In case you still needed persuading that open-plan offices were devised by Satan himself in one of the deepest caverns of hell, the Harvard Business Review delves into new research showing just how frustrating people find them – and just how paltry, on the other side of the scale, are the benefits they bring. Using data from surveys of 42,700 American office workers, researchers Jungsoo Kim and Richard de Dear conclude that it’s not other people’s mess that bothers us the most, nor lack of personal space, nor even noise level per se, so much as a “lack of sound privacy” – hearing other people’s conversations, and perhaps equally crucially, knowing that other people can hear yours. 

Anyone who’s experienced the paralysing self-consciousness of trying to conduct a sensitive phone call in the knowledge that four or five colleagues can follow every word won't be surprised by the results: almost 60% of cubicle workers and half of all those in fully open-plan offices cited lack of sound privacy as a frustration, making it the most prevalent annoyance by far. That cubicle-dwellers are even more likely to be bothered than their “partition-less” colleagues suggests it’s even worse when you can’t see who’s talking – or who might be listening in. 

Via theguardian.com >

As millennials continue to progress in their careers, the workplace conversation is already turning - designers are starting to plan for a new crop of young workers with divergent needs: Generation Z. With the first of this generation less than a year into their careers, the workplace community is mostly guessing. We are still figuring out how changes driven by the Millennial generation take form in physical space. That said, furniture makers, prepare: as Gen Z enters the office, more change is on the horizon. So, who is Generation Z and what types of offices will they need to succeed ... and, perhaps more importantly, how will these changes continue to impact the contract furniture industry? We spoke with several industry veterans to explore this topic.

Via huffingtonpost.com >

Workplaces across the globe are suffering through a zombie apocalypse. These zombies don’t have ghoulish features or torn clothing, they look just like you or me.  You can recognize these real-life-zombies by their mindless march throughout the day. They fixate on reaching the end of the workday as though it was a feast of brains.

Telltale signs of these zombie workers include their consistent lack of motivation to go above and beyond their basic job role and a disinterest in innovation or new ideas.  Most frightening of all, you can see in them the most quintessential zombie characteristic – their ability to infect others. Their lack of morale and active disengagement in workplace culture can spread across the workforce like a pandemic.  In a recent global study by Deloitte, “culture and engagement” was rated the number one challenge affecting businesses in the world.  The menace is real!

Traditional office environments are a breeding ground for this worker zombie epidemic. At Perkins+Will, we understand that work environments and workplace culture play a vital role in promoting and enhancing workplace engagement, banishing office zombies.   The shift from traditional work environments to high-performance workplaces is the cure to this epidemic.

Via perkinswill.com >

Of all the memes and narratives that corrupt public discourse about workplace design, the most pernicious is the one that suggests there is a linear evolution to some grand end point called the Office of the Future. There is a natural human inclination to buy this sort of idea, fed by an assumption that what we find most interesting, aspirational and hence what we read and talk about forms a goal. Read any style magazine and you’ll see the same process at work in every facet of our lives. This is why so many people are quick to consume and then regurgitate the idea that what we see happening in the world’s great tech palaces and creative offices represents the apogees of design to which the rest of us must one day succumb. It rests on misguided assumptions about what really goes on in such offices and what these assumptions mean for firms in other sectors. It is the great apex fallacy of workplace design and it is one we must constantly challenge.

Via workplaceinsight.net >