Possibility of personalization and customization of the workplace by knowledge workers

Workplace satisfaction is the key to the health, well-being and productivity of knowledge workers. The mismatch between the physical environment and the personal desire of the worker negatively affects satisfaction and productivity. Although employee comfort and well-being have been deeply studied for the last decades, the current workplace services and practices lack allowing workplace configuration by the knowledge workers, where the knowledge worker is the decision-maker on workplace design and usage. This article investigates the configurability of workplace areas by the knowledge worker prior to use and occupation. The study unveils that current workplace services cannot meet the workplace configuration of the knowledge worker due to organizational, operational and facilities management reasons. However, in-field studies presented that when configuration options were provided, the knowledge workers pretended to make selections to personalize and customize the workplace environment, with having increased level of satisfaction due to the configuration process. On the other hand, the proposed concepts preserve diverse risks and handicaps in facilities management perspectives, although the possible implementation of the concept can maximize workplace satisfaction, comfort, well-being and productivity of the knowledge worker.