Preliminary results of the staff survey on office layout

Introduction:

The survey allows the Staff Union (and the Office) to get an idea of people’s experience in working in
different types of office layout, mainly individual offices, shared offices or open-plan, both over their
entire working life and in their present jobs. After the section on general information, the survey is
divided into sections for those currently working in individual offices, those in shared offices and
those in open-plan. In order to be as objective as possible, the same set of questions is used for
respondents in all three sections. A final section to be answered by all concerns “looking to the
future”, and hopes to ascertain people’s needs in relation to the type of work they do and their
comfort level with different scenarios.

The Staff Union Committee wishes to thank all those who took the time to participate in the survey.
The information provided by the staff should provide important input to the decision-making
process in relation to our future office layout. We would also like to thank Hans Hofmeijer and
Groupe H (the architects involved in the building renovation) for their input into the survey,
particularly in helping to define the questions in order to get the best possible information.

General overview – who responded to the survey?

As of Friday 19th October 2012, 699 people had responded to the survey (Wednesday 24th October
702). Considering that it was available only to HQ-based staff, this is a good proportion – over half
the staff – on which to base a solid analysis. Overall:

 64% of respondents are female, 36% male

 Concerning type of contract: 47.3% are WLT, 44.3% FT, 4.2% ST/SST, 0.6% ST 3.5, 2.2%
interns, and 1.5% excols.
 Agewise: 6.5% of respondents (45 respondents) are in the age bracket 20-29, 22.7% 30-39,
33.4% 40-49, 34.2% 50-59, and 3.2% are 60+.
 52.7% are P staff, 40.2% GS/L, 4.5% D and above, and 2.6% “other”, mainly interns but a few
“excols/independent”.

Experience of different types of office layout:

One of the issues we have heard from proponents of open-plan offices in-house is that we do not
have enough experience of working in open-plan so the survey results are not valid. However, it
appears that 37.1% of respondents (nearly 250 people) have had experience in working in open-plan
offices, while 69.4% have experience of working in shared offices and 82.4% in individual offices over
their working lifetime. And their conclusions?

 An overwhelming 96% are very positive or somewhat positive about working in an individual
office
  Those working in shared offices have mixed feelings, but are still somewhat positive, with
almost 20% not saying one way or the other
 Open-plan offices are more associated with negative feelings, with 34% being very negative
and 22% somewhat negative about them.

And if we control for the “not applicable” responses and take into account only those who have
experience in the different types of offices the figures are even more telling.

100%
90%
80%
70%
Very Negative
60%
Somewhat Neg
50%
Neutral
40%
Somewhat Positive
30%
Very Positive
20%
10%
0%
Individual Shared Open Plan
The present situation within the ILO concerning the different types of office is, of course, somewhat
different, with 70.5% now working in individual offices, 20.7% in shared offices, and 8.8% (57
people) in open-plan. With only a “yes/no” option to the question of whether they like working in
their present office or not, the results reflect the above conclusions (not counting those sitting on a
fence):
Do you enjoy working in your present office:

Open plan Shared Individual

Yes 41.3% 58.2% 97.6%
No 58.7% 41.8% 2.4%

The myth of the young open planner…

We’ve all heard the stereotype that “young people” are much more amenable to open plan.

After carefully analyzing the survey, we have come to the following clear, evidence-based
conclusion: They’re not.

The survey had 202 respondents between the ages of 20- Young staff were more than
39 – who can be expected to spend the next 22 to 42 years twice as likely to report a
in the office. These respondents were 67% female and 33% positive work experience in
male. Throughout their career, 138 of them had experience individual offices than in open
plan offices…
in Individual Offices, 144 in Shared Offices, and 86 in Open
Plan Offices.

Of these young people who responded, there was a significant difference in experience with
different types of office layout. Young staff were more than twice as likely to report a positive work
experience in individual offices than in open plan offices (96% vs. 48%), and more than 10% more
positive about shared offices compared to open plan (59% vs. 48%). The figures are even more
pronounced when you consider those reporting very positive experiences, with 78% very positive
for individual offices, compared with only 22% with open plan. The inverse is observed when looking
at negative (1.3% for individual offices vs. 57% for open plan), and very negative experiences (1.3%
vs. 30%, respectively).

