Moving from a cell into open plan

The occupational health researcher Kaarlela-Tuomaala surveyed 31 workers before and after they moved out of one-person rooms into open-plan offices holding more than twenty people, and measured the room acoustics at both. Speech privacy fell significantly. The noise level averaged over the whole working day did not change at all; what changed was its variability, which fell. Distraction rose, privacy fell, concentration got harder and people used more coping strategies. Self-rated loss of work performance because of noise doubled. Cognitively demanding work and telephone conversations were the two things most disturbed. The benefits usually given as the reason for such a move did not appear, and cooperation was rated as less pleasant than before.

The psychologist Helena Jahncke tested 113 employees from five offices before and after a move into an activity-based workplace. Beforehand, those in shared and open-plan offices scored 14% worse on a concentration-demanding task than those in cell offices, and an acoustician measured the cell offices as 15 decibels quieter. After the move, moving from the active zone into the quiet zone raised performance by 16.9%, and into an individual room by 21.9%.

The occupational health researcher Jan Hyld Pejtersen surveyed 2,301 occupants of 22 office buildings, eleven naturally and eleven mechanically ventilated, at a response rate of 72%. 9 of the buildings were mainly cellular, 5 mainly open-plan and 8 a mixture. Occupants of open-plan offices were more likely to perceive thermal discomfort, poor air quality and noise, and complained more often of central nervous system and mucous membrane symptoms. The link between office size and the psychosocial factors was weak, so the complaints track the room and not the job.

The built environment researcher Thomas Parkinson analysed previously unpublished responses from over 600 office buildings in the Center for the Built Environment database; the paper gives the buildings and not how many people answered. 81% of respondents were dissatisfied with at least one aspect of their workspace and 67% with more than one. Acoustics led, driven by people talking, speech privacy and telephones, followed by a perceived lack of control over the temperature and insufficient space. Occupants of open-plan offices with low or no partitions were almost twice as likely to complain as someone in a private enclosed office, and being near a window lowered the likelihood of dissatisfaction.

The design researcher Susanne Colenberg screened 2,816 papers and kept 50 that addressed the interior of an office in relation to physical, psychological or social wellbeing. The evidence has accumulated in a few places only. Open-plan offices, shared rooms and higher background noise are negatively related to health. Daylight, individual control and greenery, real or artificial, are positively related to physical and psychological wellbeing, and aspects that encourage physical activity to physical wellbeing.

Parkinson’s 600 buildings and Pejtersen’s 2,301 occupants are the two large cross-sections. Colenberg pools 50 papers. Kaarlela-Tuomaala and Jahncke both measured the same people before and after a move, with 31 and 113 participants, which is the design that answers the question and the smallest sample here.