Is an open concept work environment the best option for your company?

75% of offices in North America are an open concept format.  This design was sold to companies as being the ideal environment to foster collaboration, allow for employee bonding and create an egalitarian team approach for an organization. 

This is the reason right? or is it perhaps this open concept is more about companies reducing their office square footage requirements to greatly reducing their overall carrying costs.

One thing is for sure, employees have now learned the value of walls and doors. Noisy environments have also easily proven to negatively effect how people think or recall information.  Office furniture manufacturer Steelcase reports that open office environments will steal 86 minutes a day from the average employee due to distractions.   

Higher levels of stress have been reported as employees watch colleagues speaking with managers and allowing their imaginations get the best of them.  People watch others making an executive laugh and they start to think that maybe that person now has the inside track for the next promotion.  This perceived or real drama affects productivity and it is also proven to reduce motivation.

A 2011 study from the University of Leeds found that open concept offices unquestionably increase distractions, increase interruptions and impede concentration.  It is very clear that this is not a productive environment.  Ask yourself, would it be easier to work on your laptop in the backseat of an Uber, or sitting on a crowded bus?  Are we really surprised by the results?  

41% of employees don’t have a place to make or take a confidential telephone call.  So, does it really make sense to have someone going outside or to their car just to conduct a 2-minute phone call? Does that help corporate productivity? I know because when I call potential candidates at work for my clients, this is what happens.

Canada Life found that open concept offices record 70% more sick days when compared to traditional offices or work from home spaces.  Is it all about germs spreading more easily when you are packed unlike sardines?  Maybe. 

So, your employees will now wear noise cancelling headphones and put up plants to block off communication. Does that not defeat the proposed intentions outlined in paragraph 1?

If it is about saving money for office rent so be it, but if it isn’t? Think carefully.

Farewell,

Mike