How Open Office Plans Affect Workplace Productivity

How open office plans help workplace productivity. 

The open office concept was devised in Germany in the 1950s. Known as Bürolandschaft (which translates to “office landscape”), open office plans aimed to eliminate workplace hierarchies. 

In the U.S., the trend took off after Google reinvented its main offices in 2005. Facebook followed suit in 2015 with what became the world’s largest open office layout, housing about 2,800 employees on an expansive campus. According to a study by global architecture and design firm Gensler, two-thirds of U.S. knowledge workers worked in an open-plan office in 2020. 

Open offices caught on for valid reasons. Businesses noticed that the layout brought increased cost savings, more collaboration and enhanced transparency. Here’s a more in-depth look at the advantages of open office plans. 

1. Open offices save companies money.

Open offices are easy on business budgets. These spaces reduce overhead costs by minimizing office space needs and equipment expenses. 

In an open office plan, businesses don’t have to buy cubicle materials or furnish private offices. They can squeeze more people into less square footage and enjoy fewer maintenance costs. 

Open offices can also save money in more intangible ways, such as mitigating the costs of disengaged workers. According to the 2022 Gallup State of the Global Workplace report, only 21 percent of the global workforce is engaged — which costs the global economy $7.8 trillion. 

Open floor plans allow managers to interact with and observe employees up close. They can spot signs of employee burnout, monitor employee performance, and pinpoint disengaged workers. When these problems are brought to light, companies can address them head-on and help employees improve. When engagement levels increase, stress and productivity issues decrease — and businesses save money. 

2. Open offices increase collaboration.

Beyond their cost-saving benefits, open offices foster a sense of a shared mission among co-workers and managers. Collaboration improves employee performance, and open office plans are inherently collaborative. They create a less hierarchical, more laid-back atmosphere, facilitating communication and co-worker interaction. 

Collaboration often leads to enhanced productivity, creativity and team innovation.

3. Open offices bring communication transparency.

Open offices cultivate a sense of community and bring inherent business transparency. By the very nature and setup of an open office environment, it’s easier to share information, keep teams updated, and work toward common goals.

When executives and workers share the same workspace, barriers break down, and communication and understanding increase. When manager and employee relationships improve, problems tend to be solved more efficiently and effectively, which profoundly and positively affects workplace productivity.

How open office plans hurt workplace productivity. 

Despite the benefits an open office brings, these floor plans have significant downsides. Here are some of the most significant cons of open office plans. 

1. Open office plans can distract employees. 

Open offices create a shared environment — and shared environments often present persistent distractions, including noise. Whether they take the form of ringing phones or water cooler talk, noisy interruptions can waste employees’ time and drain their productivity. This is especially true when workers feel they have no control over their environment. Headphones or “quiet hours” can help, but this sometimes inhibits the collaboration open spaces are meant to foster.

2. Open office plans bring higher stress levels.

Background noise and chaos can do more than distract — they can also increase stress and inhibit employees’ cognitive performance. According to a 2021 study by Cambridge University Press, there was a 34 percent increase in sweat response and a 25 percent increase in negative mood after just eight minutes of simulated open-office noise. 

A general sense of overstimulation in open offices can lead to higher stress levels. And stress is a serious productivity killer.

3. Open offices lack privacy.

Open offices have an inherent lack of privacy — a significant downside that can derail focus. (Anyone who’s ever received a call from their doctor while sitting elbow-to-elbow with their co-workers can attest to this.) Close quarters may facilitate collaboration; however, these situations can significantly impede focus. 

When employees have nowhere to stash their valuables, take confidential meetings, or do anything else that might benefit from privacy, they have a harder time focusing on their work. Privacy cultivates concentration and can improve job performance; depriving employees of it may decrease their productivity.

4. Open offices can increase employee sick days.

Open office spaces can hamper productivity by increasing sickness-related workplace absenteeism. Viruses can spread quickly in an open environment. If stress levels are already high, workers’ immune systems can be less than optimal, creating a contagion of call-ins.

How to maintain workplace productivity with open office plans 

Providing every employee with private office space often isn’t financially feasible. To improve productivity in an open office play, try to find a healthy balance between collaborative and private spaces. Here are a few ways to improve your current office plan to increase employee productivity and wellness and create a strong company culture. 

1. Find ways to provide respite space for employees.

Employees benefit from collaborative workspaces. However, they also need space to process interactions, hold private meetings, concentrate on challenging or time-sensitive work, or otherwise satisfy their work style. To achieve this, consider adding private alcoves, work bays or breakout rooms to an otherwise open office space. 

When you foster a culture of empowered employees who can shift their work environment according to their needs, office morale and performance can increase.

2. Make small changes to your office and floor plan.

Aside from allocating private spaces, find ways to tweak your open office plan and your office’s environmental factors to cultivate employee wellness and productivity. For example, ensure adequate space for work areas so employees aren’t annoyingly close together. Additionally, improve employees’ health and productivity by ensuring quality airflow, using natural lighting, offering access to green spaces and providing ergonomic office furniture.

3. Focus on providing an inviting company culture.

Your goal is to create a work environment that makes employees feel valued. In this scenario, executives are approachable, and workers are empowered to adapt their workstations to their needs (or work outside the office if necessary). Creating a happy and productive work culture can help with employee retention, consistent communication, better teamwork and alignment with the company mission. 

Julie Thompson contributed to this article.