Ever since companies began tearing down walls to replace private offices with open space, there have been plenty of naysayers, and the latest is Maria Konnikova in The New Yorker. Earlier this month, she declared that “the open office undermines the very things that it was designed to achieve” (better communication and idea flow). Pointing to old perceptions — noise and lack of privacy — she calls the open office a “trap” that “may be ingraining a cycle of underperformance.” Yet, in her criticism, Konnikova overlooks the greatest value of the open office — it’s dramatically more sustainable.
The Open-Office Backlash