Office environment and employee differences by company health management certification

Company health management is known to have a positive impact on employee work performance and health. Good office environments are also known to improve employee performance and health. However, do certified health management companies consider the maintenance of a superior office environment as a means to maintain high levels of employee performance and health? This study examined whether certified health management companies have better office environments and if their certification in health management is positively related to employee outcomes. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 1644 employees across 61 companies in Tokyo, Japan, collected data on their perception of office environment quality and perceived outcomes. A company was deemed to be engaged in health management if it had received certification for health management. The results of the comparison, after controlling for covariates with propensity score matching, showed that certified health management companies tend to have employees who are more satisfied with their office environment and have a higher perceived office environment. In addition, employees in these companies were found to have better perceived outcomes. These findings underscore the importance of integrating healthy office environments into company health-management strategies. PRACTICE RELEVANCE In this study, companies were classified based on whether they were certified under the Japanese health management system (Health and Productivity Management). The analysis found that certified health management companies tend to maintain better office environments, which were positively related to higher employee work performance and health. Employees of certified health management companies that maintain a good office environment reported high work engagement and work efficiency. The economic benefit of higher perceived work efficiency was estimated to be about 224,000 Japanese yen per worker per year, following the methods of previous studies. These findings suggest that integrating high-quality office environment standards into health management strategies can enhance overall organisational performance, providing economic benefits. Businesses aiming to boost productivity and employee health should consider adopting comprehensive health management practices that prioritise the perceived quality of the office environment.