Impact of WELL certification on occupant satisfaction and perceived health, well-being, and productivity: A multi-office pre- versus post-occupancy evaluation. (October 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ildiri, Nasim; Bazille, Heather; Lou, Yingli; Hinkelman, Kathryn; Gray, Whitney A.; Zuo, Wangda
• Is Part Of: Building and environment. Volume 224(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-10
• Subjects: Healthy building certification -- WELL Building standard -- Occupant satisfaction -- Occupant perceived health and well-being -- Occupant perceived productivity -- Pre- and post-occupancy evaluation; Buildings -- Environmental engineering -- Periodicals; Building -- Research -- Periodicals; Constructions -- Technique de l'environnement -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 696
• DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109539
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0360-1323

Abstract

Abstract: The WELL Building Standard (WELL) is currently one of the most comprehensive building certification programs that aim to enhance the health and well-being of building occupants. However, there is a lack of systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of WELL in achieving its goal. This study investigates the impact of WELL certification on occupant satisfaction with the workplace and occupant perceived health, well-being, and productivity. More than 1300 pre- and post-occupancy survey responses provided by the nearly same cohort of occupants from six companies in North America were quantitatively analyzed. The results showed that transitioning to WELL certified offices from non-WELL certified offices had a positive impact on occupant satisfaction with the workplace and occupant perceived health, well-being, and productivity, with increases in means from pre-to post-occupancy being highly statistically significant. The majority of the studied occupant satisfaction parameters as well as occupant perceived mental health had large effect sizes. While they improved from pre-to post-occupancy, the analysis revealed small effect sizes for occupant perceived physical health and self-assessed productivity. The majority of the effect sizes for the perceived well-being parameters were large and medium. In addition to analyzing the survey responses in aggregate, the responses were examined at the individual company level to confirm the by-company and aggregate findings aligned. Highlights: Largest analysis of multi-office cohort pursuing WELL certification to date. Analysis includes more than 1300 longitudinal survey responses. Both perceived mental and physical health were studied. Variables studied improved significantly after transitioning to WELL certified offices. Effect sizes for occupant satisfaction and perceptions ranged from small to large.