Wide Open Space – Open Offices and Productivity Don’t Have to be Enemies

Back in the days of grim, gray cubicles divided by little more than gray composite-panel walls, the face of the average office worker was a little…well……gray. Everyone hated office life, and the claustrophobic booths of the average office were a very sad place. It didn’t matter how many photos of the family you tacked up on your dividers, how many holiday snaps you stacked in your drawers, or how much of a sense of humor you bought into work. In the end, cubicle work dragged everyone down into its lonely pit of conformity and anonymity. Killing productivity and creativity through bad design.  

Then, out of the oppressive and overwhelming grayness, someone had a bright idea. Open offices they shouted. Eureka! Only, like countless ideas before it, this bright spark wasn’t the first to think about open offices and productivity. It had been done before. A long time before in fact, when the idealistic dream of a bright and airy office space was itself a claustrophobic nightmare. You see, before cubicles were ever a thing, open offices were the norm. Think back to those 1920’s movies where rows of typists tap away on giant machines in unison. To the white-collar clerks furiously scribbling away on scores of desks. Working in an open-plan office was no revolution, it was in fact, the very thing that had caused people to switch to cubicles in the first place!

A Quick History of Office Evolution

The first working open offices were introduced by architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright at the beginning of the 20th century. Wright essentially saw walls as absolute tyrants in his architectural democracy, creating inequality in the workplace by chopping up space supposed to be used by all. The open office was the answer, only it wasn’t long before profit-savvy employers began to see dollar signs in all that empty space. The open office quickly transitioned from Zen-like utopia to factory-style assembly lines for the modern worker.

Enter Herman Miller. In 1960 Mr. Miller launched a furniture company with the idea of boosting open plan office productivity through the use of dividers. Miller’s idea was to create modular systems designed to break up all that empty space and create a better working environment for individuals. The office cubicle was born, but once again, those unscrupulous office managers saw the dollar signs stack up. Now, instead of employees crammed together in open spaces, they were squeezed into ever-shrinking cubicles.

The Open Office Today – The Good, the Bad, And the Ugly

So where do we stand today? Well, the current trend is to slam the open office, with many employees citing a lack of opportunities to collaborate effectively and a loss in concentration due to excessive noise. However, to a certain extent, experts are divided (possibly by those grey composite panels) as to whether the open office is a productivity killer or a productivity nirvana. But what are the pros and cons of the open office? And what makes open plan working so difficult to bear for many employees?

Open Offices for Open Collaboration

Of course, much has changed since those early days of office life, and while employee engagement and wellbeing were not priorities during the 20th century, they have become important tools for companies who want to keep the best talent on their payroll. When we think about the benefits of open-plan offices today, we think about Google’s playful and daring approach to collaboration or to Apple’s sleek and streamlined Apple Park. Places considered among the best places to work in the world.

So, is it possible that these open-plan offices reduce productivity? Well. Yes and no. As companies have copied the big guns in their efforts to attract talent, smaller budgets and less creative architects have designed places that aren’t always a joy to work in. However, that doesn’t mean the end of the open office as we know it, and Spike is among the innovators attempting to bridge the gap between liberating, collaborative workspace and the need to communicate freely and privately.

Real-time email balances private time with conversational communications. “Headphone culture” can actually be beneficial to staff (particularly for music lovers) helping them to get into the zone on produce some seriously good work. However, employees must have access to responsive and dynamic email chat. Conversational email is your go-to tool for the open office of today. It’s instant, accessible, and it keeps everyone connected even if they are locked into their screens.

Additionally, the most productive office layouts balance breakout spaces with private rooms and phone booths, provide cozy corners for people to sit and chat while keeping brightly lit open areas to bring a sense of freedom. There must always be a place for employees to get some real face-to-face collaboration in their day, and where managers can meet to discuss sensitive issues.

Naturally, the way you plan your office should reflect the people who work in it. Software engineers are a very different breed to content editors. Graphic designers have entirely different needs to data scientists. If there’s one surefire takeaway from the evolution of the open office then it’s this. Speak to your employees about what they need for optimal productivity and NEVER, see dollar signs in place of individuals when planning your office space.