Older workers and a sustainable office environment

Compared to 20 years ago, there are growing numbers of older office workers globally. Despite the growing importance of ‘inclusive design’ and a ‘sustainable’ research agenda, there is little knowledge of what the ageing workforce sector requires, and there is little known about the strengths and weaknesses of current sustainable workspace designs for older workers. This study explores ageing workers' experiences through a field survey of 240 office workers (ranging in age from 55 to 75) in three recently constructed sustainable office buildings. It investigates the sets of common factors in a sustainable building system that influence the experience of older office workers, and analyses the correlations from the perspective of the human factors discipline. This paper discusses the implications of the study on practice from two points of view: (i) the ageing workforce and (ii) the sustainable development of office buildings, and suggests a number of future research issues regarding a user-responsive workplace.