Why Open Offices are bad for us

It is fast becoming a huge trend with almost 70% of offices today being some form of the open office concept, with very few reverting back to the traditional version. But the truth is, we are 15% less productive, have immense trouble concentrating, and are twice as likely to get sick in these open office spaces.

The truth is also that we cannot multitask effectively and small distractions in the open office space can cause us to lose focus for upwards of 20 minutes. Even worse, certain open spaces can negatively impact our memory.

This is most true for hotdesking, where people sit wherever they want, moving their equipment around with them. But, the truth is that we retain more information when we sit in one spot. It may not be conscious to us but we actually offload memories, often little details, into our surroundings.

For most individuals, it is the noise of open office concepts that disturb them the most, with upwards of 60% of people complaining of this. In fact, when studied, closed offices fared better than open offices in 14 different aspects, ranging from temperature, air quality to sound privacy.

So, what are the actual benefits of the open office that got it started in the first place? Well, besides the obvious cheaper cost, many purport that it fosters greater levels of collaboration. However, the truth of the matter is that we rarely brainstorm brilliant ideas when we’re just shooting the breeze in a crowd, and a more likely to hear about your colleague’s problems with their spouse.

Think about it; even if you work in an open office, you will most likely book a meeting room to brainstorm because it is an act that requires some level of privacy and planning. What’s more, all the research seems to show that we tend to work better when we have total focus, which is hard to achieve in an open office concept.

Of course, it is still extremely important to bond with your colleagues and there are many ways to do this even in a closed office concept, such as having lunch together among a million other ways. Of course, most companies are not ready to ditch the open office concept yet, so some ways to move in the right direction include experimenting with quiet rooms among others.

The trouble with this is that some may feel uncomfortable with ‘leaving’ the team and feel that they are not pulling their weight, if they are not present. Other really high-tech solutions include placing sensors that can track noise, temperature and population levels. Employees can then log on to an app to find the quietest spot in a room.

Of course, the open office concept is not going away anytime soon, but more companies should start experimenting with more closed office concepts, which have been shown to make employees happier and more productive.