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Are open-plan offices bad for productivity?: Many companies swear by open-plan offices because it is economically more rational to put all employees in one large room instead of having to offer several offices. However, anyone who has ever worked in an open-plan office knows that they make productive work much more difficult.<\/p>\n
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The more people there are in a closed room, the higher the risk of catching a cold. This is particularly true for open-plan offices that use air conditioning systems instead of windows for ventilation.
In addition, employees are not only distracted by the constant noise level, but are also exposed to increased stress. This constant stress often leads to high blood pressure, stomach ulcers and migraines in the long term.
To block out the constant background noise, open-plan office workers tend to listen to music through headphones. but if they listen to music too loudly every day, this can impair their hearing.<\/p>\n
Body odours accumulate over the course of a working day. The bad breath and sweat of many people in a room combine to form an unpleasant soup that reduces the ability to work.
Open-plan offices are often so badly designed that you can hear every movement of the employees. Workers get up and go to the washroom several times a day, disturbing the concentration of others. Depending on how close the employees are sitting to each other, conversations between them or phone calls can also significantly disrupt their concentration on work.
The fact that every word disturbs the employees prevents many of them from talking to the person sitting next to them in a relaxed manner or having a laugh. This of course significantly reduces the enjoyment of work. Even if work is not really fun, a minimum of personal development is part of making the working day more enjoyable.<\/p>\n
The atmosphere of the open-plan office means that employees have less personal contact with each other. With less personal contact, loyalty among employees also decreases; people help each other out less.
When employees know each other less well, communication no longer works efficiently. The lack of a familiar tone among colleagues delays interaction and makes workers more dissatisfied.<\/p>\n
A lack of concentration and frequent distractions interrupt the flow of work, you lose your train of thought and take longer to finish a task. In order to still meet deadlines, tasks are completed more carelessly.
The increased spread of infectious diseases mentioned above inevitably means that employees are absent more often and the same work has to be shared among fewer colleagues. Of course, this ultimately affects the quality of work and means that open-plan offices are bad for productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n
To make open-plan offices truly productive, organisations need to encourage new forms of interaction rather than relying so heavily on faceless digital communication such as email or instant messaging. This is particularly important in larger organisations where not everyone knows each other personally. Just sitting in the same office with someone doesn't develop a strong relationship, either personally or professionally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What we can do is improve the working environment of open-plan offices through acoustic treatment. Our systems work to reduce office distractions, increase privacy and improve the overall comfort of the office. These factors are all seen as disadvantages of open-plan offices, but our work can offset these to create a much better working environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Personal space and privacy are seen as key factors that negatively impact communication, collaboration and productivity in open-plan offices. People instinctively enjoy having control over their environment, and open-plan offices limit employees' ability to set up their workspace the way they want it. A lack of privacy can also force employees to withhold their true thoughts and opinions when calling or talking in the office because they don't want to be judged by their colleagues. This contributes significantly to the fact that open-plan offices are bad for productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How to reduce the noise level in an open-plan office<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n