Open-plan offices make employees less productive, even young ones
18 April 2014
Read by 2272 persons
The indictment of open-plan offices continues. "While open-plan offices were initially designed by a Hamburg team in the 90s to facilitate communication and the exchange of ideas, a growing body of evidence suggests that it undermines what it was precisely intended to improve," writes Maria Konnikova in the New Yorker.
Studies on health, well-being, creativity, and productivity in open-plan workplaces are countless, and psychologist Matthew Davis compiled the results of over a hundred of them in 2011. On these various levels, the open organization does not seem to keep its promises. Compared to other employees, those working in open-plan offices have higher stress levels and lower concentration and motivation levels.
It is simply the noise, writes the author, which would be the main cause of these problems. A 2000 Cornell University study already showed that employees subjected to such noisy environments were more stressed, less motivated, and less creative.
Younger employees, generally referred to as "Generation Y," however, seem to appreciate this organizational method. In May 2013, the Finance & Commerce website reported on the experience of the real estate company Cassidy Turley, which had decided to change its organization in favor of "open spaces and collaborative workspaces."
"Generation Y workers are very skilled with technology, collaborative, and very socially connected [...]," explained the article. "What is important for them is an open, flexible workspace that encourages teamwork. In fact, many of them don't even want an assigned office."
But although young workers are more favorable to the benefits they derive from this organization—more intense socialization—they also suffer from its negative effects, Maria Konnikova continues in the New Yorker. If "they are more open to distraction as a norm in the workplace," they are not immune to the drop in performance caused by information overload that characterizes an open environment. Especially since many of them perform "multitasking," a way of working that is more sensitive to the effects of distraction.
As Slate noted in August 2013, researchers Jungsoo Kim and Richard de Dear published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology the results of a questionnaire given to workers in different types of office spaces, individual, shared, or open-plan. Their conclusion:
"The argument in favor of open-plan offices that it promotes enthusiasm and productivity seems to have no academic basis."
Slate.fr
Posted online April 18, 2014.
Studies on health, well-being, creativity, and productivity in open-plan workplaces are countless, and psychologist Matthew Davis compiled the results of over a hundred of them in 2011. On these various levels, the open organization does not seem to keep its promises. Compared to other employees, those working in open-plan offices have higher stress levels and lower concentration and motivation levels.
It is simply the noise, writes the author, which would be the main cause of these problems. A 2000 Cornell University study already showed that employees subjected to such noisy environments were more stressed, less motivated, and less creative.
Younger employees, generally referred to as "Generation Y," however, seem to appreciate this organizational method. In May 2013, the Finance & Commerce website reported on the experience of the real estate company Cassidy Turley, which had decided to change its organization in favor of "open spaces and collaborative workspaces."
"Generation Y workers are very skilled with technology, collaborative, and very socially connected [...]," explained the article. "What is important for them is an open, flexible workspace that encourages teamwork. In fact, many of them don't even want an assigned office."
But although young workers are more favorable to the benefits they derive from this organization—more intense socialization—they also suffer from its negative effects, Maria Konnikova continues in the New Yorker. If "they are more open to distraction as a norm in the workplace," they are not immune to the drop in performance caused by information overload that characterizes an open environment. Especially since many of them perform "multitasking," a way of working that is more sensitive to the effects of distraction.
As Slate noted in August 2013, researchers Jungsoo Kim and Richard de Dear published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology the results of a questionnaire given to workers in different types of office spaces, individual, shared, or open-plan. Their conclusion:
"The argument in favor of open-plan offices that it promotes enthusiasm and productivity seems to have no academic basis."
Slate.fr
Posted online April 18, 2014.