Collaboration and teamwork

Open-plan is often sold to us (apart from the perceived cost savings aspect) as a means to increase
collaboration and teamwork.

The present situation is that most people feel they work in a team – 32% always and 48.5%
frequently.

On the other hand most people are either always at their desk (24.5%) or spend most of their time
at their desk (67%). While 7.7% spend equal amounts of time at their desk and away from it, very
few (0.8%) spend most of their time away from their desk.
So what layout is conducive to collaboration? Those in open plan or shared offices were asked if
their type of office leads to greater collaboration; those in individual offices if they felt working in
their type of office was a constraint to collaboration. Experience in open plan is divided, with also a
large proportion not pronouncing (or saying that it is not just the office layout which determines the
level of collaboration?). But those in individual offices are sending a clear message that their set-up
is no constraint to collaboration.

Open plan shared individual

Increases collaboration/is not a constraint 42.6% 54% 82.7%
against collaboration
Does not increase collaboration/constraint 31.9% 21.3% 10%
against collaboration
Neither agree nor disagree 25.5% 24.8% 7.2%

Communication (as opposed to collaboration): is it easier in an open plan or shared office or more
difficult in an individual office? A distinction should be made between collaboration (working
together on a joint endeavour) and communication (exchange of information). 51% of people in an
open plan office agree that communication is easier in their working environment, whereas 82.5% of
people in individual offices do not see communication as being difficult because they work in
individual offices.

Open plan shared individual

Agree 51% 64.3% 11.2%
disagree 38.3% 21.8% 82.5%
Neither agree nor disagree 10.6% 13.9% 6.3%

The need to concentrate

Problems set in with open plan offices, and to a lesser extent in shared offices, when people need to
concentrate for their work. All three sets of people were asked if they found it difficult to
concentrate when working in their present environment:

Open plan shared individual

Yes, it is difficult to concentrate 74.4% 67% 2.8%
No, it is not difficult to concentrate 21.3% 21.7% 93.4%
Neither agree nor disagree 4.3% 11.3% 3.7%

Unwanted interruptions are one cause for concern when people need to concentrate on their
research and analysis, their accounting, translating and editing… Again, all three sets of people were
asked if they were more likely to be interrupted at any time in their type of office:

Open plan shared individual

Agree – likely to be interrupted 83% 72.2% 11%
Disagree – not likely to be interrupted 8.5% 11.3% 74.5%
Neither agree nor disagree 8.5% 16.5% 14.5%
Again – what of young people, those who can work anytime, anywhere? 57% of our young workers
are currently located in individual offices, 31% in shared offices, and 12% (22 people) in open-plan.
While responses from this latter category are too few to draw broad conclusions, it can be said that
overall, these young workers agree that they find concentration difficult in open plan (58%) and
shared (73%) offices, but this is much less the case (96% disagree, 85% strongly) for those in
individual offices. This is, at least in part, due to the constant interruptions which are faced by staff
in open plan and shared offices. Nearly 80% of respondents in open plan report that people are
more likely to interrupt them at any time, compared with just over 70% of those in shared offices,
and only 10% in individual offices.

What bothers people most about working in their different environments?

Open plan: The most common problems are noise (cited by 72.3%) and the lack of privacy
(72.3%), followed by interruptions (59.6%) and odours (40.4%). Only 17% of this
group are not bothered by anything about open plan offices.

Shared offices: The most common problems are the lack of privacy (cited by 56.8%), interruptions
(54.1%) and noise (51.4%). 13.5% are not bothered by anything about sharing an
office.

Individual: However, in individual offices, the opposite was evident with 94.6% being perfectly
happy with their set-up, and very few (3.2%) being bothered by noise and
interruptions (2.7%).

People have resorted to all sorts of measures to get away from disturbances – the noise from
telephones and noisy neighbours, and unwanted interruptions – in order to be able to focus on their
work. There is a marked need to take measures in open plan (66% of respondents in this group) over
shared offices (52.2%) and least in individual offices (28.3%).

