Is this the end of any office?

The model of open space office It emerged to to encourage interaction and collaboration between teams., However, this has been questioned by many people over the years. In times when we need to limit proximity and social interactions, how will this model reinvent itself?

Several articles and studies (I will discuss some below) show how this model, of open spaces with a high concentration of people together, does not yield all the expected results. It is important to understand why we adopted this model, what benefits and drawbacks it brings, and how we can evolve from here.

How did we get here?

Open-plan offices are nothing new; they've existed since the early 20th century, but it was when Google renovated its headquarters in 2005 that this model became synonymous with success. Open, flexible, and activity-based spaces replaced cubicles and walls. Companies believed that by removing these barriers, they would increase visibility between people, collaboration and interaction between teams, and consequently, agility and productivity. Who hasn't heard: “"I want my office to look like Google's."”

There is also another, less exciting reason, which is the savings in fixed costs. Open-plan offices cost less because we can fit more people into fewer square meters. study A study by CoreNet Global showed that in the US, the square footage per employee fell from 76 m² in 2010 to 54 m² in 2013. Furthermore, an open-plan environment also facilitates planning for future growth, because if everything goes well in the business, it's just a matter of adding more desks to the space.

The upside of working in an open-plan office.

Being able to interact daily with people outside your team expands your horizons and can even provide insights during work. Furthermore, a single office space, with everyone together at the same type of workstation, can be less intimidating for some people. They won't feel embarrassed to knock on someone's door. This model, in fact, promotes greater interaction between people, provided they are at the same workstation or on the same floor. The more physically distant they are, the less they interact.

The key words here are interaction and collaboration.

Over the last 20 years, the time we have dedicated to “collaborative activities”"In offices, it increased by 50% or more.". Environments that encourage more frequent and higher-quality contact with other people improve communication and collaboration.

Another benefit not initially planned has to do with employee health. One publication in the British medical journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine reveals that Employees in open-plan offices tend to move around more at work., with 32% being more physically active than people working in private offices and 20% being more active than people working in cubicles. More importantly, the workers who were more active had “14% less physiological stress outside the office compared to those with less physical activity in the office”.

The not-so-good side of working in an open-plan office.

In open-plan offices, we are interrupted much more often. We notice this by the number of people using headphones.

We should treat open-plan offices like libraries, not chaotic kitchens.

Research shows that 65% Creative people need silence to do their best work.. When employees can't concentrate, they tend to communicate less. In an open environment, we have fewer deep conversations and more superficial conversations, because we know everyone can hear us.

One HBR study shows that Face-to-face interactions fell by approximately 701% after companies transitioned to open-plan offices, while electronic interactions increased to compensate., i.e, instead of encouraging collaboration, The completely open environment seemed to make people socially withdrawn. Employees created a fourth wall in relation to their peers and colleagues and almost ignored their existence. (when they are not interrupted).

Another very current concern, in fact, is how this office model can increase the spread of germs, increasing the frequency with which employees get sick. study A 2014 study analyzed sick leave rates in 1,852 Swedish companies and found that there was a "significant risk" for people working in open-plan offices.

One truth about open-plan offices is that they've become much less open over time, simply because we've started putting more people in the same space. That's a huge problem now that we need at least 1.5 meters of distance between people…

Okay, what do we do now?

We knew we needed to reinvent our offices even before the pandemic. At that moment, we realized that we could (in a way) work from home and maintain the quality of our work (imagine when we don't have all this fear as a backdrop). Many companies are already adopting home office permanently (even if this still generates some discussion).

The whole concept of open-plan offices emerged to encourage collaboration and interaction and to reduce organizations' fixed costs.

Today, we have several platforms that assist in collaborative work, whether they are video conferencing platforms, chat, file sharing, co-creation... in short, a multitude of technologies. This part seems to be a little more resolved.

To reduce fixed costs, nothing beats not having those costs at all! Okay, it's unlikely that companies will completely abandon a physical address, but they won't need everyone going to the office at the same time, and this will allow them to reassess their entire spatial needs. Imagine what will happen to the real estate market.

Well, practically speaking, how can we rethink these spaces and even our relationship with work?

1) We need to improve the work-from-home experience. This reality is here to stay, and we need to take care of our mental health to cope with it. FastCompany article It brings good tips for all of us.

2) Understanding the bottlenecks that prevent people from reaching the office. We already know three of them: public transportation, since only a minority commutes to work by car; building receptions, which are crowded; and the dreaded elevators, where it's impossible to maintain social distancing. Once these bottlenecks are identified, and a plan is in place to resolve them... (I don't have it yet), It is possible to adopt the following measures.

3) Redesign your office reception area. That super cool space, with a large reception desk, should function more as a sanitary barrier, where people will sanitize themselves and perhaps even change clothes. This doesn't mean that this place should be cold and completely aseptic, okay?

4) Adopt a circuit in the office, Like a toy car track, where people always move in the same direction, preventing them from crossing paths. It will be the end of hallway conversations (at least for now).

5) Ensure proper distancing between people. To achieve this, common areas like lounges and cafes will be significantly restricted. It's necessary to increase the spacing between desks or even (believe it or not…) create cubicles. If your office uses large countertops, simply skip one desk and arrange people in a zigzag pattern.

6) Prioritize the use of individual spaces, such as phone booths and smaller rooms (only one person, please).

7) Make large markings indicating where people can stand. It sounds silly, but these visual stimuli help a lot.

8) Create flexible partitions with whiteboards for writing. In addition to helping with physical separation in the environment, it aids in work and encourages discussion while maintaining the necessary distance.

9) Other important aspects include ensuring natural light enters the office and incorporating natural elements, such as plants. (This tip also applies to working from home.) Since we're spending more time looking at a screen, it's important to surround ourselves with as much nature as possible.

10) Finally, work by rotating employees. We need to understand how the dynamics of the different teams work and organize how they can use the space, one group at a time.

Even if it's possible to adopt all these tips, it's still important to understand that our need to go to the office has completely changed. Therefore, this environment needs to be increasingly inspiring so that we actually want to be there.