The biggest stressor in an open-plan office isn’t the noise.
“Excuse me, but could you please take that conversation somewhere else?” Anyone who has ever worked in an open-plan office has thought it, said it, or heard it being said. We all know the dynamics: loud phone calls, chatting, or a Microsoft Teams meeting where half the department is listening in. Or that one colleague who sighs loudly all day long.
On their own, these are minor annoyances. Together, however, they form a constant stream of stimuli that drains your energy without you even realizing it. Just when you are deeply focused, you get pulled out of it yet again.
Meanwhile, you swallow your irritation. After all, you don’t want to be known as the colleague who complains about everything.
So, you try to focus even harder and say nothing. Or you eventually snap because you can’t take it anymore. When that happens, the colleagues causing the disruption share a knowing look, lower their voices, or move their conversation elsewhere.
As a coach, these are phrases I often hear on the work floor:
“There’s nothing we can do about it.”
“I don’t want to complain.”
“The others say it doesn’t bother them that much.”
But often, there is something you can do. It just requires a conversation that nobody likes to start. Constantly suppressing your annoyance drains your energy and is a major source of stress. I notice that organizations love to look for solutions in physical design: acoustic panels, quiet zones, or noise-canceling headphones. Sometimes that helps. But it’s still just treating the symptoms.
The real question is: do people feel safe enough to hold each other accountable in a respectful way?
Most colleagues don’t have bad intentions. People who make loud phone calls often don’t realize how much they are disrupting others. The problem only arises when nobody feels free to say something about it. It’s about having the freedom to bring up everyday irritations without being afraid of being seen as ‘difficult’.
That is where a healthy work culture begins. A good work environment doesn’t need to be dead silent, but it does require a culture where colleagues dare to speak up. Such a culture doesn’t just happen by itself. Leaders play a crucial role here by setting the right example and addressing minor annoyances before they turn into major frustrations.
How people interact in an open-plan office says a lot about an organization’s culture.
Where people feel safe, they address issues with each other before annoyance turns into frustration. Where that doesn’t happen, even the best noise-canceling headphones won’t help. Because in the end, the biggest stressor in an open-plan office isn’t the noise, it’s the energy wasted on everything colleagues leave unsaid.
