Post occupancy evaluation (POE) is a structured review of how a building or space works after people start using it. In an office, it combines employee feedback with observations and operating evidence to find problems, decide what to change, and check whether the change helped.
My starting point is a specific work problem: can people find somewhere for a private call, concentrate at their desks, or use their workstation comfortably? Record where and when the problem occurs, then use employee feedback and observations to decide what to change.
Last Updated: October 7, 2026 | Author: Richard
What is post occupancy evaluation?
A POE compares the workplace you intended to provide with the workplace employees experience. The RIBA guidance on post occupancy evaluation describes starting with the client’s desired project outcomes and learning from actual building performance in use.
A handover inspection can identify a faulty light or unfinished installation. An occupied-office review can reveal that afternoon glare makes a desk difficult to use, or that a meeting room booked for six people mainly serves individual video calls. The occupied review connects the physical space to the work people actually do.
For a practical first review, choose a period when normal work routines are established and include the busy days you need to understand. Revisit seasonal comfort issues under the relevant conditions. Deal with urgent faults as soon as they appear.
Write a short brief before collecting information:
- Decision: What will the findings help you change?
- Scope: Which floor, team, work settings, and dates are included?
- Baseline: What did the design brief promise, and what earlier feedback or records exist?
- Responsibility: Who will gather evidence, approve actions, and report back?
Use pre-move feedback and records as your baseline. If those are unavailable, make this review the starting point for measuring future changes.
Choose post occupancy evaluation methods
Use methods that answer different parts of the same question. A survey identifies reported difficulties; a walkthrough locates them; operating records or targeted measurements help test an explanation.
| Method | Useful evidence | What to check alongside it |
|---|---|---|
| Employee survey | Satisfaction, recurring difficulties, and work settings people struggle to access | Who responded, their attendance, and whether the same issue appears in observations |
| Walkthrough and observation | Actual room use, circulation conflicts, glare, and where disruptive activity occurs | Repeat at relevant times; one quiet visit can miss a busy-day problem |
| Short interviews | The task behind a complaint and the workarounds people use | Ask for concrete examples, then check whether others encounter the same problem |
| Booking and facilities records | Reservations, no-shows, fault reports, and recurring service issues | Compare reservations with actual room use |
| Targeted environmental measurements | Conditions at a stated location and time | Use suitable instruments and a measurement plan matched to the question; ask the responsible specialist to interpret technical findings |
For example, investigate “there is never a room available” by comparing survey feedback, reservations, and observed use during the reported peak. Empty reserved rooms suggest a booking problem. Consistently occupied rooms with people still waiting suggest a capacity or room-mix problem.
For utilization data, use observations or a system that records actual use. At B&H Ergonomics, our local human sensors trigger lighting and ventilation; they do not store occupancy history. An exterior occupancy light shows current use.
Office post occupancy evaluation questionnaire
Ask about conditions people can describe from experience. UC Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment uses occupant surveys to evaluate indoor environmental quality, including thermal comfort, air quality, acoustics, lighting, cleanliness, spatial layout, and furnishings.
I recommend the following short questionnaire for an internal office review. For comparisons with other buildings, use the survey instrument and scoring method associated with your chosen benchmark database.
Set the period and response scale
Ask employees to consider the past two weeks on days they worked in this office. Record how many days they attended and their usual work area at a level broad enough to protect individual identity. Someone who did not attend should skip the experience questions.
Use one scale for every rated item: 1 = very dissatisfied, 2 = dissatisfied, 3 = neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, 4 = satisfied, 5 = very satisfied. Add not applicable / not used as a separate option.
Complete the question “During that period, how satisfied were you with…” for each item:
| Item | Rated question |
|---|---|
| Focus | Your ability to concentrate at your usual work setting? |
| Noise | The level of sound from nearby conversations? |
| Speech privacy | Access to a place where work conversations have the privacy they need? |
| Calls | Availability of a suitable place for an individual phone or video call? |
| Meetings | Availability of a space suited to the size of your meeting? |
| Temperature | The temperature at your usual workstation? |
| Air | The perceived freshness of the air at your usual workstation? |
| Lighting | Lighting comfort when using your screen or reading? |
| Furniture | The adjustability of your workstation furniture for your tasks? |
| Movement | Your ability to move between work areas and shared facilities? |
| Cleanliness | The cleanliness of shared work settings? |
Follow with three open questions:
- Which workplace problem most often interrupted your work? Describe the location, time, and task.
- What did you do when that happened—for example, move, wait, postpone the task, or use another space?
- What one change would most improve that situation?
Tell employees who will see responses and how findings will be reported. Collect only the details needed to locate and understand the problem. Provide a private contact for individual access or accommodation issues.
Identify patterns in the responses
For each item, report the number of valid responses and the distribution across the five ratings. Keep “not applicable / not used” separate from neutral responses and exclude it from any rating average.
