Worst in employee satisfaction. What about productivity? All the stats quoted were surveys, not measures of work done.
Research: Cubicles Are the Absolute Worst
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Re: Research: Cubicles Are the Absolute Worst
#12We were previously in a crowded open space where I had like 10 sq feet to myself (open). Now we have a modern cube farm 6x8 and it seems luxurious.
Re: Research: Cubicles Are the Absolute Worst
#13What's worse is open space workbenches. They make cubicles seem like a luxury. Grrr...
Just a room full of picnic tables, let's live the dream.
Re: Research: Cubicles Are the Absolute Worst
#14I keep wondering if there's a market for "co-working" spaces that don't follow the open-plan style. What would it look like? I know Joel tried to floor-plan the ultimate developer office, has anyone followed up or built on that since?
Rent-a-carrel seems like it could at least make a go of it in a high-density coworking market like SF. Heck, it would be cool if a coworking space had various areas with varying degrees of openness.
Re: Research: Cubicles Are the Absolute Worst
#15Methinks "open offices" score better than cubicles on many points precisely because there is no expectation of privacy/quiet/etc. Lacking the expectation of better, there is less dissatisfaction with reality being worse. Cubicles at least give the occupant a semblance, and thus hope for, privacy/quiet/etc. so one is more keenly annoyed that it's not up to par.
I think it could also be a potential for distraction that prevents you from even starting to begin with a productivity task.
If you were in an open plan coffee shop things would be different as you don't expect someone to tap you on the shoulder with some arbitrary "urgent" bug to fix or fix the printer because you're "the I.T. guy".
So you actually begin real work rather than only do tiny chunks of busy work.
Re: Research: Cubicles Are the Absolute Worst
#16There's also a self selection bias. I'd never subject myself to open plan voluntarily due to the performance hit. I suspect having personal standards probably has a major influence on general attitude.
"They pretend to house us, we pretend to work" type thing vs being a bit more driven resulting in, on average, more grouchiness.
Re: Research: Cubicles Are the Absolute Worst
#17This fascinates me. I find open-plan offices really hard to work in. Meanwhile—perhaps surprisingly—my favorite places to work are coffee houses or college libraries. I'm surrounded by strangers, but their anonymous presence starves off the feelings of loneliness that I can get working from home.
I think the difference between a public place and an office is that it's really unlikely for any of those strangers outside of an office to interrupt your work. In an open office, every conversation and set of footsteps feels like a potential disruption.
Re: Research: Cubicles Are the Absolute Worst
#18I currently work in an open office space and I enjoy it. I love being able to ask the analyst across from me how s/he goes about doing something without having to get up and peer over a cubicle wall or walk into an office. Bouncing ideas off people and getting an immediate response is great. I could see it being more distracting than a cubicle or a real office. I've never worked in a place with those so I can't compare.
Re: Research: Cubicles Are the Absolute Worst
#19Methinks "open offices" score better than cubicles on many points precisely because there is no expectation of privacy/quiet/etc. Lacking the expectation of better, there is less dissatisfaction with reality being worse. Cubicles at least give the occupant a semblance, and thus hope for, privacy/quiet/etc. so one is more keenly annoyed that it's not up to par.
Agreed. Many people in cubicle farms won't think twice about taking a phone call at their desk. But this is frowned upon in an open office plan, where it is usually expected that you step into the hallway or a phone room.
You must have worked in different open plans than I, which resembled more of a giant chatter box.
Problem was mixing different types of work/communication (engineering and sales), and management who did not care about the impact.
Re: Research: Cubicles Are the Absolute Worst
#20This fascinates me. I find open-plan offices really hard to work in. Meanwhile—perhaps surprisingly—my favorite places to work are coffee houses or college libraries. I'm surrounded by strangers, but their anonymous presence starves off the feelings of loneliness that I can get working from home. I think the difference between a public place and an office is that it's really unlikely for any of those strangers outsid…
IMO it really depends on how open they are, and what your company/team size is.
I love open cube "bullpens" for a team of 4-5 people working on a shared goal, but a completely open office where anyone can disturb you has given me issues in the past.