In the past few decades, open office spaces have grown in popularity. Be it Google or Facebook, companies all over the world have been looking to tech giants and start-up pioneers for crafting the most effective workspaces.
For a long time, we favored these open-air environments that seemingly facilitated collaboration. After all, you can just speak your ideas aloud, receive feedback, and bounce ideas off one another without leaving your desk space. Studies have shown, however, that open offices are detrimental.
According to Oxford Economics, open workplaces don’t work. They’re full of noise, distractions, and even sexual harassment.
The feeling of being watched, being subjected to chatter, people getting up and down, and tempted to eavesdrop never make for a productive workplace. We live in office environments that make us feel exposed, judged, and distracted.
We’ve come to this place where fostering collaboration is paramount, even at the expense of productivity and privacy.
To answer the question, yes: we undervalue workplace privacy. But why do we need it?
5 Reasons We Need Workplace Privacy
1) Nobody’s Business
We’re inherently private creatures. We don’t like the idea of everything — every mistake, every error — being exposed for the world (or the workplace) to see. Open spaces that lack privacy inherently put us on edge. We fear being punished and judged. There’s no peace of mind when anyone can drop in on you and your work unannounced and before your thoughts and ideas are properly in order.
Listen: privacy is not the same as secrecy. A person’s desire for privacy isn’t indicative of some wrongdoing happening behind the scenes. No, privacy is an answer to our need for control and agency in everything that we do.
2) Control and Agency
Privacy allows us to control when people see us, when they experience our work, and the environment in which it all happens. It’s not productive to have every half-baked idea out in the open. Instead, it’s more useful to be able to control and refine the final product. Collaboration is helpful, don’t misunderstand. But there comes a point where brainstorming is a waste of time and individuals must retreat to focus on their own ideas and work.
A lack of control eliminates our freedom — be that freedom to work quietly, freedom to choose what we work on, or freedom to share information (and ourselves.) In an open workplace, we can nary take a personal call without having to go stand in a stairwell or in a bathroom for the smallest scrap of privacy.
3) Productivity and Focus
I’ve mentioned already that open spaces hurt productivity and our ability to focus. When there are distractions all around you — noise, conversations, and movement — it inevitably breaks concentration. This is truer when it’s directed at you versus around you. Open spaces break down the walls of decorum that ask “can I have a minute?” and turn into people inserting themselves and your space, often resulting in lost concentration.
It’s simply easier to focus with less distraction. Then, out of that focus comes productivity. Because we were able to hunker down and do the work, we feel more accomplished, inspired, and satisfied.
4) Privacy and Incubation
Good ideas need time. The value in workplace privacy is often seen in this process. Brainstorming, exploring, refining, and critical thinking all best happen when we have time to ourselves in isolation. Privacy is a wonderful incubator for ideas. A busy, loud workplace environment doesn’t allow ideas to settle.
Even if you do share your ideas and receive feedback, it is far more beneficial to share with a trusted, small team of individuals versus presenting anything and everything to your higher-ups as soon as the idea strikes.
Privacy allows ideas to fully develop.
5) Choice and Engagement
I mentioned the distinct value of freedom as it relates to privacy. Open spaces inhibit choice. What we share, what we hear and experience, and even what we do is all influenced by the environment around you. People looking over your shoulder and interrupting, people judging your work before it is finished...this all contributes to a distinct lack of engagement. After all, if your work and your body are constantly exposed — if you feel you are always being watched — it sets up a mental barrier that prevents us from doing deeply engaged work.
By contrast, privacy allows us to get head-down and engaged with what we’re doing. Privacy means that we can manage our connections and exposure to others. In the end, this helps us feel more like valued individuals versus cogs in a machine.
This, in turn, creates pride in and engagement with the work that we do.
How does your level of privacy (or lack thereof) affect your mood and mindset at work? Let me know in the comments.