A report synthesising the results of studies on open-plan offices in various fields of research analyses the possible impacts on the work environment. The report suggests that open-plan offices do not determine specific work environment outcomes. Nevertheless, noise, distance to daylight, increased cognitive demands, lack of privacy and employees experiencing loss of individual control are reported as typical work environment issues.
The Danish Work Environment Council for Finance/Public Office and Administration (Branchearbejdsmiljørådet for Finans/Offentlig Kontor og Administration, BAR FOKA) published a recent report amalgamating existing research results concerning open-plan offices (Arbejdsmilø i åbne kontorer). The report focuses on the themes mentioned by various researchers who were interviewed for the purpose of the report and, thus, presents the results from several fields of research.
About the study
As noted, the report brings together information gathered through various research initiatives on open-plan offices in Denmark. The results presented here have been taken from quantitative as well as qualitative research.
The results (in Danish) on the significance of workplace culture are based on ethnographic research in the communication and marketing department of a large pharmaceutical company. In total, 30 in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted.
Results on physical factors are based on a study (in Danish) conducted by the National Research Centre for the Working Environment (Det Nationale Forskningscenter for Arbejdsmiljø, NFA) among 2,300 employees distributed throughout 22 workplaces. Findings on physical factors were also taken from a survey (in Danish) by the Danish Building Research Institute (Statens Byggeforskningsinstitut, SBi) among 1,823 employees working in open-plan offices.
Meanwhile, results on cognitive demands and lack of privacy were taken from an NFA survey of international literature. This report (in Danish) comprises research results from 47 studies on open-plan offices.
Findings on management were drawn from an unpublished report on the work environment in knowledge-intensive companies, compiled by the Technical University of Denmark (Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, DTU).
Significance of workplace culture
Psychosocial work environment problems arising in open-plan offices vary according to individual workplaces. Moreover, researchers point out that the open-plan office itself does not necessarily cause changes in the psychosocial work environment. Rather, it seems to function as a setting that reinforces the behavioural practices already inherent in the workplace culture. Thus, increased knowledge sharing and increased stress or noise, for example, are not solely determined by the physical work arrangement.
However, some general trends have been observed.
Traditional factors in new workplace settings
Apart from the factors traditionally associated with the work environment in offices, a range of topics seem to relate specifically or in specific ways to open-plan offices. Factors relevant to open-plan offices include:
- noise and acoustics;
- lighting;
- indoor climate.
According to researchers at NFA, inconvenience from noise and poor acoustics in the office environment decrease proportionally with the number of individuals present in a particular office space. Moreover, the SBi survey finds that dissatisfaction with the level of noise, temperature and heat conditions in the office environment increases with distance to the nearest windows or access to daylight. However, inconvenience from noise may also relate to the psychosocial environment. Research indicates that problems actually related to psychosocial factors may become manifest in complaints over matters more tangible than human relations, for example noise and indoor climate.
In general, employees meet some challenges in accommodating an open-plan office. Individuals have very different preferences in relation to factors such as lighting or temperature and they display great variation in their sensitivity to noise.
Increased cognitive demands and lack of privacy
Other main challenges in arranging open-plan offices seem to evolve around increased cognitive demands, management and lack of privacy.
The NFA literature review reveals that there may be a tendency towards increased cognitive demands in open-plan offices, compared with more traditional office arrangements. Furthermore, the open-plan office requires that special care is taken in managerial practices in order to avoid placing specific employees in a negative view. The latter seems to correspond with the idea that the most common complaint in open-plan offices is lack of privacy.
Commentary
Some work environment problems described in the BAR FOKA report seem to relate mostly to the transition to open-plan offices. Many researchers note that a close link may emerge between the employees reporting work environment problems and an experience of loss of individual control – for example, the possibilities of closing the office door for privacy and turning on the heating. However, open-plan offices are a topic of research yet to be fully examined on a large-scale empirical basis.
Rune Holm Christiansen and Helle Ourø Nielsen, Oxford Research