Open plan spaces are becoming more and more popular in office design however, there are both pros and cons of an open-plan office space layout that must be considered before you decide to incorporate an open plan working environment into your office workspace.
Benefits of Designing Open Plan Office Spaces
A huge reason why open plan office spaces are so popular today is because they don’t have any enclosed rooms, making the office flow seamlessly with workstations positioned together and only partitions or screens separating them.
The openness has been championed for creating an environment that promotes more collaboration between employees, and better communication across the workforce, but it can also lead to reduced productivity and concentration when noise levels are not accounted for.
Here are some of the benefits of designing an open plan office…
Employee Advantages
With no physical barriers the open plan office design allows employees to interact regularly and with ease, promoting more togetherness in the workforce.
An open plan design will also increase teamwork, and offers employees the ability to transfer information smoothly, as colleagues will be able to get assistance or advice without the constraints of booking a formal meeting of gathering in a meeting room.
This allows interactions in the office to happen much more frequently, and create a setting that is much more informal than closed environments.
Business Advantages
One of the biggest benefits of an open plan office design is that it encourages much more employee collaboration, which can lead to a higher quality of work being completed and a lot more innovation.
The layout of an open plan office can also help with reducing building expenses, as it will reduce the amount of equipment and structures needed.
The design allows for a single workspace, which will ultimately bring down heating and air conditioning costs over time, as well as providing a better airflow.
Many businesses will also be able to save expenses on everyday resources such as staplers, copiers, and printers for example, due to the fact that they can be easily shared amongst employees working in an open-plan office space.
Employee Disadvantages
There are some disadvantages of open-plan office spaces for employees, but can be addressed easily if you know how to eliminate them.
There is no doubt that an open plan design encourages much higher noise levels which leads to increased distractions due to increased interactions around the office.
Some employees may find it a struggle to concentrate on work or conduct themselves as professionally in an open-plan office space.
Indeed, there is also the factor of a lack of privacy and confidentiality in open plan office environments as all computer screens will be visible to everyone, and telephone conversations can be overheard, so finding ways to combat these issues is essential.
Partitions are a great way to eliminate both privacy issues and noise pollution, with many different options and styles that can be easily put into place in your office without compromising the open plan design.
Business Disadvantages
The business disadvantages are largely related to employees being less productive, which will affect the business output.
There may also be an increase in ethical and legal problems as a result of the lack of privacy and compromised confidentiality for colleagues or clients.
However, with the right office furniture and the right layout you can minimise and even eliminate these issues without having to give up on your open plan office design dream.
