Open Plan Office Does it Work?
Open plan offices have become all the rage but who are they effective for?
A crowded Starbucks with young business people working on their laptops.
JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter in a crowded coffee shops.
Who could complain about an open plan office with visible example like those sited above. Research suggest employee’s in an open plan office keep longer working hours as compared to others.
At least three factors lead to increased work hours,
✓ Increased visibility of managers and employee’s leads to the pressure to be in the office
✓ Enhances social engagement, leads people to want to stay longer
✓ More distractions during regular business hours, cause people to find productive time outside 9-5.
Dr Carsten Sørensen, London School of Economics, comments: “The move from individual offices to open-plan was a necessary step to enable better communication and through this speed up decisions. It made everyone visible and immediately accessible. It also made it clear to everyone who is at work and who is not. The fact the open-plan offices and long working hours follow each other is a reflection of increased pressure on information workers.”
Neuroscience suggests the success open plan offices places is dependent on the age of the employee base.
For employee’s under 35 open plan is fantastic at building teamwork and creativity with no detriment to concentrated work. The youthful brain is incredibly able to narrow the focus and not be distracted by surroundings.
For those of us over 35 this format is distracting, causes poor conceptual performance and severely reduces productivity. The neuroscience is pretty clear, our brain naturally increases it scanning of the environment as we get older. The 35+ year old brain will distract itself much more easily.
It would appear that older workers tend to be less productive and need longer working hours in open plan offices to compensate . For younger workers a stronger sense of team and camaraderie will develop in open plan offices.
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