As companies such as Google and Facebook have achieved great success, their business models have been imitated by more and more companies. The most well-known is the concept of “open office” , which emerged in the 1950s.
Compared with the traditional office, the flexible space of the open office reduces the obstacles in work communication, which is beneficial to the development of the company.
An open office with a sweeping view from the moment you open the door | giphy
However, more and more studies have also begun to raise opposing voices . I believe that many people have the same feeling: they always feel constrained even though they are in an open office; not only is there no privacy, but also the conversations among other colleagues are getting harsher… The most ironic thing is that the original purpose of the open office— ——”promote communication”, but it seems even more out of reach, and even reversed .
Boss…it’s not that I don’t work hard, it’s that your office is really bad.
Open office, both advantages and problems
Typically, open-plan offices can accommodate hundreds to thousands of people, reducing the distance between employees by not having partitions.
For companies, the benefits of an open office mainly lie in increased communication and cost savings.
Thomas Zagenczyk, a professor of management at Clemson University, and his colleagues found that open offices can maximize communication between different departments, make better use of resources and capabilities, and thus improve the economic benefits of the entire company .
Don’t click to open it, I thought it was our company | Wikimedia Commons
At the same time, open offices can reduce costs. According to data from CoreNet Global, the global corporate real estate association, between 2010 and 2013, the average office space of global employees dropped from 20.9 square meters to 16.4 square meters .
Meanwhile, the largest U.S. companies could save hundreds of millions of dollars a year through open office designs, according to a survey of corporate finances conducted by Eric Wood, an analyst at Google’s human resources department.
Look at the capacity, isn’t it | Wikimedia Commons
Additionally, for employees, open offices may increase opportunities to get up, walk, and exercise . A study by the University of Arizona also showed that people who work in open offices spend about 20% more time walking around than those in traditional offices, and about 32% more than those who work in private offices.
But a growing body of research in recent years has questioned the benefits of open-plan offices : In open-plan environments, people’s communication doesn’t seem to have the desired effect, but is somehow reduced .
Ethan Bernstein, a professor at Harvard Business School, found that in two Fortune 500 companies surveyed, the willingness of employees to communicate face-to-face dropped by more than 70%, rather than face-to-face written communication (such as emails, text messages, etc.) ) increased by 67%.
The boss thought it would be like this | giphy
But it’s actually like this | giphy
This phenomenon is very ironic: after breaking down the office wall, people are more willing to communicate online. Bernstein said that in reality, most employees have to send a message first to ask if the other party is at the station, and then… usually communicate online by the way.
Noise is the primary “enemy”
Professor Bernstein found that noise, including typing, conversations among other colleagues and footsteps, was the main culprit in the productivity of open-plan office workers . It has a particularly serious impact on complex work, especially work that requires high concentration, such as typesetting, proofreading, shorthand, etc. The error rate will increase with the increase of noise, which is enough to reduce human labor productivity by 10% to 15%. .
In addition, Professor Jacqueline Vischer of the University of Montreal also found that noise can also bring great mental stress to people, which makes people secrete more adrenaline . As a result, employees are more likely to feel tired , obviously just sitting for a day, but they are as tired as if they have done a lot of physical work.
My wish is so small, I just want to spend a peaceful life with myself | giphy
As ordinary migrant workers, we probably do not have the ability to change the layout of the office; while the bosses have to weigh the company’s finances, it may be difficult for them to make rectifications in line with academic research.
So how can we make ourselves work a little more comfortably?
Escape is shameful but useful
According to Jamie Gruman, an organizational psychologist at the University of Guelph, moderate escape and rest are crucial . For example, leave the office and go for a walk in the pantry and rest area, or watch short videos on your mobile phone for a few minutes, go for a walk alone during your lunch break, or go outdoors to get some fresh air after working for a while. If you need to concentrate on completing a job, you can first check to see if there are any free meeting rooms, “do it yourself, have enough food and clothing.”
It would be great if there is a game area in the office | giphy
In this way, you can restore your physiological system to the basic level , so that you can better complete the next work.
If you really can’t escape the current office environment, you can wear headphones and listen to music to eliminate the surrounding noise . Soft music or white noise can help you focus better, and noise-canceling headphones are an added bonus.
