The case for the affirmative
Improved communications are one of the much-touted benefits of open-plan offices. Corporate Communications Manager Catherine Duff is a proponent, so long as there are appropriate rules and break-out rooms. Here she puts forward her key benefits.
Acquiring accidental information
"Information can come from hearing your colleagues talking about their work projects, people stopping by your desk to tell you something that might be of interest or you overhearing conversations," she says. "These informal interactions in the workplace can provide the more nuanced information you need to work together effectively."
Building a sense of community
"Much is out of your control in an open-plan office, but if you have the ability to reconfigure your workspace to suit your team this goes a long way to making people more comfortable at work," she says. "Simply moving desks to face each other and not the wall has given staff in our open-plan office a greater sense of ownership of our area."
Rules of engagement can minimise distractions
"Earphones on within our group is equivalent to a "do not disturb" sign," she says. "Now I make a list of queries I have a speak to that person the next time they appear free, instead of distracting them in the middle of something."
Thoughtful design offers new opportunities
"We have used wall space in our section to put up shared calendars with upcoming events and to list the work priorities for the month, which is a good way to ensure these remain at the forefront of the team's mind," she says.
The case for the negative
Professor Derek Baker, from the UNE School of Business, is an opponent of open-plan offices, having seen them lead to "plummeting productivity and staff resignations" in the private sector. Here he puts forward his key disadvantages.
Increased noise levels
"People's personal habits can be very disruptive and it's not just the close proximity but the fact that noises echo in an open space," he says. "There are those work colleagues who eat aromatic foods, snap bubblegum and crack their knuckles, which can be quite annoying. I've even been in offices where people like to listen to the radio as they work."
Confidentiality can be breached
"Open-plan offices don't provide for private conversations," he says. "You can't say to your client that the telephone conversation is in confidence when half a dozen people are listening to the call."
Security can be threatened
"It's very easy to look over someone's shoulder and work out their computer password or to hit redial after they've hung up the phone and left their desk," he says. "In any workplace there is a lot of sensitive and sometimes confidential data being handled, especially on screens, which can be relatively easy to access."
Teams are broken up
"In modern organisations teams are formed on an ad hoc basis and any one staff member belongs to a number of teams that work on separate tasks and projects," he says. "Clustering staff in seating arrangements disrupts this fluidity."
Incompatible people and teams can be forced together
"Most people in an organisation collaborate with lots of others; how do you choose which people to cluster together?" he says. "And even if it is a compatible team, working so closely together can be claustrophobic. If someone you don't get on with is within arm's reach, that can lead to conflict."
It's a trade-off
"Organisations use open-plan seating to cut costs," he says. "If the trade-off in terms of lost productivity is acceptable, then it's a rational decision and we'll see more of it."
