Unexpected encounters can help spark innovation, but if companies remove too many office boundaries, it can have the opposite effect. When researchers at Harvard University used digital trackers to monitor employees at two major companies, they found that the introduction of open-plan offices reduced face-to-face interactions by around 70 per cent. People instead chose to communicate online, with e-mail use increasing by over 50 per cent. Increasing the openness of the offices had decreased the number of meaningful interactions, reducing overall productivity.
