Having been an office worker-bee in the past, one of the things I felt strongly about was having somewhere to which I could ‘escape from my desk’.
My office back then was open-plan and probably the least productive place I could have been. Open-plan offices are often favoured by companies looking to save some money. More employees can be crammed into a smaller space.
Beyond potential economies, however, there are also supposed communication benefits. The idea is that open spaces foster more communication between employees and increase their sense of community. However, a recent study based on a survey of over 42,000 US office workers in 303 office buildings finds no evidence to support this whatsoever. This study (and others) lead us to understand that open-plan offices are not the best places for many of us.