Open Space Office Etiquette

The workplace culture is strongly evolving and becoming more and more open. This has led to the concept of open space office where workers work together in close quarters as it increases their creativity and collaboration.

However, it also poses some challenges, because if proper etiquettes are not observed, an open space office can become counterproductive. Therefore, it is imperative that workers should practice office etiquettes in order to keep the work environment productive and pleasant for everyone else. The following guidelines will help you to observe the right open space office etiquettes:

Watch your Volume
This is the most crucial point. Noise related complaints are common in open space office. The reason for this is that, sound travels easily in an open space office and on top of that, employees are sitting in close proximity to each other. This means that you have to take extreme care when talking to others especially when more than two people are talking to each other. People who are working need to fully concentrate and can be disturbed for the slightest of reasons. Make sure to keep your voice extremely low at all times and maintain the decorum of the office.

Odor Control
Apart from the voices of other, people can also be affected by the odors around the office. This means that you have to take care to avoid wearing strong perfume, cologne, or aftershave. People generally find strong smells to be offensive and in some cases, they can end up suffering from headaches or allergies because of them.
Furthermore, you will have to exercise caution with the lunch that you bring to your office. You have to take into account how people will react to the smell of your lunch. You do not want the office to smell of your lunch and distract or disturb coworkers.

Keep Your Workstation Organized
It is true that you can keep your workstation in whatever way that you want. However, you must remember that since it is an open office, everyone is responsible for the overall environment of the office. Hence, workstations should be kept neat and organized to keep the environment of the office pleasant and productive.

Furthermore, as a rule, never eat at your workstation. This will result in the smell of your lunch to linger around and disturb others once the lunch break is over. Furthermore, any mess created will taint your workstation and spoil the environment of the office.

It is true that open space offices are great to increase creativity and collaboration of the workers. However, if proper etiquettes are not observed, it can be extremely difficult for everyone to work together. The primary purpose of your office is to work and it is important that everyone works together to keep the environment positive.

Irene is a office fitouts specialist with over 15 years experience. Irene is also a regular blog and forum contributor on business issues.