 how open plan office space design affects employee s productivity  these days with the overwhelming popularity of openplan design there have been some questions about the usefulness and consequences to be faced because of the design pankaj arora principal manager at microsoft seems to be opposing the openspace trend he has said that they don t see doors as the barriers for communication but they just see it as a barrier to noise still there are lots of employees who want to get stuck in cubicles as they feel that openplan design might lead to stress and increased number of sick days so is the room still there for older designs or is it high time to say bye to cubicles will the trending openplan design help in increasing the wellbeing and productivity of employees well the mixed opinions on the openplan design itself say that there are pros and cons associated with it the design allows for open communication but at the same time it can be a disturbance for some here are a few positive and negative sides of having an openplan design at offices pros of openplan design openplan design is not something that s introduced in the recent times it has been with us since the beginning of 20 th century all thanks to architects who favoured the design of spacious and larger work spaces the idea of open office spaces is definitely a logical one it creates an egalitarian environment where the employees are free to communicate and share their thoughts with each other this fosters innovation and helps the companies to enhance their value proposition the design also offers lots of financial advantages it eliminates the need for separate rooms and cubicle walls so that the company can save on building materials and construction costs it cuts down the heating and cooling expenses through an efficient flow of air and light open office spaces also support greater sharing of resources and when your business is growing open plan offices provide you a great flexibility of adding more employees cons associated with openoffices according to international management facility association the employees working at openplan offices will have the highest level of dissatisfaction stress and illness this is actually in direct contrast to the notion of open offices providing employee happiness and greater efficiency but what exactly is the reason for dissatisfaction the employees in open spaces will not be able to tune out their conversations which make them get compromised with the ability to focus this in turn leads to increased stress and frustration according to a research conducted by ipsos almost about 85 of employees are dissatisfied as they are not being able to concentrate which is resulting in the loss of 86 working minutes per day it s not just the noise levels and distractions the employers must be concerned about recent studies have also shown a high correlation between the open offices and the sick leaves of employees in some cases it s 70 more for those working in open offices make the plan work for you  most of the employees working at open plan offices feel that privacy is really important of course it allows them to be more focused on work so the employers should mainly concentrate on the ways to increase the satisfaction of employees employers can plan something like providing employees the ability to customize their work space by using movable walls desks tables and cabinets allow employees to choose the seating arrangements as they prefer and don t force them to work in a preconfigured place try to fill the working environment with natural lighting nature view and abundant plants this reduces the stress related cortisol levels and keeps them zealous all the time however the employers need to think of incorporating the real strategies that would reduce the employee s stress instead of being confined thinking about the workspace choose the configuration that suits the type of your business may it be the modular workstation cluster workstation landscape or even the traditional office cubicle it definitely makes a great impact on the satisfaction level of employees  open plan design or the traditional cubicle cubicles over open spaces open office spaces provide more opportunity for collaboration  