In these days, a single search on Google Scholar using the expression Internet of Things (IoT) brings almost 3 520 000 results. Since 1999, when Kevin Ashton used the expression Internet of Things for the first time as the title of a presentation he made at Procter & Gamble, it has received more and more attention from academics, IT experts, the popular press, and the companies in general. All this attention is due to the fact that the IoT technologies are transforming the way in which companies work and do business. Two of the promising domains of the IoT technology are intelligent building and workplace management. In these days, the workstation became the second companies’ largest expense just after the payroll. Therefore, the development and implementation of IoT technology contribute to the optimization of buildings (energy saving, temperature, and air conditioning control, etc.) and workplaces (occupation rates, etc.), and has the potential to change the major patterns of the corporate real estate. As a result, integrating IoT technology in the workplace management is a strategic challenge in order to create value for the company through supporting strategic decisions, investments and workers’ productivity.  The purpose of this work is to review the literature dedicated to IoT and workplace management, in order to identify relevant issues and knowledge concerning the relationship between the IoT technologies (e.g. RFID, sensor, actuator, smart item) and a building on the optimization of the workplace and the productivity of its occupants. The literature review is the best approach to the appropriation of a subject once it allows using the ideas developed in the literature to justify a particular approach to the topic, the selection of methods and demonstration of the relevance and possible contributions (Hart, 1998). This work will also present a discussion of future research directions and the principal challenges related to the IoT and workplace productivity.

Purpose: A paper review of well-known journals publishing research on the subject “IoT and workspace management” from the last 10 years.

Design/methodology/approach: We will follow the approach proposed by Levy and Ellis (2006) to conduct an effective literature review. We also will lean on the work of Mishra et al. (2016) that identified the most relevant authors on the IoT literature in order to identify those studies/authors relating IoT technology and workspace productivity.