Open Office Plans or Activity-Based Work: Which Is Best for You?   Creating an office plan is a daunting task, especially when moving into a new office and starting from scratch. With so many factors to consider, it’s tempting to consider only costs and neglect the psychological factors of workplace design. Open-office plans are a new workplace design trend thanks to their adoption by tech giants and trending companies. But these open layouts have also presented many unforeseen problems, which forces many to innovate and rethink their office spaces. Activity-Based Work (ABW) environments are one of the favored outcomes: they incorporate the best of open office plans while avoiding some of the common pitfalls that hurt employee focus and productivity. Read below to understand more about both of these designs, and learn how to create an office layout to meet workplace needs and employee desires.

Open Office Layouts: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

As the name suggests, open offices are open spaces that contain no distinct rooms or divisions. Workstations are shared rather than divided, and there is minimal partitioning (if any) between employees, meeting rooms, and break rooms. The open office concept promised a lot improvements in redesigning traditional office spaces — and in many respects, it delivered on those alterations. When employees are not confined to cubicles or offices, they are more likely to interact with one another. A casual conversation in an open office space can lead to greater creativity and innovation because exchanging ideas isn’t limited to a scheduled meeting behind closed doors. Open offices are cost effective, too. With fewer walls to build and less furniture, office construction costs can be reduced by reduced by up to 20% with an open office plan. Open offices also contribute to energy savings because they create better airflow and harness more natural light. Yet an open office delivers more than collaboration and monetary savings — and some of these side effects aren’t for the better. Open offices are full of noise and distractions, both of which contribute to less effective employees. Between the visual distractions, noise pollution, and interruptions from coworkers, employees may find it more difficult to focus on their work in an open office. An open office may also cause employees to task-switch too often because they’re easily accessible for feedback, conversation, and collaboration — a habit that markedly decreases productivity. In one study, researchers found that workers who were interrupted during a task took an average of almost 25 minutes to return to the task at hand, which hurts employee time management and productivity. Open office environments also diminish privacy. Introverts in particular may suffer in an open office environment because there is no place to recharge. But this feeling isn’t solely reserved by introverts: employees across the board dislike the feeling of being monitored, and may feel resentful at the lack of trust implied. What’s worse is that employees whose jobs require confidentiality (such as HR) may find it difficult to do their jobs in an open space without compromising ethics.

Activity-Based Work Layouts: A Refined Solution

The major difference between an open office and an ABW environment is choice. ABWs provide the flexibility and versatility that open offices typically lack. Rather than forcing employees to conduct all types of work in one environment, ABWs offer a choice of multiple environments, with spaces tailored to particular tasks. These include options like:
  • Soundproof “phone booths” for personal or confidential calls
  • “Isolation rooms” for those who prefer or need to work undisturbed and undistracted
  • Tech-free lounges with couches for relaxation and socializing
  • Designated breakout areas for meetings and discussion
ABW is a model that appeals to all types of employees regardless of how their personal needs or job roles change during a given day. More importantly, ABW environments empower people to choose what works best for them, a feeling that directly translates to higher job satisfaction and increased productivity. Research shows that these “empowered offices” acknowledge an employee’s right and ability to govern their own behavior, which can increase employee productivity on cognitive tasks by 25% or more. ABWs also help facilitate an ergonomic office. It’s difficult to incorporate different types of chairs or desk options when workstations are shared, but it’s easy to offer a variety of options when your office layout includes a variety of rooms and spaces. Isolation rooms could be equipped with standing desks, while huddle rooms could offer fidget-friendly chairs that improve posture and core stability.

The Best of Both Worlds

ABWs offer the collaboration and innovation benefits of an open office design with options for quiet time and privacy if employees need it. Regardless of which design you choose, you’ll need to ensure your workplace is well-equipped to support healthy work initiatives. This starts with choosing ergonomic and active furniture to help your employees improve their posture and productivity. Visit the Back Store to learn how you can support employee health in your office layout with ergonomic furniture.