Yes, open office plans are the worst – TechCrunch

If you are constantly distracted by your colleagues in the gaping space of the open space that you all share, you are not alone. Compared to traditional office spaces, face-to-face interaction in open offices is down 70% with productivity shifts, according to Harvard researchers in a new study published in Philosophical Transactions The Royal Society B

In the study, the researchers followed two Fortune 500 companies during their transitions between a traditional office space and an open environment, and used a sensor called "sociometric badge" (identifier the company on a lanyard) to record information on the type of interactions that employees have had in both spaces. The study collected information in two stages;

While the concept of open office spaces aims to promote informal interaction and collaboration between employees, the study found that for both groups of employees monitored (52 for a company). and 100 for the other company) face-to-face interactions dropped, the number of emails sent increased by 20 to 50% and company executives reported a qualitative decline in productivity [19659003[Organizations] turn their offices into open spaces with the intention of creating more interaction and therefore a more dynamic work environment, "wrote the study's authors, Ethan Bernstein and Stephen Turban . "[But] what they often get – as captured by a steady stream of news articles professing the death of the open office is an open expanse of proximal employees who are choosing to s & dquo; To isolate as best as they can (eg by wearing big headphones) while appearing to be as busy as possible (since everyone can see them). "

Although this study is far from To be the first to point the finger at open office designs, researchers claim that it is the first study of its kind to collect qualitative data on this change in the environment instead of relying mainly on employee surveys.

From their findings, researchers provide three edifying narratives:

1. Open office spaces do not promote interaction. Instead, they encourage employees to seek confidentiality wherever they can find it.
2. These open spaces can be bad news for the collective intelligence of the company or, in other words, a too stimulating office space. the interaction channels will be performed equally in an open layout change. While the number of emails sent into the study has increased, the study found that the richness of this interaction was not equal to that lost in face-to-face interactions.

It seems like it might be time (first, to find a quiet room) and go back to the drawing board with the open desk design.