NEW YORK–The new debate: open floor plan or private offices?
With credit unions posting steady asset growth, many are outgrowing their facilities and investing in new or remodeled headquarters. For headquarters buildings, the question is whether to go with an open floor plan or to build out private offices.
The trend—driven in large part by costs—had been toward the open floor plans, with the “conventional wisdom” being that such designs encourage collaboration (and are less expensive). Such plans were largely considered the “offices of the future,” especially as more employees work remotely from home.
Not so fast, says one person.
Writing on Inc.com, Geoffrey James said the “sad truth” is that “most people would rather work at home and or tolerate angry stares from the other patrons in a coffee shop (should one need to make a call) than try to get something done in an open plan office.”
Noting that in the past he has provided links to numerous studies showing that open plan offices are both a productivity disaster and a false economy, James said that for those who still aren’t convinced there is some new evidence from a study of over 40,000 workers in 300 U.S. office buildings–by far the most comprehensive research on this issue–published in the Journal of Environment Psychology, that came to the following conclusion: "Enclosed private offices clearly outperformed open-plan layouts in most aspects of IEQ (Indoor Environmental Quality), particularly in acoustics, privacy and the proxemics issues. Benefits of enhanced 'ease of interaction' were smaller than the penalties of increased noise level and decreased privacy resulting from open-plan office configuration."
“Don't let the jargon confuse you,” wrote James. “The term ‘proxemics issues’ refers to how people feel uncomfortable when they're forced into close proximity with other people. To be perfectly clear, here's what the paragraph says: "open plan offices aren't worth it."
For the entire report, go here.