Improving the performance of the federal government’s building stock has the potential
to boost public sector productivity by almost $2 billion a year, according to the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA).
Chief operating officer of the GBCA, Robin Mellon, said political leaders agree steps must be taken to find new ways to increase Australia's productivity for the economy to continue to grow and remain globally competitive.
"One of the most effective ways to boost the productivity and performance of people is to improve the quality of their working environments,”he said.
"Even a one per cent productivity improvement – equating to just five minutes a day – can mean nearly 20 hours of additional productive working time over the course of a year.
"Multiply that by the hourly rate of each person and you can quickly see the returns."
Australia now has many examples of Green Star-rated projects that have improved worker productivity by between10 and 15 per cent.
International case studies from the WorldGBC’s ‘Business Case for Green Building’ report, which was released in April, details a range of health and productivity gains.
Local examples include:
Increased productivity as high as 15 per cent reported by Macquarie Bank employees
after moving to new Green Star-rated headquarters at 1 Shelley Street in Sydney;
A floor-by-floor Green Star retrofit of 500 Collins Street in Melbourne delivered a nine per cent improvement in the average typing speed of secretaries, and a seven per cent increase in lawyers’ billings ratio, despite a 12 per cent decline in the average monthly hours worked;
A post-occupancy survey of the City of Melbourne’s Council House 2 found that productivity had increased by 10.9 per cent after staff moved into their Green Star-rated office, with an estimated annual cost saving of $2 million.
"With a federal government wages and salaries bill of $18.9 billion in the last financial year, a mere one per cent increase in productivity equates to improved performance with a dollar value of almost $200 million each year," Mellon said.
"A 10 per cent improvement, similar to that already being achieved in Green Star-rated buildings across the country, would bring the value of annual productivity improvements to nearly $2 billion.
"We need a government committed to visionary leadership if we are to improve Australia’s productivity and performance, and truly compete in the Asian Century."
Mellon said the federal government must ‘walk the talk’ and commit to achieving environmental ratings for all the buildings it owns, occupies and develops.
"This would ensure that federal government employees are working in high-performance workplaces which maximise productivity, health and wellbeing, while minimising staff turnover, sickness and absenteeism," he said.
"As the federal election draws near, the Australian people have the right to ask which political parties will lead by example and commit to policies that outline clear targets, pathways and incremental improvements for federal government buildings – and commit to Green Star-rated outcomes which will save money and support more productive employees."
A report released by the Productivity Commission earlier this year found that Australia's productivity growth has been poor over the past decade.
Productivity Commission chair Peter Harris said the report shows the national economy is undergoing a major transition.
Harris said ongoing reform of the micro economy is necessary and impediments to innovation and technological improvement need to be removed.
"There needs to be an informed public debate and policy discussion," he said.
