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The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)

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Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)

#151

Post by randcraw »

kchoudhu wrote: post #30
romanovcode wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because not everyone in Google (or any other open-office space) is a developer. In fact, most are not, and most are getting way less pay.

Then put those people in open office plan, and give developers offices.

THIS. Fact is, mixing number crunchers with sales folk is the crux of the problem. If light/personal conversation took place away from the work area, both open offices and cubes would be much more productive and pleasant.

The essence of making workspaces work is minimizing distractions. Any layout can work if you take the chatter ELSEWHERE.

Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)

#152

Post by YZF »

iaw wrote: post #131
6nf wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes definitely, the problem is more with the perception of those in the office. All they see is you are working from home with your family and they might assume you're not able to give it your full attention.

At a previous job my manager complained incessantly about my arrival and leave times but could not find an instance where I wasn't responsive, available, and getting done everything that needed to be. The reason I wasn't more responsive to his complaints was that I'd watch him spend his entire day at his computer either browsing facebook or reading sports blogs. It feels so backwards.

In my first ever job my manager would always sort of deliberately look at his watch when I got in, which was anything between 9am and 1pm :) But otherwise we got along great. I think it was just his way of trying to teach me some of his values which unfortunately I didn't share ;) Usually if I came in at 1pm it's because I was at work until 1am the last night... Other than that job my other managers never cared. I've always worked long hours but never fixed hours. When I managed other people, unless there are some other problems, I couldn't care less about arrival and leave times. I think these days it's unusual to find managers in tech who are about these things but YMMV.

Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)

#153

Post by obstacle1 »

Crito wrote: post #147
obstacle1 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Carry Lysol wipes. Or have the employee keep a container of them at each station (if they don't already, which IME many do).

That's a shitty solution for a problem that shouldn't exist in the first place.

If it is really such a 'shitty problem' to someone, they can easily solve the problem by optimizing their job search for a high private:shared equipment ratio.

People share equipment in every office everywhere. Germaphobes will need to disinfect some stuff, they can't have private everything, and they can't demand that people stop sharing things. Oh well, them's the breaks!

Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)

#154

Post by randcraw »

rifung wrote: post #40
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why pay $300k+ a year for a developer then just to go and save a few hundred a month on real estate costs, sacrificing some percentage of productivity?

I imagine most are not making 300k. Also, like many things Google does, I'm guessing it's partially because scaling is becoming an issue. It takes a while to get a space ready, and it's also not easy to just expand around existing offices when they're already quite large. Admittedly, much of this would probably be solved if they were more OK with remote working, as there's a high emphasis on in person collaboration.…

The standard corporate cost estimate for an employee is to double their salary. Thus someone paid $150k costs the company $300k

Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)

#155

Post by mhurron »

randcraw wrote: post #143
mhurron wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But they don't look like the places cool startups do cool startup things and the company wants to foster a cool startup feel so that everyone acts like it's a cool startup and starts doing cool startup things and attracting all that cool startup talent so that all that cool startup money starts flowing in and cool startup vibe permeates the office. /cool startup.

90% of 'cool startups' fail. Is that who we're trying to emulate?

Stop bringing logic and data into this discussion.

Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)

#156

Post by cryptica »

davidmr wrote: post #55

I think we've lost the war. I was even asked to meet with my company's architects and designers about a new space we were building out. I basically spent an hour telling them in every different form I could that what I wanted was a place I could go where people could find me, but they would have to knock on a door and open it to talk to me, and these people looked at me like I was from fucking Mars. They'd never hear…

I had my own office once for a contract role I did. It was great. It makes employees feel more valued and reduces stress levels.

I find that when you're constantly around people, you are less reflective/creative and more prone to getting caught up in hype cycles and group-think.

My biggest problem with open offices is the constant stress that comes with people walking behind my back every few minutes. It's paranoia-inducing.

Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)

#157

Post by jdbernard »

rb2k_ wrote: post #23

I seem to be the odd one out in that I actually enjoy an open office setup. I've had both and I feel there's so much more collaboration happening in an open office. I almost see it weekly that there's a LOT of learning through osmosis, listening in to conversations, ... I guess I have a pretty easy time keeping up concentration/flow. So in this case, it "works on my machine" :)

> I feel there's so much more collaboration happening in an open office.

The problem is that every time we have tried to study it, the opposite has been true. Are you sure your feelings translate into actual productivity improvements?

Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)

#158

Post by UweSchmidt »

Ralfp wrote: post #103
facepalm wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The place you are looking for exists: it is called home :-)

That may fly if you are single. Otherwise everybody will assume that if you are at home, you are here to go shopping, take care of kids, let in guests, cook meals, do cleaning, take out trash, etc. ect, and lets not start about other household members distracting you with loud noises.

It's on you explain, set boundaries and manage expectations.

Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)

#159

Post by 50CNT »

ThinkBeat wrote: post #111

I was re-reading Snowcrash (a novel by Neal Stephenson). In this book there is a tangent about how aweful it is in the future to work for the government. He goes over how horrible the work conditions were, with open offices, bosses always watching you, no fixed assigned spacing, first come first serve everything being tracked by computers. If you are late everyone knows it because your sit in the boonies. When I read…

So in order to provide incentive for employees to come in 20 minutes early, your company is willing to handicap a percentage of its workforce all day? That doesn't just sound hostile, no, it sounds dumb.

Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)

#160

Post by sidlls »

facepalm wrote: post #83
davidmr wrote: post #55

I think we've lost the war. I was even asked to meet with my company's architects and designers about a new space we were building out. I basically spent an hour telling them in every different form I could that what I wanted was a place I could go where people could find me, but they would have to knock on a door and open it to talk to me, and these people looked at me like I was from fucking Mars. They'd never hear…

The place you are looking for exists: it is called home :-)

No, it just isn't. When I work from home it invariably ends up being a free-for-all from my wife (who works from home full-time and suffers this daily when I'm at the office, the saint that she is) and kids making demands on my time. In order to work "from home" what actually happens is I find a nice, low-traffic coffee shop where 95% of the other patrons are doing the same thing, work odd hours and take an extra long period in the mid-morning to mid-afternoon to take care of appointments and domestic issues.
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