Workplace Satisfaction Before and After Move to an Open Plan Office - Including Interactions with Gender and Introversion

Abstract

Open plan offices are both popular and controversial. We studied the response of a group moving from shared, but closed offices to an open plan office. The main data source reported here is a workplace satisfaction survey given pre-move, post-move, and to a lab baseline comparison group at the same organization, with some additional data from observations and interviews. Workers moving to the open plan office appreciated the flexible support for collaboration and the space’s appearance. There was lower satisfaction related to space for private concentrated work, temperature control, and ability to have private conversations. There were also some statistical interactions suggesting more positive responses by males and less positive responses by introverts; analysis was limited by small sample size. Observations and interviews gave further insight into open plan “neighborhoods” and the design of ad hoc spaces.