International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 6, Issue 12, December 2016 148 ISSN 2250-3153 www.ijsrp.org Workplace Design and Job Performance: A Study of Operational Level Employees in the Apparel Industry of Sri Lanka M.V.S. Mendis Assistant Lecturer, Department of Human Resource Management, Faculty of Commerce & Management Studies, University of Kelaniya Abstract- Work place design is one of the major determinants of employee job performance in all organization. Matching work place design with employee necessities is very essential for obtain maximum contribution of employees towards organization objectives. There for it is need to identify the relationship and the impact of workplace design towards job performance. Hence the main focus of this study was to identify the relationship between workplace design and job performance. Operational level employees in a leading garment manufacturing organization of Sri Lanka were investigated by using a sample of 90 employees. Simple random sampling method is used to select the representative sample. A self-administrated structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to test the research hypotheses. Study confirmed that workplace design is significantly correlated with employee job performance. Findings of the study indicate that there is a strong positive relationship between workplace design and job performance of operational level employees. Index Terms- Workplace design, Job performance, Operational level employee I. INTRODUCTION ob performance of employees is an important matter for any organization and refers to whether an employee does his/her job well or not. Job performance consists of behaviors that employees do in their jobs that are relevant to the goals of the organization (Campbell, McCloy, Oppler and Sager, 1993). Organization’s overall performance is affected by the job performance of the employees. Work place design, motivation, work life balance, job satisfaction, leadership style are some factors that influence to the job performance. Among them workplace design plays a significant role in affecting to the job performance of the employees. Many organizations do not give importance to workplace design; thus this study will give them ample reasons to consider workplace design as an important factor in increasing their employees’ performance. The workplace environment impacts employee morale, productivity and engagement - both positively and negatively. Unsafe and unhealthy work place environment includes poorly designed workstations, unsuitable furniture, lack of ventilation, inappropriate lighting, excessive noise, insufficient safety measures in fire emergencies and lack of personal protective equipment. People working in such environment are prone to occupational disease and it impacts on employee’s performance. It is the quality of the employee’s workplace environment; how well they engage with the organization, especially with their immediate environment that most impacts on their level of motivation and subsequent performance. Garment industry has become Sri Lanka’s largest export industry since 1986 and it is also the country’s largest net foreign exchange earner since 1992 (Dheerasinghe, 2003). Employee job performance is an important concept that every manager wants to maintain within their organizations. However the available studies do not provide empirical evidence with regard to the relationship between work place design and job performance of operational level employees in apparel industry in Sri Lanka. So this study will focus on whether there is a relationship between work place design and operational level employees’ job performance in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka. II. LITERATURE REVIEW In today’s competitive business environment, corporations can no longer afford to waste the talent of their workforce. Companies are run in a marathon to achieve their own goals and objectives. Therefore high performance of their employees is a must. The literature reveals that good workplace design has a positive effect on employees’ performance. Workplace Design Research indicates a strong relationship between indoor environment and employee performance. Improvements in the physical environment result in the increase of employee productivity. Clements- Croome (2000) suggests that employee productivity could be improved by 4 to 10% by improving the office environmental conditions. Recent studies have constantly shown that improvements in the physical environment increase office performance (Sundstrom, Town, Rice, Osborn & Brill, 1994; Fisk and Rosenfeld, 1997; Heerwagen, 2000; Leaman and Bordass, 2001; Veitch and Newsham, 1998; Wyon, 2004). The physical layout of the work place, along with efficient management processes, is playing a major role in boosting employees’ productivity and improving organizational performance (Uzee, 1999; Leaman and Bordass, 1993). A comparative Australian post-occupancy evaluation between green buildings and conventional buildings shows that there are significant associations between perceived productivity and thermal comfort (Leaman et al, 2008). Also, several post- occupancy evaluations show that the higher indoor air quality is J