Five deadly sins when planning open-plan offices

An open office environment should support the intellectual freedom of employees. Many office consultants are now of this opinion. For this to succeed, it requires good planning and implementation. The following serious mistakes should be avoided when introducing open-plan office environments:

Planning error 1: Focus on saving space

The main motive for entrepreneurs to increasingly rely on open-plan offices is still to save cost-intensive square meters. Timo Brehme, consultant at conceptsued in Munich: "Under the guise of more open communication, workspaces are being cramped. In the process, many entrepreneurs forget how important value-added and collaboration spaces are in such a concept. Only with them can workflows actually be optimized and communication accelerated. Those who do not invest in retreat islands and well thought-out meeting places prevent teamwork instead of promoting it. Entrepreneurs should also be aware of this: Room costs are often much lower than personnel costs. But the added value from investing in employee well-being is much more sustainable than could be achieved by saving space."

Planning error 2: The employee has no voice in the change process

Generations born around the 1990s grew up in a globalized and digitized world. They often learned to be flexible, mobile and to work in a team as early as elementary school age. Best agers, on the other hand, have spent most of their working lives in small office units and with factual work on the PC. That's why there's a lot of fuel in the fire when entrepreneurs suddenly plan open-space offices. Many bosses nevertheless present their team with a fait accompli instead of involving them in the change management process. This preprograms the failure of acceptance. "Telling your employees, 'Here's your new open-plan office, deal with it,' doesn't work. Every employee is a human being with needs, habits and fear of change. Employees must therefore be involved in the change process at an early stage - and within a framework set by management," says Brehme.

Planning error 3: Inadequate technical equipment

Today, employees no longer want or need to physically sit in a fixed place in order to work effectively. Instead of paying attention to on-site working hours, many entrepreneurs have therefore long relied on target agreements. However, to ensure that the goals can be achieved and that employees can be reached by colleagues and customers at any time, both in the open space office and in the home office, entrepreneurs must invest in the appropriate technology. For example, employees need to be equipped with mobile devices. Cloud-based working opens up further possibilities. Data must be accessible from anywhere in the world. Different employees must be able to work on a file in real time. Digital signatures should be made possible, as should online access to business transactions. This is the only way to create a flexible office structure, while reducing storage space and integrating social change into office culture. In other words, space, organization and technology must fit together.

Planning error 4: Lack of retreat options

Those who work in open space need places of retreat for concentrated work. Entrepreneurs often forget to provide these in sufficient quantity. "Company bosses must ensure that the ratio between communicative and concentrated work is balanced. Otherwise, employees very quickly become dissatisfied," says Timo Brehme. According to the expert, there is no rule of thumb for the distribution of space, because this depends heavily on the intended use and the premises themselves. However, places of retreat do not necessarily have to be individual rooms that can be closed off. Think tanks, telephone booths or intelligent furnishings can also create retreat zones, mobility and different working atmospheres within open-plan offices.

Planning error 5: Too many disruptive factors

Noise is the first factor that comes to mind for business owners and employees when they think of sources of disruption in an open-plan office. In fact, however, it is not only necessary to plan the acoustics in the office environment. Timo Brehme: "When it comes to an optimal workflow and well-being at the workplace, room planners have to keep visual stimuli in mind as well as noise levels or room reverberation. Traffic routes play an important role here. For example, where are sofa landscapes set up, where a lounge? Brehme: "Placing a chic sofa next to workstations may be visually appealing, but functionally it's nonsense. After all, who is supposed to sit down here to talk to customers on the phone while their colleagues are working next door? In addition, customer traffic must also be taken into account. External persons such as clients or beverage suppliers should not have to pass through open-plan offices. That distracts employees unnecessarily."

Source and further information: conceptsued GmbH