Open-plan office: bad or good?
Once the darling of corporate designers, the open-plan office is falling out of favour. The removal of physical barriers from the workplace was thought to increase the ease of interaction and encourage teamwork. However, more recent studies suggest the disadvantages outweigh the benefits.
In the largest study to date, Jungsoo Kim and Richard de Dear at the University of Sydney surveyed 40,000 workers in 300 offices. Employees working in open-plan offices felt more stressed, distracted and unproductive than those in more traditional work settings. Increased noise levels and lack of privacy were the main complaints.
Researchers at the University of Stockholm’s Stress Research Institute found employees working on focused, complex tasks felt the most stressed when in open-plan settings. In a survey of over 1,800 employees, they found that workers in open-plan settings took significantly more sick leave.
Employees who move from a single-occupancy office to an open-plan setting seem to have particular difficulty adjusting to the change. Aoife Brennan and colleagues at Dublin City University followed 21 such employees. She interviewed them before their move, then four weeks and six months later. The workers reported less satisfaction on all measures – their physical environment, personal stress levels, perceived job performance and relations with co-workers – not only four weeks later, but even after six months had elapsed.
So what’s the way ahead? If we hope to please the workforce of the future, it’s important to consider what millennials – those born in the Eighties to the early Nineties – value most.
Heidi Rasila and Peggie Rothe at Aalto University in Finland asked 20 millennials to evaluate the open-plan office where they worked. They felt the ability to collaborate and socialise easily with colleagues was worth the cost of increased noise and less privacy. It may be that this generation, who have grown up surrounded by multiple information streams, can screen out distractions more easily.
Dr Nicole Millard, expert in emerging technology at BT, told The Telegraph that despite being able to work remotely, workers of the future will still want access to shared office space so they can socialise, and brainstorm.
Flexibility is key. Offices will need to reflect this by providing some desks for individual work, soundproof spaces for confidential calls and discussions, meeting rooms where colleagues can exchange ideas – and, of course, an excellent coffee shop for more relaxed collaboration and individual work.
Linda Blair is a clinical psychologist and author of Siblings: How to Handle Rivalry and Create Lifelong Loving
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