The Perils of Working in Open-Plan Offices

By Dr Mike Talbot

Over the 27 years since we began resolving workplace conflict, we have noticed an increase in the prevalence of open-plan offices in organisations. Good for some, especially if you like a chat at the water cooler or to catch your friend’s eye when you have something you can’t wait to tell them. Not so good for others who prefer the quiet and low-stimulation setting of a small or even private office.

We have seen how workplace conflicts can arise more in open-plan workplaces: colleagues eating & drinking noisily, workers feeling that others are listening in to their conversations, people wearing headphones so they can work without disturbance, others talking too loudly on the phone. All these things can test our and our coworkers’ patience and can soon give rise to difficult and contentious conversations.

But now, a brand-new study [1] has identified that the open-plan office can in face lead to increased workplace bullying. In a large-scale survey of 3,300 office workers whose offices varied in size and layout, and even when factoring out personality traits and the impact of occasional remote working, the open-plan office was found to be the setting in which most bullying took place. The study’s authors attributed this to several factors:

• In traditional open-plan offices it is easier to notice colleagues’ shortcomings and to become irritated by them

• If someone gets frustrated and takes it upon themselves to “do something about” a colleague’s behaviour, and there are no clear guidelines for handling such situations, there is a risk that it may escalate into bullying

• Those who are subjected to bullying lack access to a private space for retreat

The first of these, of course, comes down to people having empathy for others (being aware that your loud chewing or raucous laughter on the phone might not be to everyone’s liking) and, conversely, exercising tolerance to other people’s quirks or habits. The third one, suggest the authors, can be mitigated by having private offices available, into which people may retreat if they need a private space (although you can imagine that some colleagues might just go there all the time if they were given the chance).

The second one, though, is very much the interest of us here at EU Mediation: how we can confidently raise something difficult with a colleague in such a way that we get our own needs met (the need for a chance to concentrate or to sometimes keep things private) and the other person also gets their needs met (a need to feel relaxed and comfortable at work, or to have some social interaction in the working day).

A key element of staying out of destructive conflict at work is to know how to address such difficult topics with colleagues, and so to prevent conflict from escalating. A recommendation from the Swedish study is always to deal with irritations and conflicts before they escalate, and that is very much one of our key messages: nip disputes in the bud, learn how to address conflict positively, and if necessary when things go wrong, get an impartial third party to help get the two of you talking again.  


[1] Workplace Bullying in the Open: the Risks Associated with Working in an Open Office (2026), M Rosander, M B Nielsen, Occupational Health Science, published online 19 January 2026, DOI: 10.1007/s41542-025-00246-x