Open plan office

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An open plan office

An open plan office is an office concept . It is a room with a large footprint in which there are a large number of office workplaces. There is no clear definition of the term open-plan office. Different definitions describe it as an office with at least ten, some also as an office with at least 20 workplaces. An open-plan office has a floor space of at least 400 m².

Design of the open-plan offices

An open-plan office divided into cubicles

Open-plan offices are often divided into cells and corridors by medium- height room dividers . The cells (usually simply called box or cubicle ) contain one or more workstations. In the USA, the cubicle office with individual boxes is particularly common. A box is limited by three or four room dividers. These usually have a fabric covering and are set up in a square with a side length of approx. 1.50 m, so that a room cell with an entrance results. The room dividers do not reach the ceiling, they are often 1.50 m to 1.65 m high.

In the modern open-plan office design, emphasis is placed on placing the boxes near the window so that those who work there receive daylight. Archives or meeting rooms are housed in the core area in the center of the open-plan office. Sound-absorbing room dividers separate the individual cubicles from one another and should create an undisturbed working atmosphere despite the open space. Cubicles for four to eight employees tend to be more popular than individual workstations. The modern open-plan office design is also based on the activities carried out. For activities that require high concentration, soundproof cells are an advantage. Activities that require teamwork benefit from an open space concept that facilitates communication. When planning, the guideline values ​​of occupational safety must be observed, which for example in Germany provide for 12 to 15 m² per person per workstation including traffic areas (see section " Law "). Retreat areas should contribute to a pleasant working atmosphere.

Advantages and disadvantages of the open plan office

Open-plan offices are often unpopular with employees in Germany because protection against acoustic disturbances is inadequate and privacy is less; Employees are exposed to constant social control or monitoring and have to work hard to secure confidential documents and personal items from theft or unauthorized viewing. According to various studies, employees in open-plan offices feel stressed more quickly, are less productive and also get sick more quickly. An Australian meta-study from 2009 analyzed studies from around the world on office design and found that 90 percent of employees working in open-plan offices reported negative effects on physical and mental health. Problems include sensory overload , loss of privacy and the feeling that colleagues are constantly monitoring work. These problems would lead to a loss of identity. In addition, the risk of infection with viruses and bacteria is significantly higher in open-plan offices than in individual offices.

Depending on the design, open-plan offices can have other disadvantages: In the inner areas, employees sit far away from daylight with artificial light . Air conditioning is often used for ventilation. The 2003 'Office Study' conducted by the Fraunhofer Institute also showed what influence office design has on the health and performance of employees.

Open plan offices also have advantages. This enables employers to reduce the costs of office design ("cost-effective design"), according to the Australian study. Communication between employees is promoted by open-plan offices, but targeted interpersonal communication in open-plan offices is actually decreasing. Greater flexibility in room design and better monitoring of employees can be seen as advantages. In particular, the sometimes more economical use of space makes the open-plan office attractive to many employers. The professional association bso ( Association of Office, Seating and Object Furniture ) warns, however, that the savings through the more economical use of space can be leveled out by a higher sickness rate for employees in the open- plan office .

Acoustics in open plan offices

Usually, hearing-damaging noise levels are not reached in offices. Conversations are often the biggest disruptive factor, especially if the content is irrelevant to your own work. Extra-aural noise effects - not affecting the hearing - can be the result, e.g. B. Stress, lower performance or a higher error rate.

An acoustic design of the office space that is adapted to the activities of the employees can reduce the negative effects of noise, e.g. B. by zoning the total area. The metrological detection of the acoustic parameters in shared offices on the basis of the standard DIN EN ISO 3382-3.

Law

Germany

The Technical Rules for Workplaces (ASR) specify the requirements of the Workplace Ordinance of 2004, which regulates in § 6 Paragraph 1 ArbStättV:

The employer must provide work rooms that have a sufficient floor space and height as well as sufficient air space.

With the version of the Workplace Ordinance of 2004, the figures for floor space, clear height and minimum air space, as specified in § 23 v. F. of the workplace ordinance of 1975 were repealed. With the ASR A1.2 "Room dimensions and movement areas" published in September 2013, concrete figures are now again applicable. Thus, a minimum floor area of 8 m² for one workstation and 6 m² for each additional job specified for offices and workstations , there are 8 to 10 m² work ever and for open-plan offices due to the higher traffic area requirements and the audible and visual disturbances 12 to 15 m² work per .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Oommen, Vinesh G., Knowles, Mike, & Zhao, Isabella: Should health service managers embrace open plan work environments? A review. In: Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management . 2008, accessed February 16, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Fraunhofer Institute for Labor Economics and Organization (ed.): Future Offensive Office 21 - More performance in innovative working environments. Cologne / Stuttgart (Egmont vgs Verlagsgesellschaft mbH) 2003
  3. ↑ Ethan S. Bernstein, Stephen Turban: The impact of the 'open' workspace on human collaboration . In: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B . tape 373 , July 2018, doi : 10.1098 / rstb.2017.0239 .
  4. ↑ German statutory accident insurance e. V. (DGUV): "Noise Stress" in the workplace. Retrieved June 18, 2019 .
  5. ^ Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the German Social Accident Insurance (IFA): IFA practical help for multi-person offices. Retrieved June 18, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Technical rules for workplaces (ASR) , baua.de
  7. ↑ § 6 ArbStättV at juris
  8. ^ Wolfram von Gagern: The most important changes to the new workplace ordinance. (No longer available online.) BWR media, archived from the original on May 3, 2014 ; Retrieved May 3, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bwr-media.de
  9. ↑ New workplace regulations ASR A4.1 and ASR A1.2. arbeitssicherheit.de, accessed on May 3, 2014 .