The Impact of Shared Versus Individual Office Space on Therapist Appraisal of Their Work Environment

Abstract

Objective: The primary objective was to investigate the impact of shared versus individual office space on therapist appraisal of the work physical and social environment, and overall appraisal of working conditions.
 Method: Therapists (n = 59) from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Western Australia were surveyed about their appraisal of the social and physical work environment, in addition to their overall appraisal of working conditions.
 Results: Compared to therapists with individual offices, therapists occupying shared office space reported lower appraisal of the work physical environment and lower overall appraisal of working conditions. No difference was found between groups for appraisal of the work social environment. Additionally, when statistically controlling for office space, both the appraisal of the social and physical environment made an independent contribution to the prediction of overall work satisfaction.
 Conclusion: This research reveals that shared office space can negatively impact therapist appraisal of their work environment and reduce overall appraisal of working conditions. Additionally, results reveal the high importance of the physical environment for staff satisfaction in a mental health service.

Exploring the impact of the physical work environment on service employees: an analysis of literature

“…According to Danielsson and Bodin (2009), employees working in a traditional office reported greater satisfaction with the ambient conditions and design than employees working in open-plan offices in which noise and the lack of privacy constitute the main cause of work dissatisfaction. Similar conclusions have been found by previous scholars with respect to the effects of open-plan offices on work productivity (McElroy and Morrow, 2010;De Been and Beijer, 2014;Rogers et al, 2018).…”

“…In physical work environment literature, studies have generally focused on office design (Oldham and Brass, 1979; Sundstrom et al , 1980; Oldham and Rotchford, 1983; Elsbach and Bechky, 2007). In addition, among the other design characteristics, particular attention has been devoted to lighting/darkness, privacy, noise/distraction (Elsbach and Bechky, 2007), temperature (Sander et al , 2019), aesthetics and artifacts (Pratt and Rafaeli, 2001; Rafaeli and Vilnai-Yavetz, 2004a, 2004b; Vilnai-Yavetz and Rafaeli, 2006).…”

“…The last theme clusters those papers that analyze the effects of the physical work environment in contexts that are not connected to the office. Negative relation between open-plan office and employees' productivity (McElroy and Morrow, 2010;De Been and Beijer, 2014;Rogers et al, 2018) Negative relation between open-plan office and employees' satisfaction (Danielsson and Bodin, 2009) Positive relation between open-plan office and communication and interaction (Hedge, 1982;Danielsson and Bodin, 2009) Main used method(s) for data collection Observation Semistructured interview…”

“More room for learning”: Early Childhood Educators’ reflections on their classroom environment

“…This led to some participants reporting that they felt self-conscious, stressed, and dehumanized from what they deemed to be a judgemental presence (watching, scrutinizing, and verbally commenting on their practices) of their colleagues and administrators. Similar findings in other research on workspaces (Brewer et al, 2017;Kim & de Dear, 2013;Rogers et al, 2018), suggested that having other people in one's workspace affected how they worked (e.g. communal areas were cause for distraction) and felt about their work.…”

“…The research revealed that office spaces that were shared or open concept, were more negatively perceived by workers than enclosed spaces (Brewer et al, 2017;Kim & de Dear, 2013;Rogers et al, 2018). Shared and open concept spaces lacked visual and auditory privacy, had higher noise levels, and posed more challenges with regulating temperatures (Kim & de Dear, 2013;Rogers et al, 2018).…”