As people are returning to offices again the various peculiarities of office life begin to rear their head once more.  This is especially so in open-plan office environments that operate a hot desk policy.  New research from University College London might help those among us pondering where exactly is the best place to sit to enhance our productivity, teamwork, and productivity.

The researchers examined a number of floors of the London headquarters of a major technology firm before the pandemic.  They gathered information from employees via a staff survey that aimed to capture their satisfaction with the workplace, including its meeting rooms and workspaces.  Each participant also revealed their seating arrangement via a marked floor plan.

Optimal position

The study shows that when people are able to work with a lot of other desks in their field of vision, they would be less likely to rate their workspace favorably.  The researchers argue that this is because of the increase in distractions this position affords, while also making it harder to talk to colleagues without disturbing others.

Similarly, people whose desks facing away from the primary area of the room also reported dissatisfaction with their workspace, with the authors arguing that this could be because of a perceived lack of control over their environment.  Workers in both of these scenarios rated teamwork, collaboration, and cohesion negatively.

Those who fared better seemed to face the room and had relatively few desks in their immediate line of sight.  They would rate both their individual productivity and focus highly as well as their ability to work effectively as a team.  This phenomenon was increased for those who were situated next to windows.  Indeed, so powerful was this effect that workers with greater visual control over their environment were 40 times more likely to rate their environment positively.

While the authors accept that their findings have come from the exploration of a single workplace, so may not translate well into other environments.  Nonetheless, they hope that their research will remind managers that no two desk positions should be viewed equally, as they will likely have a significant impact on employee productivity and wellbeing.

“Staff in smaller open-plan spaces and those facing the room reported higher satisfaction with team cohesion, sharing information with colleagues, concentration and working productively,” the researchers explain. “Our findings raise important questions regarding the current popular practice in workplace design of providing large open-plan offices for technology companies.”