Half a century ago, the original intention of the open office platform was to promote employee cooperation and improve production efficiency.

Since the 1960s, office layouts without walls and partitions have been at the forefront of design. The first application for this layout was the German company, Schnell.

Employees are concentrated in a public area to facilitate supervisory supervision and strengthen communication between colleagues.

Because an open plan office layout helps optimize ground usage, this office layout, from then on, has been quickly followed by many companies.

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Open plan office design can show workflows in a highly transparent manner, many companies also view the establishment of an open work platform as a means of presenting a corporate culture.

At present, 70% of workplaces in the United States are in this form. In China, the design of conference rooms and offices of many companies can be seen as open styles.

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Open plan office is the mainstream layout widely accepted and applied by more and more companies in today. 

Employees in an open plan office can share space, reduce operating costs, promote mutual communication, and stimulate ideas.

Many companies are actively embracing offices of this kind, only a few companies show their persistence in traditional closed offices. 

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But the most recent researches show that employees’ productivity in open plan offices can be reduced by 15%.

Besides that, they feel harder to stay focused on their jobs and have a higher risk of illness.

All these unfavorable factors cast much doubt on the long-touted advantages.

 

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So, why open plan offices fail to promote work efficiency? You may find the answer to this question by viewing the following explanations.

Focus entails efficiency

One of the important reasons why people like closed offices with walls and doors that can be closed is that this environment can help us concentrate. 

In fact, we can’t handle multiple tasks at the same time, even a short time mind-absence leads to long mind distraction up to 20 minutes. 

What’s more, certain open spaces can negatively impact our memory. 

People don’t collaborate 

like we think

For many people, the most annoying thing is the noise. Professors at the University of Sydney found that about 50% of people in a fully open office are dissatisfied with voice privacy. 

In a compartment with a low wall, this ratio is also close to 60%. In comparison, only 16% of people in closed offices have the same feeling.

They conducted surveys of people in various office environments to find out their dissatisfaction with their environment. 

The results show that closed offices outperform open offices in 14 aspects, including temperature, air quality, and sound privacy.

When designing office space, the company should pay attention to combining the requirements of closed space and open interaction to offer employees a varied working environment. 

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Following are some tips on relieving yourself from an open plan office.

• Take a break 

Studies have shown that noise associated with open plan offices can put pressure on people, so you should consider scheduling regular breaks and leaving the office on a regular basis to ease stress and bring the physiological system back to the best condition. Taking a few minutes off, such as going out for a few minutes of magazines or relaxing in the park, can give you the motivation to get the job done.

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• Stay alone for a while

In an open office environment, the need for privacy and solitude cannot be met, so create this atmosphere yourself. You can take a walk alone during the lunch break. If there is a single room that can be used for staying alone for a while and concentrate, go to this room. If there is a corner where you can work quietly, that is also very good.

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• Play music 

You can eliminate the noise around by playing music. If you like to listen to music while you work, it is best to choose positive types.