Green offices in Australia: a user perception survey

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to deepen understanding of what is working and what is not working within green workplace environments. The paper examines management and employee perceptions of their experiences of working in green workplace environments and assesses the effectiveness of such places.Design/methodology/approachBeing the second stage of a longitudinal study, this paper relies on a data set derived from its survey of 31 management and 351 employee respondents occupying Green Building Council Australia Green Star‐rated offices for more than 12 months.FindingsThe green workplace is a great place to be, at least most of the time, but there is a discrepancy between the views of management who see greater benefits of the green workplace than their employees.Research limitations/implicationsBy focussing on green buildings, there is no control to establish a benchmark. Hence, the next stage of the research is a comparable study of a non‐green data sample. Also to be tested is – whilst managers and employees overall report satisfaction with their green workplace, what is the norm?Practical implicationsThe findings are useful for green building industry practitioners and for building owners and managers to maximise the benefits of owning and occupying green buildings by highlighting areas that may require particular attention in order to get it right. The results are particularly useful to support targeted efforts to meet the environmental aspects of the workspace needs of employees. This study aims to assist industry practitioners, owner and managers to learn from the experience of current occupiers and thereby assist the design and space management of office space in the future where such considerations will become increasingly important given the international concerns for improved resource management.Originality/valueWith international applicability, a large sample of office space users provides empirical evidence of what works/does not work within the green workplace, i.e. its strengths and weaknesses and provides a good reference point for similar studies in the future, leading to the establishment of clearer, more useful benchmarks of green building occupier satisfaction.