What companies get wrong about open-office plans

Open-office plans are often criticized for increasing noise, stress, and distraction. Yet despite widespread complaints, they now dominate modern workplaces, with roughly 70% of U.S. offices using open seating arrangements. New research suggests that many companies may be overlooking a key advantage of these layouts: when used strategically, they can significantly improve productivity.

Researchers from Harvard Business School and Cornerstone OnDemand analyzed two years of data from an unnamed technology company employing about 2,000 workers. Rather than focusing on space allocation or privacy, the study examined how who sits next to whom affects employee performance.

The researchers identified three categories of workers. Productive workers completed tasks quickly but produced lower-quality output. Quality workers delivered high-quality work but moved more slowly. Generalists performed moderately across both dimensions.

The strongest gains occurred when workers with complementary strengths were seated together. Pairing productive employees with quality-focused colleagues led to measurable improvements on multiple fronts: work speed increased by 13%, unfinished work dropped by 17%, and overall quality improved. Generalists, by contrast, performed best when seated alongside other generalists.

These findings challenge the common practice of seating employees primarily by job function. In the studied company, seating assignments were largely random—a pattern the researchers note is typical across many organizations. Yet rearranging seating based on performance traits proved to be a low-cost way to raise output.

Dylan Minor, a visiting assistant professor at Harvard Business School, emphasized that physical space is an underutilized management tool. Rearranging desks, he noted, can be done inexpensively and should be viewed as a meaningful lever for increasing returns on human capital.

The study also revealed a critical risk. Just as positive traits spill over between neighbors, toxic behavior spreads as well. Employees who engage in misconduct or unethical actions can quickly influence nearby coworkers, with negative spillover occurring almost immediately.

The good news is that this damage is not permanent. Once a toxic worker is removed or separated, the harmful effects largely disappear within a month. The authors conclude that organizations must act quickly when toxicity is identified, as proximity can rapidly magnify its impact.

Overall, the research suggests that open offices are not inherently flawed. When paired with thoughtful seating strategies that account for complementary skills and behavioral risks, they can become a powerful, data-driven tool for boosting performance.