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ABSTRACT
The concern over indoor environment in the workplace and monitoring the effects of the work environment on employees can be important to managers. Effects of poor indoor environment may be associated with poor health, absenteeism, morale, and productivity issues. The purpose of this research is to examine and explore the relationship of employee perceptions of indoor environment at the work site to employee symptoms of health and wellbeing or the prevalence of medical symptoms. The results of the study could be used to make improvements in indoor air quality or working conditions, as well as improve the health status of the employee, and improve employee performance and productivity in the workplace. An air quality survey was used to examine health status and medical symptom data from employees at the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the employee perceptions of environment and air quality at this workplace. The analysis also compared the results to the U.S. National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOSH) for reference data. Results showed that employees had a prevalence of symptoms associated with Sick Building Syndrome (SBS), but it is unclear whether the cause of the symptoms were due to the environmental conditions at the building work site. For employees who reported SBS symptoms, some reported that relief from symptoms did not improve away from the workplace. Results showed that exposure history to pollutants and proximity to industrial plants could also be factors that impact employee perception of their symptoms. Differences in symptoms and perceptions of indoor work environment were seen by differences in gender and floor location. Further research is needed to determine the cause of medical symptoms, as well as the impact of work environment and air quality on employee productivity and performance of the organization.
Keywords: Occupational health, indoor air quality, work environment, performance.
INTRODUCTION
Managers are often concerned about the environmental impacts on employee performance. A healthy indoor environment is essential to the well-being of employees and promotes effective agency performance, while an unhealthy indoor environment can lead to employee dissatisfaction and degrading agency performance. In the occupational environment, it is important to monitor exposure to pollutants and indoor air pollution and impacts on employees (Myers & Maynard, 2005). Sick building syndrome (SBS) may be associated...