Open-plan offices make workers sick

"Office life is bad for your health," read the headline in ScienceAlert, a website that covers the Australasian science community.

"The evidence we found was absolutely shocking," said Dr Vinesh Oommen, one of the study’s authors. Oommen and his team work at the Queensland University of Technology's Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation.

"In 90 per cent 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," Oommen said. "It has been found that the high level of noise causes employees to lose concentration, leading to low productivity, there are privacy issues because everyone can see what you are doing on the computer or hear what you are saying on the phone, and there is a feeling of insecurity."

Oommen observed that " I think employers around the country need to rethink the open-plan environment in their offices." The study appears in the latest issue of Asia-Pacific Journal of Health Management.

What's your experience with open plan offices?