Working world
Open-plan office as a communication killer
Whether individual or open-plan offices or flexible workstations - every workplace strategy changes the company's internal communication and team structure. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but the future is pointing towards greater flexibility.
The office is a kind of permanent construction site. With modern collaboration solutions, the age of absolute freedom of work could begin, but surprisingly little has changed in the coexistence of the most diverse concepts in recent years. Behind this is the entrepreneurial attempt to achieve the perfect balance between team performance and individual players and between concentration and communication.
A recent Harvard study takes the open-plan office to task. The idea behind it is actually simple: open spaces should increase communication between employees and strengthen the sense of togetherness in the team - the end, so to speak, for the loner in the individual office. However, the Harvard study negates this development. Its findings: open-plan offices significantly reduce direct communication between colleagues. Expressed in figures, the number of direct conversations falls by 70% from 5.8 to 1.7 hours per day and communication via emails and electronic instant messages increases by over 50%.
One might argue that the study's observation period of four weeks was too short because it would have taken more time to get used to it. On the other hand, the question arises as to where the overall added value of an open-plan office is supposed to lie if employees do not discover the alleged communication advantage intuitively and by themselves, but have to learn it at great expense. And this idea also provides a glimpse of perhaps the most promising solution: flexibility. Everyone ticks and works differently. Companies that embrace this individuality and leave it up to employees to decide whether they prefer to work alone, with others or at home in the garden will have the most satisfied employees. And satisfied employees are known to communicate more and work more efficiently.
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