Deniz Tuzcuoglu
Workplace design and use have undergone significant transformations in recent years, driven by the advancement of digital technologies and the rise of hybrid working practices. The shift towards smart workplace concepts and hybrid working has reshaped how employees experience, evaluate, and engage with their workplace environments, both at the office and at home. It is therefore important to examine these transitions from the perspective of employees. As workplace design and strategy can influence employee satisfaction, productivity, and sense of belonging, gaining insights into employee experiences, expectations, and preferences would be significant for workplace designers, facility managers, and policymakers. Additionally, while much research has focused on corporate settings, little is known about how these transitions are experienced within municipal organisations. This doctoral dissertation therefore investigates:
‘How do municipal employees experience and respond to smart and hybrid workplace transitions in terms of expectations, preferences, and workplace choices?’
To answer this research question, this dissertation employs a mixed-methods approach and is structured around two phases of data collection: Part A (qualitative research) and Part B (quantitative research). Part A consists of qualitative research with the employees from the Municipality of Eindhoven following their relocation to a smart and sustainable office building. Eleven in-depth interviews and participatory observations were conducted, revealing that smartness is not defined only by technology but also by how well the workplace supports everyday tasks, adapts to individual needs, and enables interaction between users and building. Employees distinguished between basic and smart aspects of the workplace, with the fulfilment of basic needs emerging as a prerequisite before appreciating smart aspects (features). The findings show that habituating to a new (smart) workplace environment unfolded in four phases of transition: pre-relocation, confrontational, progressive, and stabilised. These phases reflect how employees’ relationships with the new environment evolve and how workplace attachments form over time. Emotional responses and workplace attachments varied, showing that relocation is not a uniform process but one shaped by expectations, communication, and organisational support.
Part B presents quantitative research with 1,812 municipal employees from Amsterdam, Almere, and Eindhoven, examining how employees make workplace choices in hybrid contexts. Discrete choice experiments revealed that both home and office attributes strongly influence decisions, and that employee preferences for the office-workplace attributes differ between Flexible Workdays (optional office attendance) and Office Workdays (mandatory attendance). Commuting time and the type of office occupants were most influential, while office aesthetics and workspace access had a minor impact. The findings identified two distinct groups of employees with their own shared hybrid workplace preferences: a home-preferring and an office-preferring group, related to personal characteristics (age, educational level), living conditions, and workplace satisfaction. The findings show that workplace preferences and experiences of municipal employees are significantly shaped by workplace attributes (at home and the office), their level of autonomy for workplace choices, and individual circumstances. Smartness extends beyond technology to include the usability and meaningful application of the workplace environment. Employees engage with smart and hybrid workplaces through diverse interpretations of smartness, and their preferences are context-dependent: high autonomy tends to emphasise needs for relatedness, whereas low autonomy increases the importance of competence. Overall, the dissertation concludes that successful workplace strategies must address both fundamental needs and smart (motivational) expectations, while integrating design, change management, and hybrid planning. As a practical contribution, it introduces an interactive WorkplaceTool (https://workplacetool.nl/) developed from the research findings. This tool simulates workplace choice behaviour and estimates the likelihood of employees selecting different workplaces on a Flexible Workday or an Office Workday.
Links to Papers:
Tuzcuoğlu, D., Yang, D., De Vries, B., Sungur, A., & Appel-Meulenbroek, H. A. J. A. (2021). The phases of user experience during relocation to a smart office building: A qualitative case study. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 74, Article 101578. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101578
Tuzcuoğlu, D., De Vries, B., Yang, D., & Sungur, A. (2023). What is a smart office environment? An exploratory study from a user perspective. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 25(2), 118-138. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCRE-12-2021-0041
Tuzcuoğlu, D., Appel-Meulenbroek, R., Borgers, A. W. J., Arentze, T. A., & Sungur, A. (2025). Differences in preferences for office attributes in hybrid working: Office versus Flexible Workdays. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 104, Article 102587. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102587
Tuzcuoğlu, D., Appel-Meulenbroek, R., Borgers, A. W. J., Arentze, T. A., & Sungur, A. (2025). Home or Office? The impact of home and office attributes on workplace choice decisions in hybrid working. Building and Environment, 282, Article 113254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.113254
Tuzcuoğlu, D., Yang, D., de Vries, B., & Sungur, A. (2020). Social interaction in an office environment: A qualitative study after relocation to a smart office. In Transdisciplinary Workplace Research Conference 2020 (pp. 355-364) https://www.twrnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/TWR2020_Future_Workspaces_Ed2.pdf
Tuzcuoğlu, D., Appel-Meulenbroek, R., Borgers, A. W. J., Arentze, T. A., & Sungur, A. (2024). How do workplace features at the office and at home determine workplace choice during a flexible workday? In Proceedings of the 4th Transdisciplinary Workplace Research (TWR) Conference (pp. 71-84). Edinburgh Napier University. https://napier-repository.worktribe.com/output/3964152/proceedings-of-the-4th-transdisciplinary-workplace-research-twr-conference-4th-7th-september-2024-edinburgh-uk
Tuzcuoğlu, D., Appel-Meulenbroek, R., Borgers, A. W. J., Arentze, T. A., & Sungur, A. (2024). Two types of hybrid workers: How personal traits, living conditions, and workplace satisfaction shape preferences. In Proceedings of Eurofm Conference.
Windlinger, L., & Tuzcuoğlu, D. (2021). Usability theory: Adding a user-centric perspective to workplace management. In R. Appel-Meulenbroek, & V. Danivska (Eds.), A Handbook of Management Theories and Models for Office Environments and Services (pp. 173-183). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003128786-15
WorkplaceTool, https://workplacetool.nl/
