The Open Office Isn’t Going Away (And That’s a Good Thing)

Whether you are a fan of open offices or spend your time trying to find a quiet space to escape the open floor plan, it looks like open offices are here to stay. And personally, I think that’s okay. In fact, I think it’s great, because open offices aren’t the problem - the problem is the way companies are implementing them.

The pitfalls of open offices occur when a company interprets “open office” to mean squeezing as many people as possible in rows of desk rather than looking at things holistically. But when done right, open offices can work for just about anyone.

I was listening to a Freakonomics podcast a few months ago, and the points made are spot on. Regardless of where you stand on open offices, if you haven’t listened to this podcast, you should. The main problem isn’t that we have open floor plans, it’s what I’m calling the bastardization of open space. It’s all about cramming people into a space rather than thinking about how we do our jobs. And the result means a lack of spaces dedicated to different modes of working. Just like we have kitchens for cooking, bedrooms for sleeping, and family rooms for gathering at home, our offices need to have designated areas for quiet work, collaboration, and socialization.

We all sit in open office space at Logitech, and I love it. I’m a social guy, and I enjoy being in the office. I’m all for ad-hoc meetings and spontaneous collaboration sessions. But the other thing I love is that Logitech is in the process of rethinking how it uses our office space. We are teaming with Herman Miller to reassess how we use our space and how we can create an environment that is conducive to all forms of productivity.

According to Julian Treasure, Chairman of The Sound Agency and author of Sound Business, from a story in TechRadarPro, workers are 66% less productive working in an open office environment. In fact, there’s no shortage of research that says open offices are a bad thing. But I believe these studies are flawed, because I’d challenge how they define productivity. Many of these studies measure things like whether communication such as email goes down and concludes that fewer emails means lower productivity and collaboration. This is exactly backwards. When you are able to quickly get together in an open space and resolve an issue without emails, this is the very definition of productivity not the lack of it!

Productivity isn’t just about putting your head down and cranking out a report. Sometimes it’s about coming together as a group and working through a problem together or creating something bigger than any of us could have done individually. You need a mix of quiet time and collaboration to do your best work.

Which brings me back to Logitech… in addition to evolving our open office culture, we’re also addressing the woes of open office workers by creating new products that are specifically designed around this new way of working. We recently announced Logitech Zone Wireless and Logitech Zone Wireless Plus headsets, which were designed to maximize communication, collaboration, and concentration in open office environments. These exciting new headsets with Qi wireless charging complement our market-leading video collaboration products like BRIO 4K Pro webcam for desktop video conferencing and MeetUp for huddle rooms.

For the first time ever, I feel like I have one headset that I can rely on for work, music and more. And I’m psyched about it. But I’m also curious to hear about your experiences. Are you a fan of the open office, and what tool do you need to make the open office work for you?