{"id":1779,"date":"2014-03-05T09:30:15","date_gmt":"2014-03-05T09:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com\/blog\/?p=1779"},"modified":"2025-03-04T04:55:58","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T09:55:58","slug":"open-plan-office-hurting-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/open-plan-office-hurting-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Is your open-plan office hurting your health?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Set aside the hand sanitizer for a moment: though prevailing office etiquette suggests sniffly coworkers are the greatest germ-carrying risk, a recent study out of Sweden finds that office design and layout has an unexpected<\/p>\n

\"open<\/a>

Turns out, your cubicle could be hurting your health. \u00a0 \u00a0From Hey Paul Studios<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

relationship to employee sick time. As EHS Today reports<\/a>, the study<\/a>, titled \u201cOffice Design’s Impact on Sick Leave Rates,\u201d considered almost 2,000 employees working in a variety of environments, and was carried out by a team of four Stockholm University scientists.<\/p>\n

The study analyzed data from employees in seven different office environments, including: \u201csingle-room office; shared-room office (2-3 workers in the room); small, open-plan office (4-9 workers); medium-sized, open-plan office (10-24 workers); large, open-plan office (more than 24 workers); flex-office (no individual workspaces); and combi-office (less than 20 percent of the workforce is not at individual workstations, team-based work structure).\u201d<\/p>\n

The study also accounted for the number of employee short-term and long-term illnesses, and employee total sick day counts per year. It found that there was a \u201csignificant excess risk\u201d of short-term employee sick absences in three kinds of open-plan offices. The rate was especially high among women. Additionally, it found that in flex-offices \u2014\u00a0those open-plan offices that have some conference rooms but no individual work stations \u2014\u00a0there was a higher likelihood of short-term sick absences and a larger figure of sick days among men.<\/p>\n

\u201cTraditional, open-plan offices\u201d are less beneficial to employee health, according to the study. But why? Open-plan offices don\u2019t simply encourage the spread of germs. They also contribute to environmental stresses, such as exposure to \u201cirrelevant sound,\u201d a lack of \u201cvisual privacy,\u201d and \u201ca reduced ability to control personal space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plus, the kind of work performed in open-plan offices, as well as group dynamics, can also affect the number of sick days. Group dynamics, reports EHS Today, especially impact sick leave in smaller offices, such as via \u201cpresenteesim,\u201d a term describing the act of coming to work despite illness.<\/p>\n

\"open-plan<\/a>

Open-plan offices facilitate the spread of germs, in addition to the spread of ideas. From Alper \u00c7u\u011fun<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

As for the healthiest office designs and layouts, the study found that flex-offices and single offices were ideal. \u201cDifferences in health status between employees in various office types have been found, with the best health among those in flex-offices and [single] offices, and the worst in medium-sized, open-plan offices,\u201d according to the researchers. \u201cThe explanation for the equally good health in the former two \u2013 very different \u2013 office types could be that they both enable personal control, albeit through different means.\u201d<\/p>\n

Office environment, layout and design are significant to employee health for a variety of reasons, according to the researchers. The top reasons: 1) Personal control over one\u2019s own environment is a \u201cfundamental\u201d human desire; 2) Privacy is important to employees; 3) Noise and other distractions can contribute to absenteeism.<\/p>\n

Yet there is much left to be studied. While there is already a significant amount of research on the effects of work absenteeism, the study\u2019s researchers noted a lack of analysis on white-collar worker absenteeism, though this group comprises the majority of the Western workforce.<\/p>\n

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