Is It Time To Rethink Your Open Plan Office?

Is your open plan office really working for your team? 

If you asked this question 10 years ago, you would get a very different answer. Open plan layouts were all the rage, promising a flexible, modern way of working that encouraged a culture of communication and collaboration. Today, more and more businesses, both right here in Hampshire and further afield, are moving away from open plan layouts and towards a more structured setup: one that confines collaboration to set areas and allows employees to get the most out of their in-office time.

Read on to find out if it’s time to reconsider your open plan office, and what alternatives will work best for your team.

Key Points 

• The Drawbacks of An Open Plan Office: Is this popular layout still the go-to for British businesses?

• Alternative Office Layout Ideas​: What other floorplans might strike the right balance for your team?

• Transform Your Workplace With Office Partition Walls: Find out what our glass partitions offer your business.

The Drawbacks of An Open Plan Office

As employees have returned to the office in recent years, they have found that its open plan layout no longer suits their needs.

The post-Covid workplace requires quiet, privacy, and plenty of opportunities for focused work. Instead, the stripped-back structure of these collaborative spaces now risks dividing employee’s attention and draining their productive energy, especially if they still spend several days of the week working in the peace and quiet of their home office:

• Constant Noise: It’s not just on-and-off chatter that cannot be avoided (or ignored) in an open plan office. Phone calls, zoom meetings, and colleague check-ins all maintain a consistent level of background noise from 9am to 5pm.

• Ongoing Interruptions: Impromptu discussions become 30 minute distractions; conversations come at the cost of concentration; and the ongoing awareness of the interactions happening around them can make it hard for employees to focus.

• Loss of Focus: In a busy open-plan office, the reduced levels of productivity may now mean that employees are more productive at home, or on a hybrid schedule.  

Alternative Office Layout Ideas

Open plan offices were designed to break down barriers and connect colleagues within a shared space: and so, as the physical office walls come back up, it is important that these barriers to collaboration and communication don’t return also.

Open plan offices have blurred the lines between spontaneous collaboration and consistent noise, but fixed office layouts are a return to the working norms that open plan offices sought to overcome - those of hierarchy, isolation, and impersonal interactions. 

When settling on a new office layout, the solution lies somewhere between the two, with office partition walls that deliver a sense of separation without splitting up the space.

Transform Your Workplace With Office Partition Walls

No two employees work in the same way, and no office layout can cater to the needs of everyone within it. This is the mistake that both fixed and open plan offices make, and we are here to address this with office partition walls. 

Thanks to their sound insulation and glazed construction, our glass partitions create quiet zones, collaborative areas, and private spaces, all within the same office. They give employees the freedom to choose how and when they interact with colleagues, without requiring them to struggle through a consistent level of noise or move to a desk far away. 

Less structured than fixed walls, and with a line of sight running through the entire office, glass partition walls strike the perfect balance between team collaboration and individual concentration:

• Modular Zones: Take those in-person catchups away from the shared desks and into meeting rooms that are enclosed by single or double glazed partitions.

• Sound Control: Our acoustic glazed partitions offer superior sound insulation so that the noise from a private meeting or phone call doesn’t carry across the entire space.

• Private Partitions: Privacy matters, and confidential communications depend upon it. As well as reducing sound transference, our glass partitions are also available with frosted films and privacy manifestations to secure meeting spaces.

Planning An Open Plan Office? 

No need to choose between an open plan or fully divided office anymore.

At Universal Contracting, we have a selection of frameless and glazed office dividers to suit your needs. Click here to explore them all, or get in touch with us today to include glass partition walls in your upcoming office refit.

FAQs

Q: What Glass Partitioning Systems Are Available? 

A: We offer the following for modern offices and commercial interiors:  

• Frameless Glass Partitions 

• Single Glazed Glass Partitions 

• Double Glazed Glass Partitions 

• High-Performance Acoustic Glass Partitions 

Q: How Do Glass Partitions Maintain Privacy?  

A: Our double glazed partitions provide superior sound insulation, and we also offer privacy manifestations for meeting rooms and executive offices.  

Q: Do Glass Partitions Let in Natural Light?  

A: When installed at key points our partitions maximise light flow, and provide a bright and spacious feel across the whole office.  

Q: Can I Customise My Office Partition Walls? 

A: Yes, we can add your company name, logo, and other elements as frosted films.