Developing the return on workplace investment (ROWI) tool

Nigel Oseland, Matthew Tucker and Hannah Wilson
Additional contact information
Nigel Oseland: Environmental psychologist, Workplace Unlimited, UK
Matthew Tucker: Reader, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Hannah Wilson: Senior Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University, UK

Corporate Real Estate Journal, 2023, vol. 12, issue 2, 185-197

Abstract: Facilities managers and the wider corporate real estate (CRE) community have increasingly become focused on cost reduction, with organisations typically viewing property as a cost burden rather than an investment. Consequently, it remains rare for organisations to include performance benefits in financial investment appraisals of workplace projects. A change in narrative is required to one where value can be demonstrated rather than simply costs reduced. Previous attempts have been made to quantify workplace performance, but a tangible tool to assist in recommending major decisions regarding changes to the workplace has eluded discovery. Therefore, the authors joined forces with the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM) to create the Return on Workplace Investment (ROWI) tool. The ROWI tool is a ready reckoner for calculating the impact of workplace projects (including planning, design or operation) on people performance. It can be used as part of a cost-benefit analysis to help professionals build a business case which accounts for positive factors other than cost alone. The initial step to developing the ROWI tool was to conduct an extensive literature review to determine the performance metrics that could be used to calculate a return on workplace investment. Some 105 unique and robust literature sources, with a total of 194 individual assessments of performance, were selected. Five dominant and recurring performance metrics were identified, along with nine recurring broad workplace design elements affecting task performance. Previously, there was little confidence in productivity research due to the range in performance data that various studies produce. A unique aspect of the ROWI tool, however, is that the performance data for each study was weighted to make it more relevant to real office work. The corresponding, more realistic, potential impact of workplace design on each of the performance metrics was calculated using the weighted results from all the research studies.

Keywords: productivity; performance; office; workplace (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hstalks.com/article/7412/download/ (application/pdf)
https://hstalks.com/article/7412/ (text/html)
Requires a paid subscription for full access.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aza:crej00:y:2023:v:12:i:2:p:185-197

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Corporate Real Estate Journal from Henry Stewart Publications
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Henry Stewart Talks ().