Does Anyone Actually Believe that Open Workspaces Increase Productivity?

The open office movement is like some gigantic experiment in willful delusion.

Jason Feifer

Why do corporations think we’re idiots? Open office workspaces don’t work! They don’t increase productivity, or anything else for that matter. They’re a colossal FAILURE! The only thing they actually do is reduce real estate costs for the corporation. So let’s cut the corporate BS and double-talk. You can’t spin this. Speak the truth please. You don’t give a shit about your employees or what’s good for them. The only truth is that open office workspaces are good for your bottom line.

Mr. Corporation, have you read the research on how open office workspaces actually affect your employees?

• 95% of workers say working privately is important to them. (Steelcase research)
• 62% increase in extra sick days taken in open-plan office. (Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 2011)
• 50% of people with a completely open office floorplan are dissatisfied with their sound privacy. (Professors at the University of Sydney)
• 32% drop in workers' well-being and 15% reduction in productivity. (Exeter University study)
• 31% of workers had to leave the office to get work completed. (Steelcase research)
• Office workers lose an average of 86 minutes per day due to distractions associated with open-plan offices. As a result, many employees are unmotivated, unproductive, and overly stressed.  (study funded by Steelcase)

Do people communicate more in an open office environment? “Open offices increase communication, but not all communication is a good thing,” said Jennifer Veitch, an environmental psychologist with the National Research Council of Canada. “A lot of the time, the conversation is more about what’s on TV than about actual work.”

Open office workspaces significantly decrease productivity and are probably costing more than corporations are saving in real estate, even in high rent cities. So Mr. Corporation, what on earth were you thinking???? All you’ve accomplished is that you’re pissing away money and pissing off your employees – not a good combination. Who’s making these decisions anyways?

An open plan can easily fit 300, 400 people in one room -- it’s a little bit like chicken factory farms. These are not places you want to spend much time.

Organization Psychologist Matthew Davis

Make someone smile today.

Geri