January 14th, 2009
Dilbert was right, cube farms kill
Working in an “open office” cube farm can kill you.
Dr. Vinish Oomen at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia has finished a large-scale literature search and calls his results “shocking.”
This from the University’s news release:
“In 90 percent of research, the outcome of working in an open-plan office was seen as negative, with open-plan offices causing high levels of stress, conflict, high blood pressure, and a high staff turnover.”
Specifically, Dr. Oomen found the noise in an open office causes employees to lose concentration and productivity and to feel insecure over their loss of privacy.
“There is also a higher chance of workplace conflicts - sitting so close to someone that each time their phone rings you can get irritated; I think most of us, including myself, can relate to that.”
Now some of us take that frustration and turn it into a career. The rest get the flu, high blood pressure, and early death after a series of very expensive medical treatments.
All so the bosses can save 20 percent on construction costs, and maybe a bit on the rent.
I personally have a private office on school days, but the room is between the kids’ bedrooms and their rushing about over the holidays was driving me nuts.
Now I have some science to back me up.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist since 1978, and has covered technology since 1982. He launched the Interactive Age Daily, the first daily coverage of the Internet to launch with a magazine, in September 1994. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 01/14/09
