Open floor plans--a vent

[Anonymous]

OP, sounds like your Africa calls and other work would lend itself to telework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everything is cyclical. Right now, trends are away from offices. Same think happened in the 80's. Personally, I don't care one way or another. I would much rather have a comfortable chair than an office

Everyone keeps saying it's a trend but it's been going on since the dot-com creative office stuff really went mainstream, so what, 14 years now? Is it time to cycle back to offices? Or is the next cycle all telework?

At some point, they will look at all of the distractions and realize that offices mean less distractions....not sure when, though.

Unfortunately, I'm not so sure. It saves companies a lot of money. Only positive thing I can think of is teleworking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like the open floor plan, increases awareness between the team. Also, you can go outside or at least get away from desk to make calls, which I enjoy just to get away from the desk for a bit.

Most open floor plans have small 2 person "phone booths" for calls requiring a calming atmosphere. If they are not going to build these into the plan it is a poor setup.

Also, only the most senior people should be given offices if this is the setup. Which is hard to implement because older workers are often difficult to convince any change is good, whether it be new IT software or a new chair.

I also find that older workers want to come to work to work. Open floor plans are great for socializing. They really aren't conducive to concentrating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to the future. We're doing the exact same thing with my company. I'm hoping it allows us more telework

+ 2.

[Anonymous]

I don't like smelling the curry and the tunafish

[Anonymous]

Just commisterating....people react differently to open floor plans. Depending on your work style (and also extrovert/introvert and highly sensitive/non sensitive to your environment) these can be draining, painful and generally awful. There's tons of research out there about how these cause people to be sick more often and majorly cut down on productivity, efficiency and accuracy. Businesses tend to use the excuse that open floor plans encourage collaboration, but in the vast majority of work places - this is just an excuse. Government is starting to do this more and more and is encouraging people to telework as much as possible to deal with it. My opinion is that if they just cut half the work force and just give everyone space to focus and concentrate, the same amount of work could get accomplished....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just commisterating....people react differently to open floor plans. Depending on your work style (and also extrovert/introvert and highly sensitive/non sensitive to your environment) these can be draining, painful and generally awful. There's tons of research out there about how these cause people to be sick more often and majorly cut down on productivity, efficiency and accuracy. Businesses tend to use the excuse that open floor plans encourage collaboration, but in the vast majority of work places - this is just an excuse. Government is starting to do this more and more and is encouraging people to telework as much as possible to deal with it. My opinion is that if they just cut half the work force and just give everyone space to focus and concentrate, the same amount of work could get accomplished....

Amen

[Anonymous]

It's very frustrating, and I feel for you. I think it would be best to remain positive and constructive but perhaps point out to your supervisor and/or HR that you feel your particularly position is better suited to an office. Note that you have to speak loudly on the phone over bad reception and feel it may interfere with other people around you.

FWIW, I worked in an organization with a layout like this (but no prior precedent of offices), and it WAS irritating to have conversations that everyone could hear. The person next to me had frequent and loud foreign-language conversations on Skype with overseas colleagues. It wasn't his fault, but it was hard to concentrate, and I certainly felt self-conscious about what I was saying on phone calls myself.

I think it will work out okay, but it is an adjustment.

[Anonymous]

Op I agree, it is an annoying trend. Happened in my office a few years ago. When I need to write and focus I use headphones with atmospheric music to block out others conversations. Did not like it but made do. I hope they will have some meeting rooms for phone calls for you.

[Anonymous]

It's here to stay, so we should all plan to figure out how to adapt. I work in the real estate industry, and we have moved steadily from about 350 square feet per person to 180 SF per person over the past decade. Note that this includes file rooms, kitchens, copy rooms, etc. The only way to do this is pack more people in. Also, as space opens the cost of operating (lights, hvac, wiring) goes down.

What I find companies don't do a good job of is explaining how to make it work. I.e. you can't bring your day old plate of fish and heat it up. And, no popcorn people. Also, those with private offices need to remember that when they are out these are de facto phone rooms/breakout spaces.