Clean indoor air is a productivity booster

Created Friday, 22 September, 2023

When trying to find ways to boost the productivity of employees, there is one factor that most companies overlook: the quality of their indoor air. Studies show that providing clean indoor air at work can have a significant effect on people's productivity.

The basic purpose of having air filters in our ventilation systems is simple: to filtrate (clean) the outdoor air before it reaches the inside of our buildings. And in doing so, protecting people’s health, well-being and ability to be productive. However, not all air filters are the same. Some offer greater capacity than others to retain harmful particles and gases.

But does the quality of the air filter really matter? Can’t you just settle for a filter solution that offers a lower standard?

Modern research clearly shows that the quality of the air filter can make a noticeable difference. The higher the quantities of air pollution that come into a building, the more people will suffer from bad air symptoms like headaches, irritated eyes, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, etc., resulting in less work getting done.

Link between productivity and air quality

A study of two call centers in Shanghai and Nantong, belonging to China’s largest travel agency,
showed a direct link between the level of the Chinese Air Quality Index (AQI) and worker productivity.

The call centers were deliberately chosen since they routinely monitored their output. It meant that
the researchers had access to exact measures of each worker’s daily productivity.

By linking each worker’s output to the daily measures of the outdoor air quality and the weather,
they found that higher levels of air pollution resulted in fewer calls completed each day.

If the Air Quality Index was up by 10 units, the number of daily calls handled by each worker would
decrease by an average of 0.35 percent.

The researchers estimated that even a modest drop in air pollution could potentially increase
productivity in the Chinese service sector by billions of dollars per year. They also concluded that
the effects of air pollution likely affect major metropolitan areas all over the world in similar ways.

Poor air means less gets done

On a different occasion, another research team performed a series of experiments in Denmark in
Northern Europe and Singapore in Southeast Asia.

Over two 8-week periods, they studied how the productivity of office workers in call centers was
affected when various common indoor air pollution sources were removed and when the rate at
which clean outdoor air was supplied per person was increased.

Their main conclusion was that poor indoor air quality can reduce the performance of office
workers by 6-10%.

Choose a high quality air filtration solution

To achieve productivity-boosting indoor air in your building, make sure your ventilation system
is equipped with high grade air filters, like for example, Camfil’s City range of combined
particulate and molecular filters.

To deal with air pollution from indoor sources, we recommend investing in our
City range air purifiers. They also have molecular filtration for removing gases, VOCs and odours.

Source:
The effect of pollution on worker productivity: evidence from call center workers in China
Indoor air quality effects on office work

For any company or organisation that wants to take their indoor air quality (IAQ) seriously, we highly
recommend joining our Chief Airgonomics Officer initiative.

You can also read more about our Chief Airgonomics Officer initiative here on our website.