Are Cubicles Preferable to the Open Office Layout?
Though about 70 percent of U.S. workplaces have open office floor plans, numerous studies have shown that employees who work in offices with no or low partitions suffer increased stress from lack of privacy and disrupted concentration — which ultimately decreases worker productivity overall. Should the open office layout be reconsidered? Is it time to bring back the cubicles and the corner offices?
* cubicle = (칸막이 해 만든) 좁은 방/ open office floor plan = 개방형 사무실 평면도/ partition = 칸막이; 분할/ disrupt = 방해하다, 지장을 주다/ office layout = 사무실 배열(배치)/ corner office = (전망 좋은) 고급 사무실
개방형 사무실 배치는 재고되어야 하나요? 좁은 방과 고급 사무실이 다시 돌아와야 하나요?
1. A First-Generation Problem
Information flows up and directives flow down better when fewer barriers separate our working hierarchies.
2. Let Employees Decide
In many European countries, workers passed laws to ensure that they had some say in the design of their workplaces, and they overwhelmingly chose private offices.
3. Sharing Sunlight, Not Insanity
While open office plans can be sunny, companionable and cost-effective, human beings need focus to get their work done.
4. Balance Proximity and Privacy
While complaints about open plan offices should not be ignored, the number of "co-working spaces" has also skyrocketed in the last decade.
5. The Problem Isn’t Openness, It’s Noise
An acoustically comfortable workplace provides appropriate support for interaction, confidentiality and heads-down work.
Sample Essay
Balance Proximity and Privacy in the Office
If the rise of open plan offices can be explained in part by economical factors, many companies also embraced them in the hope of increasing proximity — and thus collaboration and serendipity, which have been found to be essential to the development of new ideas. And while complaints about open plan offices are real and should not be ignored, the number of co-working spaces — open plan offices whose members share a roof, furniture and Wifi, if not company or brand loyalty — has simultaneously skyrocketed in the last decade. These spaces were created by freelancers, remote workers and entrepreneurs who often rejected the office world and its constraints; yet, they ended up creating or joining co-working spaces to find some of the social norms and proximity they missed when working alone.
So can we find a balance between proximity and privacy? Part of the answer is in the nature of the work: Creative designers who spend most of their day brainstorming and collaborating do not have the same needs as financial analysts doing head-down individual work most of the day. The culture of the organization or company enters into play, too. Is spending half an hour chatting with your colleagues perceived as work or does work only count if an employee is sitting in front of a computer or in a meeting room with clients? Assessing the nature of the work and needs of employees, as well as recognizing the norms of each organization, are all vital steps in figuring out the right balance in spatial organization.
Here is my advice for managers: Be ready to reinterpret the open plan model more fluidly to account for multiple activities. Rather than one main open space with a few meeting rooms, have phone booths and “alcoves” for impromptu meetings. Play with the size of the meeting rooms, introduce library-type spaces for silent work, and plan for team project rooms or create "neighborhoods," with a mix of visual transparency and audio privacy, for different groups.
