You’ve probably heard a lot about open-office layouts and floor plans in recent years. Far from simply a passing fad, an open-office structure can bring some major, concrete benefits to your business. Below are some very good reasons to consider designing and switching to an open-office layout during your next visit to an office furniture dealer.

Lower Cost

You may not realize it right away, but utilizing an open layout in your office space can be a real cost-saver. First of all, you won’t have to waste money building high cubicle walls. Secondly, you can simply use a large, open area instead of installing separate walls and drywall to create individual offices. Finally, having an open-office plan allows you to use fewer individual pieces of furniture. For example, you can employ a long table rather than three of four individual desks to get the same amount of surface space.

Furthermore, a single, open area is more easily heated and cooled than multiple enclosed offices. With energy costs continuing to rise, this can result in some serious savings on utility bills.

Greater Collaboration

Having rows of cell-like cubicles or multiple enclosed offices in your business promotes a sense of isolation. On the other hand, when you adopt an open-office plan, you encourage teamwork and collaboration. Employees feel more comfortable working together, asking questions, and putting their heads together to solve problems and come up with new ideas.

Open offices also increase camaraderie and morale among workers. With enclosed offices, it’s all too easy to become literally “walled off” from one’s colleagues. Sitting alone all day, an employee might never get to know their coworkers. But in an open office, people are encouraged to learn about their colleagues, which increase teamwork and efficiency.

Increased Productivity

There are multiple ways in which an open-office layout can increase productivity. First of all, ease of access to teammates and coworkers saves time. There’s no need to type out an email when you can simply lean over and verbally give your colleague the message. Transferring a large file can also be as simple as handing a thumb drive to the person next to you. Sure, these may only save a few seconds at a time, but those seconds add up.

Next, an open office discourages time-wasting and goofing off. An employee prone to laziness won’t be as likely to spend their workday playing games of solitaire if everyone else can see their monitor.

The Most Successful Companies Do It

Open-office environments are successfully used by multiple Fortune 500 companies, including some big names like Google and Novo Nordisk. These companies have found that such a layout leads to an open, friendly, and efficient workspace. Employees are less likely to feel like they’re disturbing managers when they need to ask a question. Also, shared projects are completed more easily and more quickly.

A good office furniture dealer can help you plan and implement an efficient and cost-effective open-office layout. Then your business can start to reap the benefits listed above.