So bosses, if you see us fishing, please remember that it is not avoiding work, but improving work efficiency .
Even at work, separate private and open hours
Although some post-80s and post-90s say that “noise” is not a problem, and that the process of making noise—for example, complaining about a hard-to-serve client or boss—makes them happy, but happiness is always temporary .
Since the open office is convenient for everyone to talk, it is also convenient for eavesdropping -you are talking about it with enthusiasm and then find that the boss is behind you.
Boss: you are fired | giphy
Professor Bernstein believes that open offices sacrifice the privacy of employees, which is one of the most important indicators of improving work efficiency and job satisfaction . In a nearly completely open environment, it seems that your every move is being monitored by others, and you have to pay attention to your words and deeds while working, and beware of being peeped on the screen, which will naturally reduce your work efficiency.
At the same time, employees will automatically find ways to protect privacy, such as pretending to be busy all the time, and avoiding contact with other people- this just reduces the willingness to communicate and communicate .
In addition to privacy, the open space also sacrifices people’s sense of belonging to their own territory . Everyone’s workstations are the same, and there is no personal space of their own, which weakens employees’ sense of belonging and loyalty to the company .
Feeling like you’re being watched all the time (and you probably are) | giphy
Therefore, it is particularly important to maintain a certain “private area” in an open office environment. In addition to the above-mentioned “fishing” earphones used to solve the noise, employees can also divide “private time” and “public time” at work, set aside a time period for face-to-face communication, and reduce the number of lines that occur all the time. on the exchange .
What can a boss do?
To improve the office environment, in addition to the efforts of the workers, the company must also find a suitable method .
The well-known architectural design firm Gensler pointed out in the US office space survey report released in 2019 that on the basis of open office, planning suitable supporting spaces and flexible and private personal spaces are more popular among employees . Among them, the top five facilities that maximize space performance include innovation centers, maker spaces, quiet/no-tech areas, outdoor work areas, and focus studios.
It is important to divide different functional areas | pixabay
All in all, the open office is an innovative product. Compared with the traditional office environment, it has made great progress, but it has also exposed a lot of problems, and there is still a long way to go before it grows into a complete body.
For enterprises, in order to maximize the ability of employees, it is still very important to actively seek change from a dialectical and humanized perspective . As for you who are working as workers, in addition to the above-mentioned ways to “relieve” your own discomfort, if you want to cure many chronic diseases of “open office”, why not pass this article to your boss for a try?
(The author is not responsible for the consequences of the above actions)
good luck everyone | giphy
references
[1] Bernstein, ES (2012). The transparency paradox: A role for privacy in organizational learning and operational control. Administrative Science Quarterly, 57(2), 181-216.
[2] Bernstein, ES, & Turban, S. (2018). The impact of the ‘open’ workspace on human collaboration. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 373(1753), 20170239.
[3] Bodin Danielsson, C., Chungkham, HS, Wulff, C., & Westerlund, H. (2014). Office design’s impact on sick leave rates. Ergonomics, 57(2), 139-147.
[4] Evans, GW, & Johnson, D. (2000). Stress and open-office noise. Journal of applied psychology, 85(5), 779.
[5] Otterbring, T., Pareigis, J., Wästlund, E., Makrygiannis, A., & Lindstrom, A. (2018). The relationship between office type and job satisfaction: Testing a multiple mediation model through ease of interaction and well-being. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health, 44(3), 330-334.
[6]Rasila, H., & Rothe, P. (2012). A problem is a problem is a benefit? Generation Y perceptions of open‐plan offices. Property Management.
[7] Spector. N. (2018) Is an open office plan hindering your productivity? Here’s how to make it for you. Retrieve from https://ift.tt/CgKTrFB
[8] Vischer, JC (2008). Towards an environmental psychology of workspace: how people are affected by environments for work. Architectural science review, 51(2), 97-108.
[9] Zagenczyk, TJ, Murrell, AJ, & Gibney, R. (2007). Effects of the physical work environment on the creation of individual‐and group‐level social capital. International Journal of Organizational Analysis.
Author: LISA, YeYeYe
Edit: Yakumo
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