Open-plan offices have been widely embraced as a way to improve workplace communication and collaboration by removing the physical barriers between employees. This blog highlights a number of problems that’re preventing open-plan office design from reaching its full potential and details the clever, thoughtful design choices that can overcome them. Balancing openness with zoning to create work environments that optimise collaboration without hindering individual focus, comfort and well-being.
Problem: Working environments are not a one size fits all. All individuals have differing needs and preferences that must be accommodated so they can work comfortably and productively. In traditional open-plan offices, background noise, visual distractions and constant social interactions can reduce focus and create cognitive and sensory overload, disproportionally affecting neurodivergent employees, reducing their comfort, focus and productivity.
Solution: Rather than designing to a single way of working, open-plan spaces should offer employees variety workspaces to choose from. Rethinking the singular open space as an interconnected network of micro-environments – ranging from quiet breakout spaces and phone booths to collaborative hubs – allows the workplace to support different tasks, moods, and working styles throughout the day. The floorplate can be used to clearly differentiate between these zones without the need for physical partitions. Colour and pattern can be introduced in areas intended to inspire creativity, while calming more neutral tones and nature-inspired pattern are adopted across the remainder of the project and within quiet breakout spaces, which can also function as spaces of refuge for neurodiverse employees.
Why it works: Providing choice empowers employees to self-select environments that best support their individual needs, enabling neuro-inclusion without segregation. This approach helps reduce sensory stress, improves focus, and fosters a more equitable, productive workplace for all employees.
Problem: One of the most persistent challenges in open-plan spaces is the lack of privacy. When conversations can easily be overheard employees may feel exposed, monitored and subject to interruption. The lack of separation makes it difficult to have confidential conversations or engage fully in individual focused work. Over time, this reduced sense of privacy can undermine psychological safety, and employees may begin to self-censor conversations and avoid phone calls to prevent being overheard. As a result, communication, collaboration and productivity are negatively impacted. Poorly designed open-plan spaces that don’t factor privacy concerns ultimately create the exact problems they were intended to resolve.
Solution: To address the lack of privacy in traditional open-plan workplaces incorporate a range of spaces away from the main walkways and collaboration hubs. These spaces allow people to step away from shared areas when privacy is required, supporting confidentiality, enabling focused work and reducing disruption from phone calls. A mix of enclosed rooms, phone booths and designated quiet corners should be strategically spread across the floorplate to ensure privacy is readily accessible to all without isolating anyone. A proportion of these rooms and booths should be bookable providing guaranteed access when it’s required, while others remain unreserved to accommodate unplanned needs for privacy or sensory refuge.
Why it works: Privacy is reinstated through thoughtful physical and spatial separation without compromising the openness of the workplace. Access to bookable and unreserved private spaces supports confidentiality, strengthening psychological safety, helping create a space that supports well-being and productivity.
Problem: unmanaged noise is one of the most disruptive elements of open plan working. Conversations, movement, phone calls, and office equipment collectively create a constant layer of background noise that’s hard to escape. Excessive noise increases cognitive load, causing mental fatigue and reduced concentration that kills productivity. Over time, prolonged exposure can raise heart rate, heighten stress levels and negatively impact employee well-being. Studies show productivity can be reduced by as much as 66% in noisy environments. Important conversations may be interrupted or misunderstood, while virtual meetings are often compromised by surrounding noise. The open-plan space that originally aimed to aid communication is now what’s harming it. However, this challenge cannot be eliminated at its source, as much of the noise is coming from necessary and productive activity. The question becomes not how to remove sound, but how to effectively manage and control the noise that’s often amplified within open-plan environments
Solution: Sound control should be embedded into the fabric of the space rather than treated as an afterthought. Selecting materials with built-in acoustic performance helps absorb and dissipate noise rather than reflect it. As one of the largest continuous surfaces in any workplace, flooring provides a significant opportunity to introduce inherent sound control. Cushion-backed carpet tiles can significantly reduce impact sound (by up to 36dB) and reverberation (by up to 0.3 Class D). Where resilient flooring is required for functional or aesthetic reasons, Milliken LVT with Flexform™ Sound backing offers market-leading acoustic performance, reducing impact noise by 19dB through its integrated acoustic layer.
In addition to material selection, acoustic zoning should be carefully considered. Busy, higher noise areas can be supported through strategic use of acoustic panelling and soft furnishings helping to contain the sound and improve acoustic comfort. The WELL Standard recommends sound mapping which requires labelling a floorplan with loud, quiet or mixed zones and ensuring that noisy office equipment like printers are placed away from the dedicated quiet zones.
