Talofa lava,

I’m sure many of us will be interested in next Wednesday’s Salon topic. Please spread the news to other UC staff that the Salon is on next week and that everyone is welcome to come and have their say on this topical matter.  Professor Ann Richardson (Health Science) is the provocateur – see below for her provocation summary!

Open plan working, who’s it actually working for?

Our recent systematic review on the effects of workplace design on the health of employees found that, compared with individual offices, shared or open-plan office space is not beneficial to employees’ health, with consistent findings of deleterious effects on staff health, wellbeing and productivity.  Our findings are consistent with those of earlier reviews.   Decisions about workplace design should include weighing short-term financial benefits of open-plan or shared workspaces against the significant harms, including increased sickness absence, lower job satisfaction and productivity, and possible threats to staff recruitment and retention.

This is the link to the paper: http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/read-the-journal/all-issues/2010-2019/2017/vol-130-no-1467-15-december-2017/7443