Report how many eligible employees were invited and how many responded. Check which work areas and attendance patterns are represented, and seek feedback from groups with few responses. Combine small groups in shared reports to protect individual identities.
Look for specific patterns in comments. “Cold near the north windows in the afternoon” gives facilities staff a place and time to investigate. Use air-freshness complaints to direct a facilities check of the affected area, including ventilation operation and measurements suited to the reported problem.
Post occupancy evaluation checklist
Walk the office during the conditions employees describe. Include a busy period and a quieter comparison period where it helps explain the problem. Record occupied seats, activity types, and movement; leave personal details and conversation content out of the log.
| Area | Check during actual use | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Focus and noise | Where calls, conversations, equipment, and passing traffic affect work | Source, nearby task, location, time, and reported interruption |
| Private calls | Whether people can reach a suitable setting when needed | Waiting, failed access, alternative locations, and whether available spaces are used |
| Meeting space | Actual group size compared with the room used | Time sample, reserved/occupied status, group size, and equipment problems |
| Temperature and air | Locations and times of discomfort; accessible user controls; reported equipment faults | Employee report separately from any measured value and instrument details |
| Lighting | Screen reflections, direct glare, shadows, and task-light use | Desk orientation, time, conditions, and affected task |
| Furniture | Whether employees can adjust and use the workstation for their tasks | Adjustment difficulty, equipment fit, and the action needing follow-up |
| Movement and access | Chair pullback, door use, waiting areas, storage, and shared routes | Exact conflict and location; refer accessibility or egress questions to the responsible project team |
| Shared facilities | Cleaning, supplies, signage, and ease of finding the intended setting | Repeated failures, time of occurrence, and service responsibility |
Use a consistent record for each finding:
Finding ID · location · date/time · attendance/context · employee report · observation or measurement · explanation to test · next check
A useful observation is specific: “Three one-person calls occupied three four-seat rooms at 10:00 a.m.” That finding gives you a clear next check: how many calls happen at once, and where else can those callers go? Use the answer to assess the mix of individual call spaces and group meeting rooms.
When survey and walkthrough findings disagree, revisit the reported time and task. Check whether you missed the peak and ask employees why they pass over an available setting. Its location, equipment, or layout may explain the gap.
Turn findings into an action plan
Give each confirmed problem a responsible person, a next action, a target date, and a way to check the result. Prioritize urgent faults and access problems through the existing facilities process, then recurring barriers to work. Consider frequency, impact, and the effort required to test a remedy.
Use these examples to assign an action and a follow-up measure to each finding.
| Finding | Evidence to check | First action to test | Suggested owner | Follow-up measure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rooms appear fully booked but are often empty | Reservations compared with repeated observations | Clarify cancellation and no-show release rules | Workplace operations | Empty reserved periods and failed-access reports |
| Private call spaces remain full despite reasonable use | Concurrent demand, waiting, session purpose, and available alternatives | Review the number, type, and location of enclosed settings | Workplace planning | Waiting and failed access during comparable peaks |
| A desk group reports afternoon glare | Timing of reports and screen reflections | Test blind settings or workstation orientation | Facilities | Repeat feedback and observation at the affected time |
| A zone feels too warm or stuffy | Location/time reports, occupancy, system operation, and relevant measurements | Have the building-services team investigate the affected zone | Facilities/HVAC team | Comparable comfort feedback and selected technical measurements |
| A shared route is repeatedly obstructed | Furniture use, storage, door movement, and waiting | Relocate the obstruction and review the route | Facilities/project team | Recheck movement during normal use |
For shared pods, I recommend checking booking and turnover first. Use the shared office pod usage policy to establish clear rules. If people follow those rules, use the pods for appropriate tasks, and still have to wait regularly, review capacity.
Where the evaluation establishes a shortage of enclosed call, focus, or small-meeting settings, compare office pods against the observed tasks, simultaneous demand, and available placement area. Keep building-wide temperature, lighting, and ventilation findings with the teams responsible for those systems.
Track each action as proposed, being tested, or verified. After installation or an operating change, check whether employees can complete the task that prompted the action.
Recheck whether the change worked
Choose the follow-up date when you assign the action, allowing enough normal use for employees to experience the change. Repeat the relevant survey items and observation method. Record differences in attendance, work patterns, weather, or season that affect the comparison.
For a call-space change, repeat observations during the same type of peak and ask whether employees still wait, move elsewhere, or abandon calls. For glare, revisit the affected desks at the relevant time of day. Compare those specific measures with the baseline so you can see which problems improved and which remain.
Close the record when the evidence meets the success criterion agreed for that action. If it does not, retain the finding and test the next explanation. Share a brief update with employees: what they reported, what changed, what the follow-up showed, and who owns the remaining work.
