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Open plan offices attract highest levels of worker dissatisfaction

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Re: Open plan offices attract highest levels of worker dissatisfaction

#171

Post by kps »

oyvindeh wrote: post #139
jacques_chester wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The actual purpose of open offices is to save money. The collaboration stuff is marketing nonsense managers tell themselves to try and ease the cognitive dissonance of lying about it.

Then the question comes: Do they really save money, or does it just appear like they do? Saving money on office space is money saved. People being distracted and doing poor work is money lost. I wonder how it sums up.

Money saved on office space is easily measurable and directly attributable to the bean counter responsible.

Productivity loss is hard to measure, and even when it's blatantly obvious, it's easy to shift the blame.

Re: Open plan offices attract highest levels of worker dissatisfaction

#173

Post by sahglie »

bane wrote: post #165

Open plan offices are one of many signals that make me very wary of modern management concepts. In trade publications 20 years ago, you'd read breathless articles about the end of cubicles and the advent of minimalist, modern, open office plans. gasp! collaboration! gasp! accountability! gasp! blah blah Now years later it's obvious why they took over the world, CEOs everywhere saw the bright open office spaces, with…

For me the thing that is really the worst about the open workspace is not the noise--I can put in ear plugs and then noise reducing headphones. The worst is seeing people move around in my peripheral vision, that just makes it impossible to concentrate.

Re: Open plan offices attract highest levels of worker dissatisfaction

#174

Post by kingmanaz »

codygman wrote: post #149
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought telecommuting was a great idea until I tried it. I have enough trouble focusing on my work at work. At home, no one can tell that I'm playing Team Fortress in my underwear as long as I keep the IM window open, and my productivity basically craters. I'd like to think that I'm a grown-up who doesn't need someone looking over his shoulder but, well, I'm not.

I've battled with this problem too. You can control it, it just takes some willpower.

A kitchen timer may help. The Pomodoro Technique provides the specifics:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique

One works through a 25 minute time block (a pomodoro) using the kitchen timer, deferring all interruptions until a time block can be assigned for communication. Pomodoros are grouped into two hour sets when practicable. Tasks and projects are broken down into, or, combined into 25 minute pomodoros, and the pomodoros checked off when completed. Interrupted pomodoros are "cancelled" and lost. Breaks are taken between single pomodoros and extended breaks after a set.

Time management in effect becomes a game in which one seeks to perform X number of pomodoros a day while losing as little as possible.

I'd always attributed a state of flow to good luck or simply having a good day. After using a kitchen timer and the workflow above I now realize that I was previously rarely if ever in the flow state because of repeated interruptions and distractions, distractions which were and are largely in my power to control.

Good luck.

Re: Open plan offices attract highest levels of worker dissatisfaction

#175

Post by joezydeco »

JimmyL wrote: post #63
joezydeco wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever priced cubicle panels and hardware? How about erecting walls and doors? There's a secondary benefit here.

There are also huge differences in the tax treatment of cubicles vs. walls, which can have a non-trivial impact on the decision making if it's an office of any size. Generally (and IANATL) cubicles and movable walls can be considered office furniture, whereas walls and doors are structural improvements - and those things have very different depreciation rates and benefits.

The best tax benefit of all would be an open plan that spends $0.00 on cubicles, walls, and doors. That's what I was getting at.

Re: Open plan offices attract highest levels of worker dissatisfaction

#176

Post by beerscout »

tempestn wrote: post #114
ams6110 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the worst things for me in open plan offices is you can hear people eating at their desks. For me nothing is more annoying and distracting than to hear someone crunching on cookies or popcorn or potato chips at his desk. That's an instant headphones-on for me. It's worse than all the other background noise/conversations put together.

I worked in an open office situation once with a co-worker across from me who listened to sports talk radio all day - no headphones. I literally can't imagine a more distracting work environment.

Peter: Milton? Uh, could you turn that down just a little bit?

Milton: Uh, they said I could listen to the radio at a reasonable volume from nine to eleven while I'm collating….

Peter: But, no, no, no. I know you're allowed to, I was just thinking, like a personal favor, y'know?

Milton: I, I told Bill that if Sandra's going to listen to her headphones while she' working, I can listen to the radio while I'm collating...

Re: Open plan offices attract highest levels of worker dissatisfaction

#177

Post by hammock »

sahglie wrote: post #173
bane wrote: post #165

Open plan offices are one of many signals that make me very wary of modern management concepts. In trade publications 20 years ago, you'd read breathless articles about the end of cubicles and the advent of minimalist, modern, open office plans. gasp! collaboration! gasp! accountability! gasp! blah blah Now years later it's obvious why they took over the world, CEOs everywhere saw the bright open office spaces, with…

For me the thing that is really the worst about the open workspace is not the noise--I can put in ear plugs and then noise reducing headphones. The worst is seeing people move around in my peripheral vision, that just makes it impossible to concentrate.

Have you tried blinders? Funny enough this ad says "Blinders, because she shies at new ideas"

http://www.matthewkressel.net/wp-content/uploads/blinders.jp...

Re: Open plan offices attract highest levels of worker dissatisfaction

#178

Post by PMan74 »

bane wrote: post #165

Open plan offices are one of many signals that make me very wary of modern management concepts. In trade publications 20 years ago, you'd read breathless articles about the end of cubicles and the advent of minimalist, modern, open office plans. gasp! collaboration! gasp! accountability! gasp! blah blah Now years later it's obvious why they took over the world, CEOs everywhere saw the bright open office spaces, with…

Anybody who disagrees with me is not in a thinking job ....

Re: Open plan offices attract highest levels of worker dissatisfaction

#179

Post by macNchz »

bane wrote: post #165

Open plan offices are one of many signals that make me very wary of modern management concepts. In trade publications 20 years ago, you'd read breathless articles about the end of cubicles and the advent of minimalist, modern, open office plans. gasp! collaboration! gasp! accountability! gasp! blah blah Now years later it's obvious why they took over the world, CEOs everywhere saw the bright open office spaces, with…

I think that my company's open office is a good environment for my job as a developer. We have a strong culture of being quiet during the day, and often the office is totally silent, with a soft hum and clicking keyboards.

There are closed off spaces to make phone calls, and client-facing people are sectioned off slightly so their phone calls don't bother the rest of us. If we were in a big farm of fluorescent-lit cubicles or airless private offices I think I'd be less productive simply because I'd be fantasizing about not being there.

Open offices that don't have a culture of quiet, however, could indeed be total hell for 'thinking' roles, but an open office doesn't have to be the unequivocally bad working environment that you make it out to be.

Re: Open plan offices attract highest levels of worker dissatisfaction

#180

Post by debacle »

The only open plan office I ever worked in dedicated ~200 square feet of space per employee, which is probably unlike most open plan offices.

It was probably the most productive I ever was - you were able to get up and just go talk to someone, but you couldn't talk to them from your desk without disrupting everyone else.

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