Instead asking an opinion based question "Do you find..." you could make this more objective by changing the last sentence to "Has there been any studies that show an increase in productivity by such layouts"

I want to know how they measure productivity.

It increases profits for a bunch of idiots who spend their time designing offices, does that count?

To be fair, the layout looks slightly better in this picture archpaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/…

@Helena, thanks, question edited.

@SteveSh You have employees experience multiple layouts and survey them. This is what they did at my office.

@Helena - I was asking about productivity, which seemed to be the point of OP question.

I find the three things you've flagged to be a bit dubious. Both a) and b) might easily be dismissed because the positive impacts may outweigh these negative impacts. c) I'm not too sure what arrangement of furniture will give you more natural light.

@SteveSh there is many studies about office layout and productivity out there, you might check what they did: researchgate.net/publication/… researchgate.net/publication/… scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/…

@Helena - Sorry, can't get to any of the researchgate.net publications. I get the following error message "We've picked up some unusual traffic from your network and have temporarily blocked access from your IP address." This is the only site that gives gives me such a warning. No, I'm not going to waste my time figuring out the problem.

@SteveSh I was just trying to help you answering your question. The links I gave you were the first google hits, searching for studies on effects of office layout on productivity. There is plenty of more, if you are truly interested.

This really depends on what they are all doing. If they are monitoring industrial processes, this layout might help. Likewise, if this team is an investment and trading team, they might work well together this way. Any team that needs fast communication to respond to rapidly changing situations might benefit. On the other hand, creative thinking work does better alone or two people working together but alone.

@ David R - I agree, somewhat. But again the basis of my comment was how - what measure (or measures) are they employing - are they determining if one layout is better then another? Employee feedback is one thing (whether they like one layout over another), but does not address my question. If you can't measure it, then you're just fooling yourself if you think rearranging desks are making any difference, productivity-wise.

@SteveSh Just because we can't find a way to measure something, it doesn't mean it isn't having some sort of effect. If fact, I would say that sometimes merely maintaining productivity can be beneficial, because there may be other factors at play that reduce productivity.

Guys, when it comes to measuring the effect of office layouts, please note, that I am asking about the particular layout on the picture. This makes the problem more specific and a tad easier to think about.

@drabsv The general concept you should search for is "open plan office layout". Also, looking at how clean the desks are, it's possible that hot-desking is in use, so it's very possible that employees have some say onto what type of environment they wish to work.

@drabsv Just so we are clear, you are specifically concerned about the round table in the middle of the arrangement, and you are looking for scientific studies around if adding a circular table assists in productivity?

@Gregory Currie - I am concerned about points a), b) and c) in my question, which do appear as factors in open space offices in general, but are best illustrated in the context of the round table in the picture example.

@drabsv If anything, I think the small table would discourage random people from walking through, so that would reduce a) and b). In addition, you can hold small meetings and people can easily swivel their chair in or out as needed. No need for everyone to walk off to a meeting room. I don't think the small table blocks too much natural light.

@drabsv I don't think you can expect every single decision to be backed by scientific study. The tables are likely to cost about $100 each. If they really harm productivity, they can simply be moved away.

@drabsv a) if the activity requires joint action, then the conversations are part of the job. b) again, if joint action, then people behind you are part of the job c) no sunlight can also mean no distractions from outside activities which increases productivity. Productivity and whether this layout helps or hurts is highly dependent on what the job is. And it can be measured simply by asking the participants how they feel about the layout.