> There seems to be some data suggesting that open offices do promote collaboration. Specifically, higher 'contact' rates with other people in the company tends

> There seems to be some data suggesting that open offices do promote collaboration. Specifically, higher 'contact' rates with other people in the company tends to produce lots of useful informal communication. Verbal communication is unrecorded communication. Unrecorded communication is communication which must be repeated to any stakeholder who wasn't present. Repetition is inefficient. Of course, sometimes that's unavoidable. Employees aren't perfect readers and writers - some people have difficulty expressing themselves in prose, others don't have the ability to quickly parse dozens of pages of written communication to pull out the snippets which are personally relevant, and practically speaking they can't all be replaced overnight. Sometimes, emotional appeals need to be privately, unrecorded. But the long-term benefits of prefer-written communication are so incredibly high. New employees on-board faster and less disruptively. Employees can work from home, commute less, and procure higher-quality housing in less-expensive areas as a result, making them happier with a higher discretionary income.