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Alternatively, we can provide desk fans if they prefer a cooler environment.
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In fact, this method has been tested numerous times overseas and locally here in Singapore.
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Most importantly, results show that this method is effective, and low cost.
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The same study also found that employees who were more satisfied with their jobs were 1.3 to 2.3 times more satisfied with their company’s indoor environment than those who were less satisfied with their jobs, but he also cautioned that there are more factors affecting job satisfaction than just the work environment.
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There is a close relationship between satisfaction with the work environment and the satisfaction with the job itself, and we believe this relationship is twofold.
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Let’s take Google as an example. They are known to pay their employees with above average salaries,
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they also give their employees a great working environment. It is not difficult to believe that a better working environment increases productivity.
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Job satisfaction will then naturally improve.
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Job satisfaction is subjective to the individual. It affects people’s quality of life and health, and also affects work performance and engagement. Are there more factors that affect job satisfaction?
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There are personal factors, environmental factors, internal factors, external factors, and it is still undergoing dynamic change. For example, we have studied personal stability factors and have found that human genes may have a certain impact on people’s job satisfaction.
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Other factors include the type of the work itself, such as whether it is challenging, interesting, and diverse. Whether the people around us, including our colleagues and customers, are friendly or not.
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Or whether our company’s policy is understanding and helpful, as well as whether we are content with our earnings.
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These factors have a significant impact on our satisfaction. Experts also recommend adjusting these factors to increase job satisfaction.
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The company should begin with job design and promote more humane management.
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If the environmental quality is very good and if there’s no noise and distractions, we’ll feel very comfortable. That’s what will help us to develop a sense of job satisfaction.
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The employee survey conducted by the property management company after the renovation shows that more than 90% of employees are satisfied with the new office.
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I like the soundproof meeting rooms because the company is too big and sometimes confidential meetings cannot be discussed in this open office.
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We feel we can get along better with our colleagues because our bosses are also now seated together with us.
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I believe that it is not only the design that is causing the employees to be so receptive and satisfied with the new office environment.
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In fact, it included everyone’s participation, so I think this aspect helped us to achieve this so-called “perfect experience.”
