The study found that employees working in small numbers (3 to 9 people) and medium-sized (10 to 20 people) in open-plan offices reported lower levels of well-being and ease of interaction with other employees.

“The open plan offices may have short-term financial benefits, but these benefits may be substantially lower than the costs associated with decreased job satisfaction and well-being,” Dr Otterbring further commented.

“Therefore, decision-makers should consider the impact of a given office type on employees rather than focusing solely on cost-effective office layout, flexibility, and productivity.”

It’s not the first time the productivity of open-plan offices has been contested. In 2017, a BT futurologist, Dr Nicole Millard said that large open-plan offices are inefficient and would soon die out. Instead, we would all carry our office in our backpacks and work in small teams in coffee shops.

“The trouble with open-plan offices is they are a one-size-fits-all model which actually fits nobody,” Millard said.

“We’re interrupted every three minutes. It takes us between eight and 20 minutes to get back into that thought process. Email. We get too much. Meetings, colleagues. It’s all distracting.

“So we will become shoulder bag workers. Our technology has shrunk so we can literally get our office in a small bag. We are untethered, we don’t have to have a desk anymore.”

Let’s see what the future holds for our workspaces…

Images: iStock

The surprising effect an open-plan office has on your emotional well-being