Neurodiversity
Why Open Offices Don’t Work
Improved collaboration in open offices is a myth. The sensory stress is real.
Updated December 3, 2024 Reviewed by Gary Drevitch
Key points
- Open offices can increase stress.
- Introverts, sensory-sensitive people, and women may be more susceptible to open office stress.
- Remote work, quiet areas, and flexible environments are common-sense solutions backed by research.
Open offices are hailed as hubs of collaboration and innovation. They are supposed to bring us together. Tear down the walls, the enthusiasts said, and watch collaboration flourish.
But what did we actually get?
A noise-filled stress and distraction factory where productivity plummets, introverts suffer, and sensory-sensitive neurodivergent talent is excluded.
The Trouble With Open Offices
1. Collaboration Actually Decreases. Large-sample studies of employees of multinational companies have found that face-to-face interaction dropped by 70% when employees moved to open layouts. Without privacy, they retreated into emails and messaging to get some work done. And so the very thing open offices were supposed to boost—collaboration—can be crushed under the weight of design flaws and one-size-fits-all assumptions.
2. Stress Increases in Open Offices. A study conducted in Australia found that after just eight minutes in an open office, workers’ negative mood increased by 25% and their sweat response (a physiological marker of stress) jumped by 34%.
Eight minutes. That’s how quickly an open office can spike our body's stress reaction. Now multiply that by an entire workday, week, or year. While most workplace research focuses on the clear and damaging effects of loud noise, public health research documented the dangers of chronic noise. Even at low levels, chronic noise is linked to sleep disruption and stress contributing to heart disease, strokes, metabolic disturbances, aggravation of psychological conditions, and earlier death.
3. Sick days increase. A study of 2,403 employees in Denmark found that sickness absence is significantly related to the type of office space. Employees in two-person offices took 50% more sick days than people in private offices, and those in open-plan offices missed 62% more days.
Environments Affect Everyone, But Not Equally
A classic experiment demonstrated that:
- Introverts struggle in noisy environments, with increased stress and reduced cognitive performance.
- Extroverts handle noise better, often thriving in environments with moderate stimulation.
Why? Brain activity. Introverts’ brains are naturally more active at rest, making them more vulnerable to overstimulation. Extroverts, on the other hand, need higher levels of stimulation to hit their sweet spot for productivity. Yet, that is true only to a point, as higher levels of noise can cause anxiety even in extroverts. They may enjoy the buzz of a busy office for a time, yet it may get to be too much.
The Gendered Impact of Open Offices
A study of 4,352 employees found that women were particularly likely to experience emotional exhaustion when lacking office privacy. Thus, open office impacts are also intersectional: Sensory-sensitive women, for example, may be particularly impacted.
Is the Boss Always Right?
Research demonstrates that extroverts dominate leadership positions, even though they are not always the most effective leaders. Men are also more likely to be in such positions. In many cases, people in positions of power assume that everyone processes the world the way they do and may not believe that others might be much more sensitive to the effects of sensory stress. When managers who are less affected by environmental stressors demonstrate what I call the “what works for me should work for you” fallacy, introverts and especially sensory-sensitive neurodivergent people are left with fewer options.
This makes it imperative for managers to work on perspective-taking and learning mindset—and for organizations to strive for neurotype diversity in leadership.
Neurodivergent Workers Face a Sensory Nightmare
The lack of quiet, controlled spaces can turn a workplace into a place of dread instead of productivity. For sensory-sensitive people, such as many of those in autistic and ADHD neurotypes, open-office noise is more than an annoyance; it’s painful and debilitating. Research shows that autistic and ADHD brains can struggle with extra stimulation.
The story of Caroline Stokes, an author and a coach who started her career in a classic corporate setting, is an example of a mismatch between neurodivergent talents and the work environment. Her ADHD hyperfocus was a productivity superpower, but only if it was quiet. The buzzing office was her kryptonite, sapping her energy and forcing her to put in extra work after hours, when it was quiet. Then her brilliance could shine. (Learn more about Stokes' story in my book, The Canary Code: A Guide to Neurodiversity, Dignity, and Intersectional Belonging at Work.)
Canaries in Coal Mines
More sensory-sensitive employees might be the first to react to the effects of noise in open offices, and to other workplace stressors. Yet everyone eventually feels those effects, potentially leading to burnout and negative long-term health consequences. More sensitive employees—just like the real-life canaries that used to be employed by coal mines to detect toxic gases—are the early-warning system of whether a work environment is safe for everyone. And open offices typically are not.
A Call for Common Sense
As the evidence shows, open offices are more likely to limit productivity than enhance it—and they may increase sick days as well. Fortunately, there are common-sense, affordable solutions.
Work-From-Home. For many, remote work eliminates the noise and gives employees control over their environment. It’s not a luxury; it’s a proven productivity booster. An experiment found that employees who worked from home were 13% more productive and significantly happier than in-office peers. They also took fewer breaks and sick days.
Quiet Areas: The Next Best Thing. If remote work isn’t an option, there’s another simple solution: designated quiet areas. These aren’t some extravagant perks; they fall into the category of what I call Performance and Inclusion Enhancers (PIEs). Here's why quiet areas can work:
- Restoring Control. Quiet spaces let people escape the chaos and recharge, improving focus and reducing stress. They also empower workers to choose when to engage with others and when to focus on their own tasks.
- Supporting Inclusion. Neurodivergent workers, introverts, and anyone sensitive to noise finally get an environment in which they can work comfortably—a productivity win-win.
Remote work, quiet areas, or flexible environments aren’t radical demands; they’re common-sense solutions backed by research that can help to create workplaces where everyone can thrive.
What's the secret to a flourishing team? Giving people the option to escape the commotion. We collaborate better when we are less stressed.
