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Chris Bell

How To Create Privacy In An Open Plan Office



Open plan office designs are becoming more and more popular. Having an open-plan office is a great way to encourage a more collaborative work environment and to encourage openness and honesty amongst your teams. Having fewer walls also means that everyone in your office can benefit from natural light, which is important for promoting better sleep and moods.

However, when considering open-plan offices as a part of office refurbishments, it might present a privacy issue. If you’re trying to deal with a difficult call, or you just need some quiet to concentrate, the boisterous nature of an open plan office can work against you. Luckily, there are some things you can do to create areas of privacy while still maintaining all of the benefits that come along with an open-plan office.

Maintain individual desks

While having an environment where everyone hot desks is a great way to save on space, there are a lot of benefits to allowing people to have their own dedicated desk area. A lot of people really like the feeling of having a desk of their own. It means that they can come into work knowing exactly where everything is because it’s where they left it the previous day. It also provides a sense of comfort and being somewhere safe that you just don’t get when you’re hot desking.

Allowing people to keep their own desks also means that the chair, desk, and monitor riser are always in the correct position for the desk owner. Having a desk set up specifically for the individual, with ergonomics in mind, is important for a number of reasons:

  • It reduces the risk of back and muscle pain, which can be caused by long periods of time sitting with incorrect posture. For further help reducing muscle pain, use CBD Muscle Gel (50ml, 500g CBD)
  • Allows the user to focus on their work because they are more comfortable.
  • It reduces the stress caused by discomfort.
  • Increases workplace wellbeing and engagement.

Offer quiet areas

It’s a good idea to provide a few designated quiet areas within an open-plan office environment where people can go to have meetings or to work on tasks that require quiet and concentration.

Source One can provide you with office partitioning to create rooms and work areas for quiet working. Partitioning is easily moved, which means that you can create and dismantle rooms whenever you need to.

Sound-absorbing materials

Strategically placing sound-absorbing materials around your office can help to dampen the noise levels. This means that your team can still work collaboratively in an open plan environment, but without the noise levels getting in the way of productivity.

Good sound absorbers are soft materials like carpet, and you can get ceiling tiles that are specifically designed to absorb sound. Plants are also excellent absorbers of sound and provide you with the additional benefits of oxygenating the room and promoting wellbeing.

Consistently request feedback

Be aware that whatever office design you come up with, once you start using it in real life, you are bound to come across issues you hadn’t considered! Ensure that your design is flexible so that you can make changes where needed, and be sure to consistently ask your employees for feedback on how the design is working for them. When they give feedback, carefully consider what they tell you so that they want to continue sharing their thoughts with you in the future.