Benefits of open space offices

Open-plan office space was invented almost half a century ago and today about two-thirds of offices are organized in this way. Let’s take a closer look at why it is so popular and why more and more businesses are switching to this method of organizing workspaces.

The essence of open space is quite simple: an office is a large room without internal partitions, in which all employees of the company work. The necessary minimum of furniture is used, and most of the space remains free. Workplaces are located linearly or in groups, sometimes small partitions are allowed. In some cases, separate areas are allocated to top managers, but more and more often they even organize their jobs alongside their subordinates.

At first glance, this format seems absolutely inconvenient, but many enterprises are increasingly giving preference to it. The experience of using open space has shown that it develops a team spirit, as it erases the barriers between the statuses of employees and contributes to their convergence and increasing work efficiency. Most of all, the positive aspects of open office space were appreciated by workers in creative business spheres (media, designers, advertising companies, IT specialists). Among the main advantages of open space are the following:

• Simplification of communication between employees and prompt resolution of issues requiring a collective approach;
• Convenience of control of work processes by management;
• Profitability (rent of open space office premises and their maintenance are cheaper in many cases);
• Minimization of conflict situations due to the lack of conversations “behind closed doors”;
• Opportunity for employees to better understand the mechanisms of the enterprise;
• More effective adaptation of new employees.

Often, the above factors contribute to the decision of company leaders to rent an open-type office, which helps to unite the team and significantly increase the effectiveness of the work done.