Open office layouts have become more popular as time has passed. Quickly adopted by Google, Yahoo, eBay, Goldman Sachs and American Express, the trend spread through Silicon Valley and began to take hold across the nation. Today many offices have converted to a more open layout. With over 70 percent of workplaces boasting low or no partitions, you might even be sitting in such a place right now.
The idea behind open offices is not a bad one. They are meant to create an unrestricted environment, increase verbal communication between employees and make the workspace feel less crowded. However, the main reason that this layout has been adopted so widely is that it apparently increases worker productivity. According to Lindsey Kaufman of the Washington Post, research shows that these purported benefits are not being realized in actual open offices.
"Employers are getting a false sense of improved productivity," says Kaufman. "A 2013 study found that many workers in open offices are frustrated by distractions that lead to poorer work performance. Nearly half of the surveyed workers in open offices said the lack of sound privacy was a significant problem for them and more than 30 percent complained about the lack of visual privacy."
Offices that would like a more open space, but want their employees to benefit from privacy, should look into 3M Farsara Decorative film, which can be used on glass partitions. Glass walls are not as isolating as typical, opaque cubical panels. Applying frosted or etched decorative window film can add the seclusion many workers desire. Michigan Glass Coatings can install the window film that best meets your company's and employees' needs.