In open offices, employees are more often ill and worse off.

According to statistics from the International Association of Management, 70% of Americans work in open-plan offices (open plan). Recently, an open workspace has become extremely fashionable due to its low cost, simplicity and ease of personnel management. But how does an open office affect productivity and work comfort?

Quartz has published an excellent selection of links to research in this area. Practically everything indicates that it is quite difficult to work in open offices.

First, employees are sick more often . A scientific study published in the “Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health” showed that employees from private offices miss an average of 4.9 days a year due to illness, while employees of open-type offices (more than 6 people) - on average, 8.1 days . It is possible that viruses spread more easily in open rooms than in individual rooms with doors. Another suggestion is that employees in open spaces experience more stress, which is why their immunity is reduced.
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Another study by Hong Kong Polytechnic University found the most annoying factors that affect the productivity of office workers. In the words of the workers themselves, this is ambient noise, uncomfortable air temperature, uncomfortable arrangement of workplaces in the office, air quality, lighting. Tellingly, these factors have a much stronger effect on older employees than on young ones, with noise and temperature having the most influence.

A survey of European office workers shows that they tend to even skip work because of uncomfortable working conditions in the office. On average, employees skip for this reason 2.5 working days per year .

In the end, even American studies show that employees from open offices suffer from motivation, job satisfaction and productivity compared to employees in private offices or in their home office. As in previous research, here researchers point to serious distractions, such as outside conversations.

By the way, the largest open office in the world is owned by Facebook: in August last year they began to expand the space for developers with an area of ​​40,000 m ² , without offices and partitions. For comparison, the area of ​​a standard football field is 7140 m ² . Facebook management prefers to keep office temperatures around 15 ° C. Probably to increase productivity.