An open plan office, why it’s important to get it right
The open plan office concept
The idea of an open plan office has been around a while now, but in recent years it has come under fire, some research has actually suggested that working in an open plan office decreases employees job satisfaction and reduces productivity. However, the idea of using an open plan is to try and increase communication, enable employees to openly share their ideas and overall increase productivity.
At Studio44, we have a very open plan office, and it’s not just by chance, it was a decision specifically made because as a business, having an open office works for us. We think it works for the following reasons:
Teamwork & communication
As most of our clients know, with Studio44, we have a process and generally speaking, every member of our team will contribute to your project at some point, whether it be an initial meeting with Doug, discussing designs with Francois, general management of the project with James and Laura, or developing your SEO with Emily once the site is live, and this is just to name a few! Each member of the team is essential to your project, and that’s one reason why an open office space is important to us – we constantly work as a team and our creative characters enable us to bounce ideas off each other and work collaboratively!
Happy staff
If employees are sitting within the same vicinity of each other, we hear what one another are discussing, not only is this good for understanding the clients we’re all working with, but it also helps with our general thoughts on work. Whether it be good or bad, it enables everyone to offer guidance where necessary or share our thoughts and opinions.
Equality
Having an open plan space also diminishes a sense of a hierarchy: this is particularly key with us. Each employee has their own unique role and skill, and everyone is as important as the next person. This comes across in the open plan office space.
It’s who we are
We also think that having an open space paints a picture of who we are. When clients come and visit the office, it’s clear to them that we work as a collective – there’s no concern that your project could get lost in communication because staff don’t speak to each other. We’re a close-knit team, which portrays our brand: we like to think we’ve got friendly faces and our positive, hardworking vibe comes across to our clients, too, and an open plan office helps facilitate this vibe.
Now we’re not saying an open plan office is good for everyone, and we do notice some negatives with it, but with good management, a loss of productivity can be avoided.
If you fancy popping in for a chat, or to simply have a nose at the office – let us know!!