The measures taken are usually finding another empty room to work in or going to the library, or
using earplugs or headphones with music for those in open plan offices. Similar measures are taken
by those in shared offices, although these also resort to taking a break until the noisy telephone call
stops or asking their colleagues to be quieter. Those in individual offices simply close their doors if
the noise in the corridor gets too much.

I paid from my own

Aller travailler dans une
pocket for very
salle de réunion –
expensive noise
d’ailleurs c’est ce qui
cancelling headphones
nous a été conseillé !
to use while I work.

In addition to these personal measures, which seem to be more about isolating oneself, there are
instances of people agreeing on ground rules to govern behaviour, simple “office etiquette”, mainly
about keeping voices down when talking or on the phone, not interrupting, or not bringing in smelly
food. The need for rules, mainly informal, seems to be more important for people in shared offices
rather than in open plan, where the majority (61.7%) have no rules at all.

Stress

When analysing the relative stress of working in different offices, it appears that the most stressful
work layout seems to be in an open plan setting. Even those presently working in open plan agree
that it would be less stressful in an individual office (70.2%) or in a shared office (55.3%). Most of the
respondents had been in their open plan space for more than one year and had obviously not got
used to it.

The least stressful working environment was the individual office, with 85.9% of respondents in this
group believing it was less stressful than in open plan, and 87.1% believing it less stressful than in a
shared office.

People are more ambivalent about working in a shared office – they obviously love their neighbour
or want to get away! Many cited the fact that it was more difficult to “switch off” with only one
colleague in the room; you get drawn into their conversations…

The survey did not get into details about the working environment and potential stress factors

Conflict

People in individual offices are much more likely to report that their setup has less potential for
conflict, with 48% saying that it reduces the possibility of conflict, vs. 64.5% of shared office and
63% of open plan inhabitants reporting that their setup increases the possibility of conflict.

Open plan shared individual

Increases possibility of conflict 63% 64.5% 2.8%
Reduces possibility of conflict 4.3% 4.5% 48.2%
No impact on possibility of conflict 32.6% 30.9% 48.9%

Linked to this is staff morale. When asked if their work setting contributed to morale, there is
definite agreement that individual offices contribute to staff morale, whereas more people in open
plan feel their office space does not contribute to their morale. About the same proportion of
people in any office setting think their work layout doesn’t have any effect on morale.

Open plan shared individual

Agree 28.2% 33.3% 68.8%
disagree 43.4% 38.7% 7%
Neither agree nor disagree 28.3% 27.9% 24.2%
HAPPY EMPLOYEES ARE PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYEES! Productivity is presumably an important factor
for the Office in determining future office layout. The survey showed unequivocally that people think
they are more productive in individual offices than in shared (79%) or in open plan offices (81.3%).

The survey did not go into details about the reasons for stress or even touch on possible
health effects. However, a SafeWork paper which analysed scientific articles about open
plan offices concludes that open plan offices have led to higher stress and lower
productivity. Most of the studies refer to adverse effects in staff performance and well-
being, including lower job satisfaction and internal motivation. Office type has also been
found to have an influence on health, with lowest health status found in medium-sized and
small open plan offices, and best health status among employees in individual offices and
flex offices. While the literature acknowledges that open plan design is suited to some
occupations – advertising, graphic design, journalism, marketing – it is not the case for work
requiring concentration or confidentiality. Nor does there seem to be any strong evidence
for improved communication.

The main purpose of an office environment is to support

employees in performing their job – preferably to maximum
satisfaction and minimum cost.
Looking to the future
Looking to the future – perhaps the most important part of the survey. We have gathered
information on your experiences and views of different layouts in the previous section. This is where
we can consider what the future office layout could be, based on both your experience and needs,
the type of work you do and how you do it, as well as on trends in office building and demands for
more teamwork and collaboration.

Office space should be a function of the work you do

An overwhelming conclusion from the survey is that work spaces should be specific to the type of
work that individuals do, with 84.5% in agreement, and there is no distinction between all
respondents and younger ones in their answers.

The survey also tried to get an idea of what sort of office arrangements people would be
comfortable with, whether they would be completely averse to a certain type of working
arrangement or open to any option, including the flex-office1 or the combi-office2. From the graph
below, obviously people are most comfortable with work in individual offices, with very few not
liking the idea at all. There seem to be mixed feelings about working in shared offices, but a marked
aversion to working in open plan offices, to the same level as for the flex-office and even more than
for the combi-office.

