Open Designs are Less Expensive
If you want to design a new space or remodel an old one, an open plan is less expensive as you don’t have to purchase partitions and other barriers that give each employee his or her own private workspace. You’ll also save by swapping individual desks for long benches where employees can work together.
Allows for Rapid Change
Do you expect to downsize soon? Maybe your operation has plans to add rapidly to the workforce. With an open plan, you can more easily accommodate these changes, especially if you plan to add a significant number of employees.
Privacy Concerns
The biggest drawback to open office plans is a lack of privacy for employees. Recent research is showing that the lack of private space has impacted the pluses that open plans are supposed to foster. Although you may be better able to monitor your employees’ activities during the workday, excessive noise and a lack of visual privacy are the two most commonly reported drawbacks of an open plan.
Productivity
Noise and lack of privacy of open plans also appear to have affected the productivity of offices with open plans. The inherent noise in open plans often causes workers to put on headphones and tune out in offices that allow them. Often, the result has found people have tended to “look” busy when they are not.
Collaboration
Enforced collaboration was supposed to be the big boon of open workspaces and the exact opposite appears to be the case. Because of noise and privacy concerns, face-to-face interactions are dropping and the use of emails and texting is up.
Let Office Innovations help you with setting up your office space. Our specialists can help you select furniture and recommend other ideas for your work environment.
