Many critics and industry leaders were quick to declare the death of the open plan office at the height of the pandemic and the corporate world’s pivot to working from home. But with the proper adjustments to past oversights, the flexibility of the open plan can enable a variety of strategies to make return-to-office programs successful.
Well before Covid-19 became a ubiquitous term, the open plan office was a hotly debated concept. As companies turned in droves to knocking down walls and configuring open workstations, the results did not universally appeal to employees across industries.
Among the objections that surfaced, noise and distraction, lack of privacy, and presciently, health-related concerns over the spread of germs became part of the public conversation. Researchers studied the dynamics of open plans and produced mixed findings. Perhaps most famously, in 2019, Harvard Business School uncovered data using electronic sensors showing that collaboration and social interaction decreased in the workplaces it studied, countering one of the central claims of the design concept.
Yet open plan persisted. Appealing due to potential cost savings and space efficiencies, it remained a favorite with employers. Other users found merit in its tendency to increase daylight exposure, democratize access to upper management, and in the right line of work, enable teams to collaborate seamlessly.
As we now reflect on a period that saw our homes morph into our workplaces to counteract a virus, it’s not inappropriate to ask: is open plan dead? Should we heed the legitimate concerns of some employees and toss out the model? And is it a concept that perpetually threatens to interrupt business operations in future public health emergencies?
We invite you to download the full report below.
Learn how to avoid past open plan pitfalls and explore why the concept can be a highly flexible tool for companies to use in building high-performing, supportive workplaces in a post-pandemic and hybrid office.
Our team is committed to providing a framework for a thoughtful, inclusive and data-driven process to help you make the best decisions for your company.