JLL Tool Measures Green Building and Productivity
CHICAGO — Management and real estate services firm JLL wants to help businesses gauge whether having an environmentally friendly workplace makes employees more productive.
The Chicago-based company launched on July 30 a program and online tool called Green+Productive, which will compile scores for sustainability and productivity measures.
“Contrary to popular perception, not all green offices increase productivity,” explained Simone Skopek, operations manager, energy and sustainability services at JLL, in a statement. “Shrinking your office space can reduce heating and cooling costs — but lead to over-crowding or excessive noise. As beneficial as energy savings can be, green investments create exponentially greater value when they also improve employee wellness and productivity. What works is a holistic approach that tracks metrics for both sustainability and productivity.”
The scores generated by JLL’s workplace tool will be benchmarked against other corporate scores and also against the Dow Jones Sustainability Index criteria for an organization’s corporate real estate. Using the scores, JLL hopes to identify offices and specific activities in need of improvement. JLL also hopes the tool establishes a baseline to reassess the offices every year in order to maximize their use of space, reduce natural-resource consumption, provide an efficient workplace and demonstrate proof of corporate social responsibility, all while improving employee engagement, wellness and productivity.
The company said by flagging potential energy savings and gains created by each activity it found one client more than $160,000 in productivity gains by adopting best practices to improve acoustics, ergonomics, flexible workspaces and hoteling.
JLL has partnered with the World Green Building Council on a project that will build on existing research, including the Green+Productive benchmarking to propose green workplace best practices. The study will be released in October.
Green scores rate the use of energy, water, waste and other resources. "Productive" scores assess factors known to influence employee productivity and engagement, including:
• Thermal comfort
• Indoor air quality
• Access to natural light
• Task lighting and computer screen glare reduction
• Visual resting spots and references to nature (e.g., plants, artwork, decor, landscape views)
• Sound control
• Office layouts that correlate to the types of work being performed, including employee interactions, collaboration and "head-down" private space
• Proximity to bicycle stands, workout and shower facilities, and health amenities and programs
• Location in a "high-walkability" neighborhood with access to transit and amenities ergonomic furniture