Are open-plan offices just a fad?
Australian research suggests shared space in the workplace can be effective, but it’s not for everyone
The tic-a-tac of keyboards and the hum of phone conversations have come to typify the modern work experience as businesses have increasingly shifted to the open-plan office design.
What was once considered an innovative approach used by the tech startups to promote collaboration has gone mainstream as businesses aim to create spaces conducive to productive conversations.
But not everyone is a fan of this approach. For every supporter of the open-plan design, you get a detractor who bemoans the constant stream of interruptions that come with having no physical separation from co-workers.
These concerns pose the question of whether openplan offices are worth the frustration they cause.
In other words, do they work or are they just another example of fashion dictating the design?
Research by Gemma Irving, a post-doctoral research fellow in strategy at Queensland University, suggests open-plan design can work, but not in all situations.
Her study, which covered a range of different professional categories, found shared space benefited some groups more than to others.
Engineers, for instance, found it made it easier for teams to work together on process improvements, while business performance teams felt that it helped them develop initiatives, such as an intranet or a contact database.
Irving says the success of the approach is contingent on workers sharing goals and adjusting their behaviour to respect the noise preferences of their colleagues.
In the positive work environment, employees saw interruptions as an opportunity to help others and valued overhearing conversations.
Irving says employers need to create clear rules to create this kind of environment. One example she gives involves a team that used “do not interrupt” flags to indicate to co-workers when they didn’t want to be disturbed.
These rules can be set during formal discussions or they could emerge organically over time, Irving says.
There were, however, also instances of open-plan offices not working effectively.
Irving points to research published in the Journal of Architectural and Planning Research showing that openplan offices can reduce the overall job satisfaction and well-being of employees, particularly those who require high levels of focus.
This also became apparent for Irving, as her study showed scientists had difficulty concentrating and felt that shared workspace didn’t improve collaboration.
Scientists said they preferred to collaborate during set meeting times and they also expressed a fondness for using virtual technologies.
With the rise of Slack and other work-based messaging systems, the way workers communicate in the office is