Why it works: Treating acoustics as a material performance issue creates quieter, more comfortable spaces without relying on behavioural change, supporting well-being productivity and focus.
Problem: Individual comfort needs vary significantly due to personal preference and factors such as health, age and gender. A single, uniform environment cannot comfortably support everyone. Many of the challenges associated with open-plan spaces stem from the diverse set of tasks expected to be carried out in the space. Focused screen-based work, collaborative meetings, workshops and informal social interactions each require different thermal and lighting conditions. Maximising access to daylight is essential for employee well-being, supporting circadian rhythms and overall health; however, without careful control it can introduce screen glare, causing visual discomfort. When lighting is too bright or too dim, or temperatures are too hot or too cold, concentration declines and productivity suffers. The widespread adoption of hybrid working further complicates the issue, as fluctuating and unpredictable occupancy levels make it more difficult to maintain consistent appropriate temperature and lighting conditions across the office.
Solution: Smart HVAC and lighting systems that are responsive and adaptive, allowing environmental conditions to adjust to changing occupancy patterns and user needs. Localised user control gives the choice back to employees so they can adjust the temperature and lighting to suit their comfort and the task at hand. A layered lighting approach combines ambient lighting with task lighting to support focused work at individual workstations. This allows natural and artificial light to work together in balance reducing glare while supporting visual comfort.
Why it works: Smart, technology-driven systems can improve occupant satisfaction, comfort and overall well-being while still being energy efficient. Their adaptability allows diverse user needs to be met without compromising design.
Conclusion
The challenges of open-plan offices do not arise from openness itself, but from the assumption that a single environment can meet everyone’s needs. By combining spatial zoning, acoustic control, thoughtfully designed private spaces, and intelligent environmental systems, it is possible to create a network of micro-environments within the open plan. This approach supports diverse tasks, preferences, and wellbeing, making open offices both flexible and inclusive.
FAQs
What are the main challenges with open-plan offices?
Traditional open-plan offices often assume that a single environment can support all employees and all tasks. In reality, this lack of variety can lead to noise distraction, reduced privacy, sensory overload, negatively impacting well-being and productivity.
Why do open-plan offices disproportionately affect neurodivergent employees?
Neurodivergent employees may be more sensitive to sensory information so open-plan environments without considered sensory design can increase cognitive load and stress, making it harder to concentrate and work comfortably without access to quieter or lower-stimulus spaces.
What are micro-environments in workplace design?
Micro-environments are distinct mini zones within an open-plan office designed to support different activities and sensory needs. These can include quiet breakout areas, phone booths, focus zones and collaborative hubs, allowing employees to choose the most appropriate space for their task.
How can zoning be achieved in an open-plan office?
Zoning can be achieved through layout planning, changes in flooring, colour, lighting, and furniture rather than physical walls. These subtle cues clearly define different areas while maintaining visual openness and connectivity.
Why is privacy so important in open-plan offices?
Open-plan spaces are often associated with a lack of privacy that can undermine psychological safety leading employees to self-censor conversations, avoid phone calls and disengage from focused work. Providing access to private and semi-private spaces supports confidentiality, concentration and employee well-being.
What types of private spaces should an open-plan office include?
A balanced mix of enclosed rooms, phone booths and quiet corners should be distributed across the floorplate. Combining bookable spaces with unreserved options ensures privacy is available for both planned and spontaneous needs.
How does noise impact productivity in open-plan workplaces?
Unmanaged background noise increases cognitive load, causes mental fatigue and reduces concentration with excessive noise reducing productivity by 66%. Over time, this can significantly impact employee health and well-being particularly in environments where sound is reflected rather than absorbed.
How can acoustics be improved without changing employee behaviour?
Acoustic performance should be embedded into the materials and layout of the space. Flooring with integrated acoustic backing, acoustic panels, soft furnishings and sound zoning help absorb and control noise without relying on employees to modify how they work.
What role do smart HVAC and lighting systems play in open-plan design?
Smart systems allow environments to respond to occupancy and user needs in real time. Localised control and layered lighting strategies improve comfort, reduce glare and support productivity while remaining energy efficient.
Can open-plan offices still support collaboration effectively?
Open-plan offices work when they acknowledge that one environment cannot meet all needs. Through zoning, acoustic control, private spaces, and smart environmental systems, a single open space can offer multiple micro-environments—supporting focus, collaboration, and wellbeing for everyone.