The future of office design
By NICOLE DAMICO, SHANDA KERSEY & SEAN PERRY
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writers
What this story covers
Open-concept offices have become increasingly popular — and controversial. Companies are adopting new and improved ways to make the workspace more inviting and comfortable by blending open floorplans with private workspaces.
Why it matters
Companies are thinking about how to design their offices with employee tasks in mind. The physical environment of the workspace has proven to key in getting employees in the door and keeping them satisfied.
For decades, offices meant cubicles, corner offices, fluorescent lighting and beige walls. These spaces were functional, if not inspiring.
Then, spurred in part by the egalitarian ethos of Silicon Valley, the open-concept office became en vogue. Walls were eliminated both literally and metaphorically — allowing employees to share space and, in theory at least, collaborate with co-workers more seamlessly.
But then, this happened…
Laugh of the Day: I hate open office designs. They are a “salt mine” mentality. Very Dickensian. #humor #cartoon #openOffice #office #job pic.twitter.com/BtP6Y2MT55
— Ken Bodnar (@ArtofWarm) May 5, 2019
By removing cubicles and other private spaces, open office plans don’t “unleash creativity” so much as outsource the work of privacy-construction to individual employees. https://t.co/ZUw1oP87pT
— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) April 26, 2019
Those who champion open-plan offices seem to have forgotten the importance of being able to concentrate on your work https://t.co/UC5m1FbPzB
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) May 2, 2019
Employees (and critics) rebelled. While the open-office concept worked for some employees and in some situations, it didn’t for others. So, what’s a company to do?
[infogram id=”office-space-data-viz-1-1h7g6ko1nk1g2oy?live”]
In recent years, some have responded with a hybrid approach — providing plenty of shared spaces but also private offices for employees who need solitude for certain tasks. In this video, Watchdog reporters examine how two companies thought through their office re-designs with functionality in mind.
