flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Ability to focus, not perks, is top concern for office employees

Office Buildings

Ability to focus, not perks, is top concern for office employees

Open-plan offices found to worsen distraction problem.


By Peter Fabris, Contributing Editor | June 16, 2016
Ability to focus, not perks, is top concern for office employees

Open concept meeting space in an office in Redmond, Wash. Photo: Wonderlane/Creative Commons.

Employees’ top priority in an office environment is to be able to focus without interruptions, according to research by Oxford Economics.

A global survey of more than 1,200 senior executives and non-management employees found that employees want office designs to foster the ability to concentrate, more than any other factor.  Amenities like free food, for instance, are far less important, the research shows.

Managers and employees have much different views on this issue. Nearly two-thirds of executives say employees are equipped with the tools they need to deal with distractions at work; but less than half of employees agree with that notion.

The research suggests that the growing popularity of open-plan offices comes with a cost: Difficulty for many employees to get their work done without distractions. In addition, most managers do not have the technology or strategies in place to deal with these problems.

Related Stories

Office Buildings | Sep 27, 2017

Gensler designs New Jersey law firm’s new headquarters space

The HQ occupies 75,000 sf in a 400,000-sf suburban office building.

Mixed-Use | Sep 26, 2017

Perkins+Will designs new international business community in Cali, Colombia

The new free trade zone is designed to resemble a small village.

Office Buildings | Sep 20, 2017

Five Stantec offices move into one Fifth Avenue location

The new location provides the firm with 40,000 sf of space.

Industrial Facilities | Aug 29, 2017

Clayco completes construction on Georgia-Pacific Distribution Center

The new facility expands on the company’s old distribution facility by over 300,000 sf.

Green | Aug 24, 2017

Business case for WELL still developing after first generation office fitouts completed

The costs ranged from 50 cents to $4 per sf, according to a ULI report. 

Market Data | Aug 20, 2017

Some suburban office markets are holding their own against corporate exodus to cities

An analysis of mortgage-backed loans suggests that demand remains relatively steady.

Office Buildings | Aug 17, 2017

Toyota’s new North American HQ opens in Plano

Toyota invested $1 billion in the project, which was designed by Corgan.

Lighting | Aug 2, 2017

Dynamic white lighting mimics daylighting

By varying an LED luminaire’s color temperature, it is possible to mimic daylighting, to some extent, and the natural circadian rhythms that accompany it, writes DLR Group’s Sean Avery. 

Office Buildings | Aug 1, 2017

Corporate values as workplace drivers

Connecting personal values to company values is important to millennial workers.

K-12 Schools | Aug 1, 2017

This new high school is the first to be built on a tech company’s campus

Design Tech High School, located on Oracle Corporation’s Headquarters campus, will span 64,000 sf across two stories and have a capacity of 550 students.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category



Sustainable Design and Construction

Northglenn, a Denver suburb, opens a net zero, all-electric city hall with a mass timber structure

Northglenn, Colo., a Denver suburb, has opened the new Northglenn City Hall—a net zero, fully electric building with a mass timber structure. The 32,600-sf, $33.7 million building houses 60 city staffers. Designed by Anderson Mason Dale Architects, Northglenn City Hall is set to become the first municipal building in Colorado, and one of the first in the country, to achieve the Core certification: a green building rating system overseen by the International Living Future Institute.


MFPRO+ News

San Francisco unveils guidelines to streamline office-to-residential conversions

The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection announced a series of new building code guidelines clarifying adaptive reuse code provisions and exceptions for converting office-to-residential buildings. Developed in response to the Commercial to Residential Adaptive Reuse program established in July 2023, the guidelines aim to increase the viability of converting underutilized office buildings into housing by reducing regulatory barriers in specific zoning districts downtown. 

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021