Office seating can change your life, and one company is doing something about it

Office seating can change your life, and one company is doing something about itOffice seating can change your life, and one company is doing something about itOne of the quietly fraught aspects of both modern amtsstubes and high school lunchrooms is this where will you sit?Studies show that office seat mates affect every employees mood, productivity and even health. From loud talkers to constantly-sick viral incubators to the office humorist and beloved work spouse, proximity through seating is a quiet key for office morale.One startup is going the extra mile elend to mess it up. Mobile payments startup Squareis making the art of office seating arrangements a full-time job. Dubbed a Capacity Coordinator in the job posting, this position is equal parts project manager, data analyst, and relationship builder.Not only will the new Capacity Coordinatorbe handling where new hires sit and moving teams, he or she will also be working on cross-functional seating projectsand maintaining offi ce furniture,among other things. Weve reached out to Square for comment.A manager dedicated to seating plans at the office isnt necessarily far-fetched. In fact, itfits into a larger conversation abouthow much nearby colleagues - well as the layout ofthe space- can impact employees productivity.Emotional contagion and the personality matchGetting the right fit between personalities at work almost requires its own technology. When trying to get your work done, youprobably pick up on the vibes of the person sitting next to you.A 2002 study published inAdministrative Science Quarterly found thatpeople do not live on emotional islands but, rather, that group members experience moods at work, these moods ripple out and, in the process, influence not only other group members emotions but their group dynamics and individual cognitions, attitudes, and behaviors as well.How workers feel canmake waves on your team, and influence how others feel and work together. The 2002 study calls a pers on or group impacting the feelings or actions of others emotional contagion.The most surprising part scientific studies have shown there is a financial and organizational benefit from well-arranged seating at work.Cornerstone OnDemand and Harvard Business School partnered up on research that determined the ideal seating arrangement, based on workers productivity levels.The study matchedproductive workers (very productive but lack in quality) and quality workers (produce superior quality but lack in productivity) together. It said that generalists (average in quality and productivity) should be matched separately, and thatsymbiotic relationships are created from pairing those with opposite strengths.According to the findings, placing the right type of workers in close proximity to each other has been shown to generate up to a 15% increase in organizational performance. For an organization of 2,000 workers, strategic seating planning could add an estimated $1 million per annum to prof it, the study said. There might just be a formula for this after all.Open office backlashWorkspace layout matters because open offices dont always make for greater productivity, despite their popularity.An anonymous survey of more than 1,000 peopleby enterprise software strategist William Belk found that 58% of high-performance employees need more private spaces for problem solving, and 54% of them think their office space is too distracting,according to a post on Medium.These workerswere defined as those working on the hardest problems.According to Belk, these percentages point to four conclusions distractions are badeanstalt for these workers productivity, poor productivity hurts our products and time-to-market, offices are too open overall, and that employers need to listen to the needs of high-performance employees.Forbes reported that about 70% of U.S. offices have some type of open floor plan,as found by theInternational Facility Management Association.But research says that o ur productivity goes down by 15%, were two times as likely to get sick and that its hard to focus in open offices, according to the BBC. Open offices are also stressful for introverts, who feel a need to limit their exposure to othersin order to be more creative.Thats why many startups have a variety of areas in which to work, including pods, quiet rooms, and other escape spaces. Lunchrooms, cafes and other food spaces make it less likely that people will eat at their desks, distracting colleagues with smells and chewing sounds. (Yes, some people are naturally sensitive to loud chewing.)Some organizations like marketing company Groove have started to make things easier for employees to work privately.People have different needs throughout their day - times they want to collaborate and times where they just need to think by themselves, Groove CEOEthan Giffin told The Huffington Post.The companys new office (as of a few years ago) was built with a library featuring an unspoken no-tal king rule and other places to work that were smaller and more private,according to The Huffington Post.We look forward to the popularization of a personality-matched office that welcomes both extroverts and introverts - and has plenty of nap pods, besides.