The open office floor plan is kind of like socialism.
Could we be the ones who will usher in the open office utopia?
Who came up with this horrible idea?
They envisioned an open office.
The building was designed like an open plan factory, few walls, but many workers.
The open workspace emerged out of this idea in 1950s Germany.
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This created a modicum of privacy but did not solve theproblem of noise, to Propst horror.
Yet, little has been done to challenge the primacy of the open office.
In fact, as much as 70 percent ofthe American workforceis employed in open offices.
So despite these innovations, the same initial problems and failed promise remain.
Decades of research have shown that the modern open office is a failure.
Researchers almost unequivocally agree that open officesdrain productivity, reduce employeewell being, decrease employeetrust, and evenincrease cost.
However, there are those that still believe in the utopian dream of the open office.
Are soundscapes the open offices savior?
One of the biggest challenges is dealing with noise.
We have minimized disturbance bycreating adaptable and multi-functional spaces.
Everyone was interested in the cost savings and the potential for increasing collaboration and the speed of innovation.
There were millions of dollars available for whoever could open up and densify the office.
The initial reaction was: this is great.
That was until people actually tried to work in it and then we had people organically abandon the space.
As an acoustic company, this piqued our interest as you might imagine, said Wilder.
It turns out the Achilles heel of the open office is noise.
Muffling intelligible speech
Plantronics decided to take this problem head-on.
Research from theFinish Center of Occupational Healthtook aim at the workplace and disguising noise.
Waterfalls and skylights
Plantronics has taken this research and the principles of biophilia into open office design.
In addition, natural components such as waterfalls and digital skylights are incorporated to mimic nature even more.
So far it seems to be working.
Since then, major companies like Microsoft have started using Plantronics Soundscape product.
To date, Wilder says their product has been able to diffuse the radius of distraction by 60 percent.
The distance to which people could make out intelligible speech decreased from about nine meters away to four meters.
Its too soon to tell if soundscapes can save the utopian open office dream.
But they might drown out the watercooler chatter to a less annoying level.
