Speaker  |  Author  |  Futurist

Recent decades have seen scores of offices embrace an open-plan format - as many as 70% of all workplaces. The rationale for doing away with doors and walls was clear: by bringing down the barriers that divided us, greater collaboration, communication and cohesion would result. In addition, a more flexible and fluid office layout would suit an increasingly mobile and transient workplace. Or so we thought.

While open-plan offices have certainly benefitted companies in that they've significantly reduced floor-space requirements and therefore costs, the data is becoming increasingly clear: open-plan offices aren’t really working.

Consider the evidence: