Yes, open-plan offices can hurt productivity, particularly when work requires sustained concentration and employees are exposed to speech, interruptions, or limited privacy. Reviews generally associate open-plan settings with poorer productivity and other employee outcomes than enclosed offices, but results vary by layout, job, worker, and outcome measure. An open office is not guaranteed to lower everyone’s output—and a shared room does not automatically improve collaboration.
Why can an open office make focused work harder?
Noise and distraction, reduced privacy, lighting and glare, and temperature control are recurring concerns in comparisons of office environments. Speech can be especially disruptive when someone is trying to concentrate, while limited visual privacy may make it harder to feel comfortable doing individual work. These are environmental factors that can affect a workday; they do not prove that every employee in every open office will be less productive.
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A 2005 systematic review found strong evidence of reduced privacy and job satisfaction in open workplaces, and limited evidence of increased cognitive workload. It recommended attention to acoustic and visual protection. The review does not establish that any particular screen, headset, or other product restores productivity.
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Several reviews report more negative outcomes in open-plan workplaces than in enclosed or individual offices, though they use different study sets and measures. A 2021 review included 31 direct-comparison papers selected from 10,242 screened papers; it found open-plan designs associated with more negative outcomes across many measures of health, satisfaction, productivity, and social relationships. A 2018 review of 15 relevant studies reported consistent adverse effects on health, well-being, and productivity in shared or open-plan spaces compared with individual offices.
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A 2023 review of 46 empirical articles, selected from 429 papers published between 2005 and 2022, concluded that open-plan concepts can reduce real-estate costs while lowering performance. It frames performance as dependent on several dimensions, including the work itself, fit with employees, satisfaction, health, and management or other enabling conditions.
These are review counts, not estimates of how many workers are affected or how large the productivity change is. The reviews also include different outcome measures, and much of the underlying evidence is observational or based on employee reports. Their findings support treating the risk seriously, not claiming that open offices cause a uniform drop in output for every person.
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Do open offices improve collaboration?
Not reliably, based on the available direct comparisons. The 2021 review concluded: “Furthermore, the empirical evidence does not support the anecdotal claims of increased collaboration and communication between open-plan office workers.” A shared room may make colleagues physically closer, but proximity alone is not evidence of better communication or teamwork.
That does not mean open spaces cannot support social interaction. It means organizations should assess whether a layout actually helps the interactions employees need, rather than assuming that removing walls will create collaboration.
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Does the specific layout matter?
Yes. “Open office” covers different arrangements, and evidence about one configuration should not be treated as proof about all of them. In a 2020 pilot at one technology company, zoned open-plan and team-office designs performed better than the unzoned open-plan design tested on reported satisfaction, enjoyment, flow, and productivity. This is a useful example of layout-specific results, not a universal ranking: it involved one organization and a limited set of designs.
Activity-based workplaces also need to be distinguished from a single, undifferentiated open room. A 2023 systematic review covering 23 investigations from 2000 to 2020 found that comparisons with cellular offices favored cellular offices across measured categories except physical activity, for which the review found no data. Comparisons with other office types tended to favor activity-based workplaces as the number of people in the comparison office increased. The result depends on what the activity-based workplace is compared with.
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How should an organization choose an office layout?
Compare the options against the work employees actually do, not against a general claim that open or enclosed offices are best. A useful assessment should consider:
- Focus demands: How much work requires sustained attention or cognitive performance?
- Acoustic and visual privacy: Can employees work without disruptive speech or unwanted exposure?
- Health and satisfaction: What do employees report about their ability to work and their well-being?
- Interaction needs: Which kinds of collaboration are needed, and does the proposed layout support them in practice?
- Choice and support: Are quiet or enclosed spaces available, and can people match their setting to the task?
- Operating trade-offs: How do space and real-estate costs compare with performance, privacy, satisfaction, and health?
Enclosed rooms may suit focused knowledge work, while zoned or activity-based arrangements can provide options for different tasks when they are competently supported. Any redesign should consider acoustic and visual protection, access to quiet spaces, and whether employees can choose a setting appropriate to the task. Evidence supports treating these as design considerations; it does not establish that a particular desk divider or other consumer product will improve measured productivity.
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What the evidence can—and cannot—establish
The reviews differ in inclusion criteria and measures, and many underlying studies are observational or rely on employee reports. That makes it difficult to attribute every reported outcome to the office layout alone. The technology-company pilot offers an experimental example, but its single-company setting and limited design choices cannot settle what will work elsewhere.
For organizations considering a redesign, the most defensible conclusion is to weigh potential space savings against the work environment employees need. The systematic review of office innovation concluded that ergonomists can play a meaningful role in safeguarding workers’ job demands, resources, and well-being.
Quick Recap
Sources
- Gerlitz and Hülsbeck, “The productivity tax of new office concepts,” Management Review Quarterly (published online January 5, 2023): review of office-concept productivity evidence.
- James, Delfabbro, and King, “A Comparison of Psychological and Work Outcomes in Open-Plan and Cellular Office Designs,” SAGE Open (published online January 22, 2021): direct comparison review.
- de Croon and colleagues, “The effect of office concepts on worker health and performance,” American Journal of Industrial Medicine (2005): systematic review.
- Richardson and colleagues, “Office design and health: a systematic review” (2018): review of studies published from 2000 through 2017.
- “The work environment pilot: An experiment to determine the optimal office design for a technology company,” PLOS One (2020): single-company pilot.
- “The effects of activity-based workplaces on contributors to organizational productivity: A systematic review” (2023): review of studies from 2000 through 2020.
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