There are many benefits to a modern open plan office but one major disadvantage can’t be ignored – distractions.
When you have a large space with many people working within it, of course there is going to be noise and there are going to be annoyances which happen every single day. Whilst you can’t wipe these out completely, you can do many things to try and reduce them.
How about office booths for those who want to sit and work on quiet tasks? Siting these away from the main hub of the office is a good idea, as well as installing acoustic panels to soak up background noise and allow a calmer atmosphere.
You could also think about office partition screens for those who want to cut themselves off for an hour or so.
It really comes down to clever office space planning and employees having respect for one another in terms of cutting down on office distractions, but going down the route of an agile workspace could work well. This means there are dynamic working zones for different types of tasks, so nobody is stuck trying to concentrate whilst someone else is collaborating next door, etc.
Can you think of any useful distraction busters?