Physical Environment and Employee Happiness in Two Public Sector Offices in Colombo District

Abstract

Employee happiness can determine the productivity and service quality of production and distribution spaces such as offices. The study aims to examine how the workplace physical environment is associated with employee ‘happiness’ concerning public sector offices in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The data was collected through a structured questionnaire targeting 100 employees from two public sector offices in Colombo. Using the convenience sampling method, respondents were recruited by visiting each office from May to June of 2020. The data were analyzed using descriptive inferential statistics. The results revealed that the physical work environment of public sector offices impacts respective employee happiness. However, circumstances prevail where not all elements of the office physical environment impact employee happiness similarly. The findings add to a better understanding of the complicated links between office physical environment attributes and employee happiness. These insights may be utilized to evaluate important features of work environments to find relevant interventions in value-added management of buildings and facilities, as we add needless costs for office building development and vice versa.