Open Office Collaboration Desks Vs Cubicles

Posted by Office Furniture on February 25th, 2019

Offices have changed shape quite drastically over the last 50 years. Nowadays, businesses seem to favor open-plan style offices containing collaboration desks. Only a few years ago, the fashion was for cubicles. So, which layout is better?

Collaboration Desks – Pros

Collaborations desks are great for, well, collaboration! If your business contains a creative element where discussions are required to generate thoughts and ideas, collaboration desks are great. Workers can still retain their own space with their desk but are free to feed ideas off each other whenever the need arises. Secondly, having open-plan desks means that workers are visible at all times, which makes them more accountable and less likely to have sneaky breaks for checking their personal emails or social media accounts. Thirdly, having collaboration desks means that there is more natural light in all areas of your office space. This is really important for productivity.

Collaboration Desks – Cons

Being open-plan means that workers are more easily distracted. Given that it is quite easy to ask a colleague a question in an open-plan office, you could easily stop somebody’s train of thought and thus, could hinder their productivity. Secondly, if there are no private spaces in an office, it means that there is potential for everyone knowing everyone else’s business. Collaboration desks and open offices mean the potential for gossip is greater.

Cubicles – Pros

Cubicles are like a middle ground between an open-plan office and private office rooms. Having a cubicle gives a worker a degree of privacy as well as a space that is free from most distractions. Having a cubicle reduces the noise considerably too. This is vital for office workers that speak a lot on the telephone.

Cubicles – Cons

Having a physical barrier between colleagues might mean that they are less likely to bounce ideas off one another and so may be less creative in their work. Secondly, cubicles can make an office space feel a lot smaller and more confined. They do nothing to promote a great atmosphere and could, in fact, hinder a worker’s creativity. 

Conclusion

Whilst there are obvious benefits to both, most businesses these days choose open-plan offices and collaborative desks for a reason. The pros certainly outweigh the cons when it comes to this type of office space. The best type of office, however, is one that is adaptable to the workers’ needs and one that has lots of different spaces for different types of work and worker.