1
The "flex-office" is defined by employees not having any personal workstation. It is often an open plan layout, but not
necessarily. It is the most flexible office type; not only is the plan flexible, but also the employees. There is good access to
back-up spaces for teamwork, concentrated work, meetings, etc. A good IT system is necessary since the choice of
workstation is free and all work is dependent on access to the common computer system. Flex-offices are dimensioned for
<70% of the workforce to be in office, because much work is carried out outside of the office or employees are absent due
to illness, leave, missions, teleworking, etc. The work is in its character highly independent."
2
The “combi-office” is nowadays an office-type with no strict spatial definition. Instead it is the teamwork and the sharing
of common facilities that defines it. There is good access to back-up spaces for teamwork, concentrated work, meetings,
etc. Over 20% of the work of employees takes place within the office at places other than one’s own workstation, in the
back-up spaces, on an ‘as-needed basis’. The work is characterized by both independent work and interactive teamwork.
The younger age group (20-39 year olds) is a little more open about working in open plan offices, but
the comfort level did not differ significantly from the average, with nearly 80% of respondents in this
age group agreeing with an individual office option, and still 61% would not like to work in an open
plan office at all.

People are also clear about what sort of office layout best suits the type of work they do.
Overwhelmingly, 75% of people feel they need to work in an individual office – because of the type
of work they do. When it comes to younger people, almost two-thirds (65%) felt that individual
offices best suited their own type of work.
Similar numbers also say that individual
offices best suit their working style (not
“Noisy people should be
defined) – for staff as a whole and for
younger staff. In fact, very few of the confined!”
younger workers responding to the survey
(General Secretary of UNI, one of the organisations
see open plan as appropriate for their type visited by the Working Group on Office Layout)
of work (11.6%) or their working style
(12.3%).

What is important in the working space? By far the most important factor for staff is the ability to
concentrate, followed by privacy, the ability to interact with colleagues, comfort, security, and, lastly
aesthetics. This was the same whether for all staff or for younger staff.

But on the subject of aesthetics, the majority of respondents (82%) feel that their working
environment should be based on neutral colours rather than vibrant colours. But younger people are
more open to vibrant colours and fewer (73%) feel the need to be surrounded by neutral colours.

 Je pense qu'il serait judicieux de prendre en compte les besoins des personnes et la nature de
leur travail afin de décider d'un commun accord du genre de bureau adéquat.
Dedicated collaboration areas

Looking towards the future office working style and the perceived need to promote more teamwork
and general interaction, people were asked if the ILO needs more dedicated collaboration areas
(meeting spaces, lounges, or coffee bars where staff can meet and exchange ideas in an informal
environment). Most respondents (61.9%) were in favour of this, while a further 15.4% were not
particularly in favour. Younger people, the 20-39 year olds, responded in more or less the same
proportions.

What exactly would such dedicated collaboration areas improve? First and foremost,
communication, cited by 78% of respondents – and it is likely that people would communicate in
informal meeting areas. Collaboration (teamwork) is the second reason, cited by 66.5% of
respondents. Although not such a major factor, another advantage of more collaboration areas is
the potential improvement in staff morale. However, only 34.6% of people feel that productivity will
be improved as a result of using more informal meeting areas. Younger respondents were a little
more enthusiastic, adding a couple of percentage points to improved teamwork, morale and
productivity, but not to improved communication.
Office space and use:

Another issue in recent office trends is that all staff, irrespective of category, have the same size
office space. How would this be accepted in the ILO? Opinions are divided with equal numbers
(around 40%) thinking everyone should be equal in relation to office space and those who thought it
would not be a good idea. However, it appears that younger people are more egalitarian with more
in favour of everyone having the same size space, and only 30% believing in a hierarchy of space.
However, the vast majority (83.5%) are against a layout where GS and P staff are in open plan and
Directors in individual offices.

Managing change

And in case the analysis so far has led people to think the ILO staff are dinosaurs and not open to
change, the majority state that they are open to changes in their workspace or working
environment: