Over the past decade, the dominance of open spaces in modern offices has become more pronounced, displacing other types of space organization. While open space improves communication between employees and reduces real estate costs, it is also more difficult to focus and concentrate on work, which negatively affects productivity and can ultimately outweigh the benefits.
Of course, virtually any office should have open communication areas that increase the frequency and efficiency of employee interactions and increase the likelihood of innovation. However, such areas create visual and noise interference in open spaces that interfere with concentration, and work that requires concentration is just as important as teamwork. Therefore, it is worth figuring out what exactly affects concentration, how you can avoid losing it, and also how to competently combine open areas with areas for focused work.
Everyone knows about the problem of noise and loss of concentration in open space, but, unfortunately, few are seriously concerned with this issue. Perhaps because the sound cannot be seen, we underestimate its significance. For example, if a leak occurred in the office, albeit not a very serious one, the responsible personnel would immediately start fixing it. Sound “leaks” can be just as damaging to office work, but for some reason we easily ignore this problem, unlike a wet carpet.
According to Haworth Research Center, on average, employees lose 28% of their work time due to distractions in the office. As a result, they have to start their workday early or stay late in order to complete all tasks that require silence and concentration. This problem is far from new. Office workers often need places to retreat and focus, and unfortunately, this factor is the least taken into account in open workspaces. According to the statistics provided in the study, more than half of all employees believe that it is difficult to concentrate in their office, which is why they waste a lot of time.
In addition to the visual clutter and noise pollution that employees must face in open-plan offices, they are bombarded with distractions such as emails, buzzing smartphones and pop-up messages. The surplus of information from continuous mobile and Internet communications "paralyzes" them, leaving less time to focus on their work and non-standard problem solving. The human brain works the same way as it did a thousand years ago, but now we have all these technologies, and our biology has not kept pace with their development. Information overload quickly became a major negative trend in the human capital market.
Loss of concentration
While working on one task, a person can focus in such a way that he will perceive only the information that he considers important, ignoring everything else. This is an amazing ability of the human brain. However, when multiple distractions arise, attention often shifts from the task at hand to the less important.
It's important to note that distractions can be broken down into two types: internal and external. And according to the study, it takes an average of 23 minutes for employees to focus again and get back to work that was interrupted due to external distractions. Interestingly, in doing so, they focus on at least two other tasks before returning to the one they were doing before.
Internal factors are, as a rule, personal thoughts or experiences that are not directly related to work, for example, what to eat for lunch or what things are left for the evening. Returning to work, distracted by internal factors, as it turned out, is somewhat more difficult, and it takes about 30-35 minutes. Thus, we spend quite a lot of cognitive effort controlling our own distracting thoughts. Therefore, it is so important to minimize the effect of external factors - after all, the more effort is needed to deal with external factors, the more often a person will be distracted and the more time will be wasted.
The more multitasking, the lower the efficiency
The human brain is not capable of processing information in the same way as a computer, which can perform several processes at the same time. People tend to be more in a sequence of actions. When we try to accomplish two or more tasks, we often feel as though we are doing it all at once. In reality, switching between tasks, we waste a lot of time, and the longer they are completed, the more we lose concentration and the more mistakes we make. Many even refer to multitasking as another form of distraction, as multiple tasks tend to distract attention between them.
For example, we have a task to fill several glasses from one bottle of water. We cannot fill them at the same time, so we either fill them completely one by one, or little by little, over and over again returning to empty glasses. In the first case, obviously, we will cope faster and more efficiently, while in the second case, the process will take longer, while we can pour more water past the glasses. And the more glasses, the longer this process will take, and the more water we will spill by.
Technology can be especially challenging when multitasking, because with all the distractions we’re in a state of preparing ourselves to be distracted, and most people simply don’t handle multitasking properly. Therefore, by focusing on one activity, we work more productively. Especially in the "flow" state.
Get into the stream
"Flow" is a concept in psychology that was developed by the Hungarian psychologist Mihai Csikszentmihalyi in the 1970s. This term refers to a mental state in which a person is fully involved in a certain activity, motivated, full of energy and often loses track of time. This way he works not only more productively, but also more creatively.
External distractions can interfere with focus, but have little or no effect on those in the "flow" state. For example, music in the office may be perceived as a distraction by one and almost unnoticed by another, although both are focused on the same task. This may mean that the second has already entered the state of "flow", while the other is only trying to do it, but external factors interfere with it.
