Evaluation of the indoor environmental quality in 10 office buildings in Greece using a post–occupant evaluation strategy based on the application of a web–based tool

The quality of indoor work environment is proved to have a direct effect on the employee’s productivity, job satisfaction and health. However, the issue of indoor environmental quality in not often considered due to financial, administrative and technical reasons resulting in inappropriate working conditions. The aim of the present study is to provide a simple, yet efficient solution for the evaluation of buildings performance, considering the complexity of the indoor environment. To this end, an assessment tool, called “Comfortmeter” has been developed in order to identify critical situations and to provide a set of suggested improvements. The Comfortmeter is the result of a collaboration between international authorities and organizations involved in efficient, sustainable and high performance office buildings. The tool focuses on 6 subjects: lighting, acoustics, thermal comfort, office environment, air quality and individual control. The assessment has been performed in 10 office buildings in Greece with the following procedure: An online survey has been administrated among the employees and the responses are statistically analyzed guaranteed all confidentiality issues. The outcome is an analysis, a) presenting the current comfort conditions of the building, b) indicating issues of attention, c) suggesting measures of improvement d) providing financial indicators of productivity advantage and productivity improvement potential in €/year.