Office reluctance:
Open plan might be a reason to stay away from the office
Image: livestockmanagementsystems.co.uk
What if part of the reason people are staying home is that the office is not a good place to work?
Office workers around the world are settling into a pattern of hybrid work – work from home some days, in the office the remainder.
The conventional view is that this is mostly driven by workers' need to balance home and work responsibilities, especially those with families.
But is there more to staying home than fitting in the demands of the family? There is compelling evidence that many offices are not a good place to work.
A systematic study by New Zealand researchers Rachel Morrison and Keith Macky found that the more the office tended to open-plan, with the extreme being hot-desking (find a workstation and plug-in) – the more that people found their work unpleasant.
They reported more negative interactions, more social demands and distractions, and more uncooperative behaviours. Perhaps as a result – lower levels of trust.
This is in an open environment that is purported to build collaboration and creativity.
Amazingly – Morrison and Macky found that support from colleagues and managers was lower in these extreme open plan environments.
Staying home might mean less unpleasant distractions, and paradoxically, more useful support from your boss and your work-mates.
Researcher Morrison of AUT responded (in an email interview) to the perplexing result that more visible staff in open plans experienced less support from their managers. I suggested to her that this was because a lack of private space might mean less opportunity for candid feedback. Her reply: “We thought perhaps that when you see your manager “all the time”, dedicated, one-to-one, supportive meetings might go by the way-side … if you are watched all the time, your manager may be more aware of small transgressions or slacking off and that might get mentioned (fewer good interactions and more negative ones perhaps).”
There is an upside to this. Offices can be designed to be more responsive to work requirements. And there is research evidence that this does help.
Architect Chris Scott, a partner at architectural powerhouse Jasmax, contributed to a recent panel discussion on hybrid work. Jasmax is designing office and educational environments that provide different working opportunities. This approach has a name: ‘activity-based design’.
For Scott it’s about providing workers with choice – so they can match their work needs with the appropriate venue. “It used to be about reducing floor area. In the US it's the reverse – increasing floor area. You are supplying an amenity to give choice.” These workspaces include meeting spaces, recording booths, quiet spaces for study and concentration, as well as the obvious workstations and coffee zones.
Rachel Morrison did another pre-pandemic study (with Roy Smollen) – this time in a work environment designed around ‘activity-based’ thinking. The staff of a law firm were surveyed 6 months, and then 14 months after moving to an ‘open plan’ office. The 101 survey respondents (some were also interviewed) reported collegiality and communication were good. What did the office design include? Among other features:
· 28 soundproof collaboration rooms
· An internal library to facilitate concentrated work
· A lunchroom ‘with a garden café feel’, and tables used by groups of employees, including senior partners ‘who would have no reason to interact in the usual course of their day’
· Large conference rooms available to book for larger meetings or clients
Does your employee proposition not only include support for flexible work, but also an office environment that fits around your people’s work needs? Meeting those needs means both accessible spaces, and encouragement to use them.
Stewart Forsyth is an organisational psychologist and executive coach and also the author of 21 Remarkable People – available from Amazon or Apple or other eBook sources.