Open-plan offices don't work and will be replaced by the "coffice"

Maxime Matter                                                           Monday, March 7th, 2022                                                                      

Open-plan offices don't work and will be replaced by the "coffice"

        This document is an article written by Sarah Knapton. It was published in The Telegraph on October 1st in 2017. The main topic is the open plan offices.

How does open-plan offices affect the working atmosphere and how can it be solved?

First, we can study how open offices are saw by workers and how it impacts their work.

Secondly, we will be able to see how the coffice can be a solution.

        Open spaces were supposed to increase productivity, sociability, enhance teamwork and encourage an open flow of ideas between colleagues. But they present more drawbacks than the expected advantages. One of these is the noise which is the biggest barrier to a productive and pleasant workday. Workers are interrupted every three minutes by various distraction.

For some introvert workers, the large offices like open spaces are just bad, they can't focus on their tasks. As the Dr Nicole Millard, who is an expert in data analytics has said: "The trouble with open-plan offices is they are a one-size-fits-all model which actually fits nobody."

        Most firms believe that open-space workspaces will improve collaboration and camaraderie between two strangers at work. But in fact, the closer the employees are, the quieter they are if they don't know about each other, and if they are colleagues, they will just have small talks which lead to more distractions. With more distractions the productivity drops at its lowest and it’s the perfect opposite of the original purpose of the open plan office.

        Instead, Dr Millard has forecasts that some employees will become "shoulder-bag workers", carrying their offices in backpacks and collaborating in small teams in a coffee house, also known as coffices.

"Coffice" is the portmanteau-word for a coffee-shop and an office, it's used when a worker use a coffee house like his own office to work to. It allows workers to stop keeping switching tasks while working. By working in a coffice, they will no longer find several unclosed windows or unsent emails on their laptop due to the interruptions they at work. Workers can really focus and improve their productivity.

Coffice will have some benefits for the employees, they will have more comfort, they can choose the coffee-shop which they want to work in. They don't have to support and talk to the colleagues they don't like. If they want, they can take a time to rest, drink a coffee and eat something before they start to work again. There's still a background noise but it's way quieter than in an open space.

        To conclude, it seems obvious that open offices are doomed to disappear in order to make way for coffices, which offer new advantages in order to really increase productivity, or at least not to lower it. The open plan has begun with good intentions but now people are more likely to complain about noise pollution in open offices than in traditional workplaces, because it seems to reduce their productivity instead of increasing it.

        Therefore, coffice seems to be a great compromise between teleworking, hot desking, and the open plan office. You can take the desk you want, in the coffee shop you want, with only people you like to work with, which is way better for both employers, who will have better results and employees who will have a better work atmosphere.

...