5 Ways Your Office's Open Floor Plan Is Surprisingly Sexist

Making It Difficult

Monkey Business / AdobeStock

AnnaMarie Houlis,

5/31/2018 at 4:21PM UTC

Career

While open-floor office plans can bring coworkers closer and invite communication among all levels of employees, many workers take issue with them for a multitude of reasons — they can be distracting, invasive and put everyone in the same playing field despite hierarchical status. For example, as The Wall Street Journal has pointed out, some Apple employees have said, “Coders and programmers are concerned that their work surroundings will be too noisy and distracting.”

Apple employees aren't alone. In fact, two thirds of respondents in a University of Sydney study on workplace satisfaction reported an open office environment and, in general, showed considerably higher dissatisfaction rates than those in enclosed office layouts. Between 20 and 40 percent of open-plan office workers expressed high levels of dissatisfaction for reasons of visual privacy.

While many workers tend to feel negatively about open office plans, however, a wealth of recent research suggests that these spaces can be largely sexist, impacting women in the workplace more so than men. Open-floor office plans can affect the way women dress, act and communicate, and they can be breeding grounds for sexual harassment. Here are five ways they can hurt women in the workplace.

1. They change expectations for women's dress.

According to research, open-plan offices change the way women decide to dress for work, since leaders tend to wear more expensive clothes and jackets, and their subordinates tend to choose cardigans to show their deferences in levels. Authors of the study, published in the journal Gender, Work and Organisation, found that workers subconsciously altered their behavior to fit in, and they'd dress differently to suit an "environment of constant visibility." Likewise, some women dress differently because they're conscious of the male gaze in their office, devoid of a layout that lets male colleagues know that they're "important."

2. They make some women feel "constantly watched."

The same study published in Gender, Work and Organization, found that while open-floor office plans may be "designed to enchant rather than control overtly, and to encourage movement rather than fixity," they can make some women feel uncomfortable for being constantly watched. Researchers Alison Hirst of Anglia Ruskin University and Christina Schwabenland of the University of Bedfordshire explored the process of a local government moving its 1,100 employees from traditional offices to one big open office over the course of three years in the U.K., and, while some female employees reported feeling like the new office space promoted equality, others became hyper-aware of being constantly watched and their appearance constantly evaluated. Many said: “There isn’t anywhere that you don’t feel watched.”

3. They make some women feel scrutinized for their appearance.

The architect behind the aforementioned study compared his design to a nudist beach. Women are already scrutinized for their appearances at a far greater extent than men, and when put in an open-floor office, many report feeling that scrutiny. Women are already hyper-aware of their looks with regards to everything down to the makeup they put on their faces. That's because "attractive" people earn roughly 20 percent more than “average” people, and women who wear makeup are considered more competent than those who don’t — but women are tasked with having to appear competent but not "unprofessional" by applying too much. An open-floor plan that calls attention to women's appearances can exacerbate the power dynamics already at play.

4. They can amplify sexual harassment.

When women work in private offices, they have privacy and what should feel like safe spaces. But those are taken away in open-floor offices. One woman told Fast Co.Design: "I eventually discovered that not only was I being watched all the time, (at first I thought it was just my imagination) but then my boss started following me around. If I went upstairs to make a phone call to have privacy, he would go upstairs to get water, or tea, or something. Even when I would use the side rooms, he followed me ‘to grab something’ in one of these rooms, and made sure to check my screen to see what I was doing. It wasn’t long before I realized this guy was a little obsessed with me... It turned out to be a long-term disaster when I didn’t respond to his advances and dreamy-eyed gazes. I had to leave in a huff, and I do not regret it."

5. They make private conversations more difficult.

Open offices mean that there's virtually no privacy, which makes difficult conversatins that much more difficult to have. As evermore women are reporting sexual harassment and sexism in general in the workplace, they've limited private spaces to share their concerns with human resources and management. Speaking with someone on a one-to-one basis without the fear of being overheard, judged or worse becomes a challenge.

AnnaMarie Houlis is a multimedia journalist and an adventure aficionado with a keen cultural curiosity and an affinity for solo travel. She's an editor by day and a travel blogger at HerReport.org by night.

9 Comments

Anonymous

Being the devil's advocate here ob open-floor office plans. I've heard both men & women are dissatisfied with an open environment especially if they aren't used to it. Because people don't like change. For example, I was talking to someone who works at a reputable tech company and a few months ago, they changed the seats to be much more open. In fact, no one had their own desk in hopes to enhance socializing and collaborating. No one liked it at first. Within the next month, it appeared that people adapted and actually liked the setup.

I have to disagree. Open offices cater to extraverts, low-attention tasking, and the neurotypical. I’m an introverted creative with ADHD and even transitioning into an office where I kept my door open and having a coworker who walked in, called, or texted me several times hour was not only distracting, but affected my physical and mental health because I was constantly listening for his footsteps and feeling like my space was invaded. Any work that needed longer-term focus was constantly interrupted, and if I shut my door to get that dedicated focus time, he was even WORSE about interrupting me and took it as a personal attack. I’ve had to move to a different BUILDING to get the space to be able to focus on my work.

I agree with #1. I can't afford what executives are wearing but I have gotten really good at thrift shopping. But I'm lucky that I like to shop.

Agreed with the comment above. Why can't everyone just dress like normal humans and be casual? Or at least business casual.

I like my open floor plan office. It definitely facilitates collaboration. Perhaps it's nkt useful for a solitary job. But if the work involves, or SHOULD involve. regular collaboration, being able to just say "Hey Sam, did you see xyz report? What do you think? Lets initiate a plan for this" is really invaluable. I don't get the complaints abiut being watched. Of course you're being watched and judged, that's part of the workworld amd how bosses evaluate us. I had one co-worker, a guy, who spent hours watching YouTube videos at his desk. He was dealt with, shall we say, by management. Im glad we are being watched! Reward thise if us working well and punish the lazy employees. I don't get the clothes thing either. We all wear suits mostly. And the women who di have their own offices wear cardigans as often as those of us who don't. If a woman or man are that concerned abiut being judged by their wardrobe, just dress worh the assumption that you could be asked to lead an important meeting any given day. The suit makes the man, and rhe woman. Own it.

Leader345236,

Steve Wozniak designed the first Apple computer while bingeing on Star Trek. I’m sick of people insisting everyone else must follow their own “discipline.” Either the man is meeting his goals or not. If he watches YouTube while doing so, why should anyone care?

“Even when I would use the side rooms, he followed me ‘to grab something’ in one of these rooms...” This has nothing to do with the floor plan, her boss is a creep in any space.

Goalsetter446283,

The problem is in a truly open flor floor with only a few office, so of us collaborate while some of us need quiet. And vice versa. It never works unless all the people’s job functions are the same.

Leader230802,

Open floor plans are horrible if you need to do analysis, have constant focus, use the phone - and not be bothered by others who are using the phone. Ever tried to write conditional formulas when people are taking conference calls on speaker phones three feet from your desk? It’s horrible. Open floor plans need to die already.