An institution with which I am familiar is wondering how to devise the best possible workspace for its employees. Between the individual office (not feasible) and the openspace with scores of people in it (not healthy), what is the best solution? A recent publication (Pejtersen et al. 2011 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21528171) found that sickness absence was lower in offices with 3-6 people than in offices with either 2 or >6 people.

So is there a "magic number" somewhere between 3 and 6?