Open-plan offices were seldom particularly popular before the pandemic, but with Covid-19 highlighting the benefits of remote working, their stock has seldom been lower.  If ever you needed any additional evidence, however, a recent study from Bond University highlights how open-plan offices have a very real physiological stress on our bodies.

Indeed, the research found that the noise from the environment can heighten our negative mood by up to 25%, with this result achieved after exposure to such an environment for just eight minutes at a time.  The researchers suggest that when exposed to longer periods, as we would be in a real office, the impact could be even greater.

Noisy offices

The researchers developed a simulated office setting to examine the impact of both a quieter private office and a typical open-plan office on a range of measures of our wellbeing and performance.  The environment included a range of typical noises, from people speaking to telephones ringing and keyboards clanking.

Volunteers were asked to complete a simulated work task in both conditions, while the heart rate and sweat response was also measured to gauge the physiological stress being felt.  The researchers also used facial emotion recognition software to analyze the emotional responses of each participant, who were also asked to complete a mood scale assessment.

The results show that even after a short exposure to the open-plan office, the sweat response of participants rose by 34% and the negative mood by 25%.  While this didn’t immediately correlate with reduced work performance, the researchers believe that prolonged exposure would inevitably result in a drop-off in productivity as well as wellbeing.

The pandemic has provided an obvious shift in our exposure to remote work and subsequently our tolerance for open-plan office environments.  A number of surveys have shown the growing willingness of employees to seek alternative employment if open-plan office work is mandated after the pandemic restrictions ease, so there is clearly a growing demand for employers to try and provide a healthy work environment.

Open-plan offices have come to dominate the knowledge work environment, due in large part to the cost-effectiveness of such a layout, but while this probably means they won’t be going away any time soon, hopefully, the pandemic will prompt a rethink of just how wise they are in the longer term.