Open workplaces and productivity: do they come along together or not? Nowadays, open workspaces have become quite popular. Some companies move into open offices while some prefer to use old school ones. In this article we are going to be fair, and we will tell you the truth about open workspaces and productivity. Updated the situation in 2021.
Open Workplaces and Productivity: Advantages
1. Improved Personnel Management
Open workplaces allow you to work together with all your coworkers. For personnel managers that gives an opportunity to get quick responses from all the office subordinates. Monitoring employees makes everyone more responsible, and the relationship in the office gets more trustworthy. Having a constant contact with workers of all levels allows you monitor everyone, and gives you an opportunity to improve not just results of work but also personnel management on the whole.
2. Saved Money
This one seems weird. How can save money in an open office? Open offices are usually much smaller that regulate offices. Let us give you an example. A company X has 4 departments and it wants to have 5 rooms for each department and the heads of the company. First of all, it is quite difficult to find a place that matches the criteria of 5 rooms in a nice area. Secondly, the space required for 5 rooms is larger that the one for one office. You save not just space but also money.
3. Increased Flexibility
Open office allows you to be flexible. Flexible in terms of everything. Flexibility at work gives you a lot of benefits. Coming earlier or later at work allows you to dedicate more time to personal needs. Flexibility allows you to control your schedule. Reduced tiredness and absenteeism in the office will be almost not known to a company that works in an open office since everyone is working in one place.
4. Improved Communication
Having some small conversations here and there gives you a chance to improve communication skills. Why is it important for your productivity? When you do not know anything, you can sit and think, google the topic or talk to your coworkers. When feeling sad or happy, you can share your emotions with coworkers. All of these actions improve you communication in the office, and, therefore, boost your productivity.
5. Improved Collaboration
Working in an open workplace is ideal for gathering essential ideas really quick. You do not have to wait for the next meeting or for the next time you are going to meet up with this or that employee. You just stand up and come up to the person or people you want to share your ideas with, and they give you a quick feedback and your ideas get a very fast let go. Moreover, sharing different ideas with some other employees increases team work and critical thinking. Both skills are very useful for your office productivity.
Open Workplaces and Productivity: Disadvantages
1. Lack of Privacy
An open workspace can be a reason of privacy issues. Since all the workers are located in one office, at some point employees may face lack of privacy. Working together and sharing some personal things unintentionally may lead to misunderstandings and biased opinions. For example, looking for tickets for vacation or checking your private e-mail in an open workspace may lead to some problems.
2. Source of Distraction
Having coworkers constantly nearby may distract you. Some unnecessary conversations and questions may make you pay less attention to your actual tasks. Some stories from neighbours or gossips from girls with high probability make you think not about your assignments. Instagram stories and Twitter posts from neighbours can be another source of distraction in an open office. However, a wise time management and some time settings on Apps may be helpful if you are not always able to control your time.
3. Safe office in pandemic time (update 2021)
Offices around the world have been empty for a while depending on the lockdown period in each country. Some have open again, with safety measures and debates about how virus spread through ventilators. Open offices, specially, need to deal head-on with this issue. What is the future of open offices? Will it be working from home completely? Share your opinions in the comment section below.
Open Workplaces and Productivity: Conclusion
Open workplaces and productivity do come along. Yes, your productivity in an open office increases significantly. Owing to improved personnel management, better communication and collaboration, increased flexibility and saved money you will see how productivity in the office skyrockets.
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