This study looked at 100 workers in an incoming call center located at the SacramentoMunicipal Utility District whose performance was continuously tracked by a computer systemand measured in terms of time to handle each call. Extensive data was collected about thephysical environment at each office worker's cubicle. Multivariate regression analysis was usedto determine if any of the variations in environmental conditions were significantly associatedwith differences in worker performance (both daily and hourly) and to control for other potentialinfluences.Workers in the Call Center were found to process calls 6% to 12% faster when they hadthe best possible view versus those with no view. Other physical conditions were also found tohave significant associations with worker performance. When variation in hourly performancewas considered, higher rates of outside air delivery were associated with faster handling of calls.Information about the workstation environmental conditions was able to explain 2% to4% of the total variation observed in performance. Overall, the physical variables representedabout 1/8th to 1/5th of our entire ability to predict variation in individual worker performance.This study has shown that indoor environmental conditions can have a measurable relationship tochanges in office worker performance and has established a range of likely effect sizes that otherresearchers can use to refine the needs of future studies. The merits of call centers as study testsites for this purpose will also be discussed.
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