In 2010, a study was conducted to see why environment was the best for the employees. Which environment would lead to the most productivity and happiness.

They tested 4 layouts:

1. One was stripped down: bare desk, swivel chair, pencil, paper, nothing else.
2. The second layout was softened with pot plants and almost abstract floral images.

Workers enjoyed this layout (2nd) more than the minimalist one and got more and better work done there.

The third and fourth layouts were superficially similar, yet produced dramatically different outcomes.

In each, workers were invited to use the same plants and pictures to decorate the space before they started work, if they wished. But in one of them, the experimenter came in after the subject had finished decorating, and then rearranged it all.

The physical difference was trivial, but the impact on productivity and job satisfaction was dramatic.

When workers were empowered to shape their own space, they did more and better work and felt far more content. When workers were deliberately disempowered, their work suffered and, of course, they hated it.

What Le Corbusier got right about office space, Tim Harford