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Hardly news. There are a few situations where an open-office/low-privacy cubicle layout is beneficial, but it's not when the individual workers have to concentrate and feel comfortable. The pattern persists because it's a cheap way to stuff a lot of people in a small area and "motivate" them not to slack off.
Pretty much anyone who worked in an office in the last 25 years knew that. The only ones who "didn't" were the furniture manufacturers pushing their latest "solution" to a non problem, the architects who tried for force "interaction" (if you think office design is bad, they've done the same thing to labs), and the budget weenies who consider everything a cost and ignore the value.
I have worked in all combinations and my personal productivity at least 50% greater in private office than a cube farm, and even more compared to the open office. The noise and interruptions make it very hard to do work that requires deep concentration.
After working nearly 30 years for a Japanese auto manufacturer, I would have loved to have had any kind of cubicle, even if it wasn’t the typical height type. I worked in a real open office where rows of desks were placed beside one another and there was exactly zero privacy. Every phone call from every person in the room was heard by everyone else. From keyboard clacking to chairs rolling to desk drawers being closed all of it was part of my day. It was without a doubt the most stressful and unproductive environment imaginable.
We've known this for years, but companies don't care. They feed us the lie that it's beneficial for "collaboration" and "productivity" but what they're really trying to do is cram as many bodies as possible into an office. Open spaces also make it far easier to see who's doing what...or who's looking at what.
Those of us who've been on the ground for 20+ years in IT know that open offices are trash.
My current employer is going to move to an open office plan in the near to medium term. Our cube walls are already only 4 feet high so I hear (and see) almost everything that's going on anyway. All that'll change is I'll be able to smell my coworkers' BO much better.
At least they were semi-honest with us when they announced the plan...they said it was for "productivity and collaboration" but also for "cost reasons." So...a sideways thumb for semi-honesty.
I remember working in one of these "open office" environments years ago working for a large financial firm in a metropolitan area. Everyone sat in a row, each person facing the person in front of them (and their computer screen), with the entire office facing the restrooms. I was a manager in the back row, but could see everything from my vantage point, even how long people were in the restroom. I lasted exactly 30 days at that awful place, I can't imagine a worse environment. Zero privacy and if you needed to have even the tiniest conversation with someone you had to schedule a meeting in one of the shared offices.
Can I repeat this for the 10,000th time? I AM SO THANKFUL TO BE WORKING FROM HOME!!!!!!!
I remember working in one of these "open office" environments years ago working for a large financial firm in a metropolitan area. Everyone sat in a row, each person facing the person in front of them (and their computer screen)...
Yeah see I could possibly tolerate the other open office aspects, but if I ever see that bolded part during a job interview, I might have to give it a solid NO. Constantly having someone's face in my peripheral vision would be brutal.
When I was a copy editor, I started out with my own office. You need to be able to concentrate when you are reading technical documents. A few years in and the company moved to a new location and building. It actually was a very nice office. However, I was given a cubicle with glass walls in a shared space with 4 others (admin staff). Only management level got offices (with glass walls also). I was still productive but I noticed I wasn't as error free as I used to be. I also realized the admin staff tended to spend more time on personal phone calls and chit chatting than on working.
My husband works in an open office. It's probably just cheaper for them to do that---less separated office spaces, more people crammed together. Sure, sure collaboration. That's why half of the people need to work with headphones on (working on things where they need to HEAR/pay attention to the sound and/or having conference calls) and another chunk working on projects almost exclusively with people overseas.
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