![]() ![]() ![]() “Personally, I liked being in a coworking space because I was new to the city, and it was great for being social and meeting people,” says Madison Dapcevich, a reporter for IFL Science whose office is based in a San Francisco WeWork. Worried about distracting others or being overheard, the study says employees began to “socially withdraw.” Another study also published in 2018 shows fear of infection makes crowded spaces more psychologically stressful. In each case, they found face-to-face communication declined by 70 percent, while electronic communication increased. One 2018 study published by the Royal Society measured changes in employee habits when offices transitioned to open layouts. The effect has been a more distracted workforce. Unlike Wright’s original concept, which emphasized natural light and space between desks, today’s open offices are often used to cram more employees into smaller spaces. As office jobs increased after the 2008 recession, open office plans grew even more popular as a way to save on operational costs. Today, there’s no standard definition of what constitutes an open office, but generally the space is considered distinct from cubicles and characterized by having a short barrier or no barrier at all between employees. Eighty years later, designers and architects tout similar benefits, saying the open environment allows employees to collaborate more easily. ![]() The modern concept was made popular by early 20 th-century architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who believed the design would democratize the workplace by tearing down walls both literally and socially. In the long run, Sarva says, getting back to work is not just about floor plans, but about a dramatic shift in office life as we know it.Īs both a design trend and a cost-saving measure, open office arrangements have become increasingly common. “The broad stroke is that the open office is over, there’s a bunch of different things that that means,” says Amol Sarva, CEO of office interior design firm Knotel, whose clients include Uber and Netflix. Others, however, say the pandemic is the final straw for the open office. Most companies are only just beginning to think about how they might change their corporate workspaces, with some experts saying the open floor plan could be redone with better consideration for personal space and stricter cleaning schedules. “I am a little nervous about returning, only because I’m less than six feet away from three other people the entire time I’m working on my computer,” she says. Larick is set to return to her office on May 1, as Texas reopens non-essential businesses, though her asthma puts her at heightened risk for COVID-19 complications, and she’s requested an extension to work remotely. “Before, I requested to move to a corner desk to kind of get away from the coworkers who were more social and talkative,” says Ayla Larick, an employee at a Texas insurance broker. The list of grievances against crowded open office floor plans is mounting, and as state officials mull how to safely reopen offices shuttered by the coronavirus, some people are wondering whether the design is on its way out the door. Distracting, intrusive, and now a potential health hazard. ![]()
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