On the other hand, external stimuli do not have to be distractions, but, on the contrary, can be useful for getting the job done. Sometimes it is necessary to understand and evaluate the external situation and the environment. This situational awareness can be useful for certain activities. For example, when driving, a person is focused, while he needs to evaluate various situational factors: the road, traffic lights, other road users.
Productive office work requires both situational awareness and entry into a “flowing” state. Unfortunately, it is impossible to be in both states at the same time, therefore, taking into account the current tasks, circumstances and internal and external factors, employees must switch between them. And the office space should support work in each of these states.
Concentration workspace design
Distractions will not go away, but office space should keep work focused rather than creating new barriers to achieving a “flowing” state.
The work needs of employees change throughout the day depending on the task. For example, you first need to sort your mail, make several calls, then prepare for a meeting, discuss tasks with colleagues, and then prepare a commercial offer. Only with an integrated approach to design can you create a space that is suitable for all of the listed activities.
This holistic approach to organizing office space encompasses five principles: diversity, choice, control, recognition and replenishment.
Diversity. Do not choose between open and private areas, you need to provide employees with both, and also give them the opportunity to choose the right space for each task. Work that requires concentration can be performed in any area: someone is more comfortable in an open space to the sound of an office hum, while someone needs complete silence in a secluded place. The main thing is that both types of space are presented in the office.
Choice. Trust your employees to choose where, how, and when they do their jobs. And they themselves will be able to find the conditions in which they will be most productive.
The control. Give employees control of their workplace. If you decide everything for them, then there is a high probability of being mistaken with their preferences. For example, by deciding to eliminate noise interference among employees and isolate them from common areas, companies can significantly degrade the interaction of colleagues. Instead, give employees the ability to adjust the privacy of their workplace, the frequency of interaction with colleagues, as well as the set of accessories, the level of light, temperature, etc. The very realization that they can control their workspace can offset some of the negative effects of distractions.
Recognition. Getting from point A to point B, then to point C should be easy. Clear and simple layouts allow people to quickly navigate in space and avoid awkward situations and wasted time. A truly understandable layout allows the employee to mentally imagine a map of the office, find colleagues in it and intuitively understand the purpose of each zone. When you clearly delineate functional areas, you do not overload the cognitive processes of employees with unnecessary thoughts, and they are immediately ready to direct their energy to completing tasks instead of trying to navigate in space.
Replenishment of forces. Give employees time and space for breaks. When we concentrate on work for a long time, a lot of energy is expended and the body gets tired faster. Our brains do really amazing things by allowing us to concentrate on something for a long time without paying attention to distractions. Therefore, "recharging" after such activity is simply necessary. One option for recharging your energy is to admire the view from the window while taking a short break from work, and any company should provide this opportunity. You can also take short breaks throughout the day to grab a snack or chat with colleagues in informal areas. One or two longer breaks, such as going to the gym or walking outside the office, can provide the necessary energy boost for a longer work session. It is important to provide employees with these options so that they are always energized to work in concentration.
The problem of concentration in Russian offices
Denis Chernichkin, Director of Haworth Business Interiors, gave his comments on this study and correlated them with Russian realities.
“The problem with concentration in open spaces in Russia is no less urgent than in the West. I would even say that the issue is even more acute. The fact is that, for example, American companies, for the most part, are quite carefully moving to open space, and use it only for specific divisions or zones. In Russian offices, this transition has become sharper and more straightforward, without taking into account the specifics of employees' activities and their working styles. Moreover, often in numerous rows of monotonous "benches" there are practically no delimitations or acoustic barriers whatsoever. Why noise and other distractions reach critical levels. This is confirmed by our research on Ideation in Russian offices, as a result of which we receive constant confirmation that in almost every company the main complaint of employees is the lack of privacy and inability to concentrate.
In order for employees to focus on their tasks, the workspace should provide clearly defined areas for team, individual and focused work. These zones should not compete, but complement each other. Greater variety and availability of this or that space enables employees to use the most suitable environment for the current task and allows them not to distract neighbors, as well as relieves the boring monotony of repeating open space rows, improving acoustic comfort.
And of course, it is extremely important to train employees on the correct use of space. It is necessary to involve people in the process of change from the very beginning, since it is much easier to implement ideas received through communication with colleagues, and not to impose others. Companies need to reinforce new behavior through a well-articulated change strategy, communication and training. In this case, they will not meet with resistance from employees, and the effectiveness of innovations will be as high as possible. Based on Haworth Research
