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Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)

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Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)

#21

Post by anbop »

kylia wrote: post #3

Honestly this article comes as no surprise. I work for a company that not only has an open plan office, but no assigned seating either. It's honestly the worst, mostly because I like to have my own environment at work. I can't bring in my keyboard or any of my other stuff, and as corny as it is i can't even bring in photos to keep at my desk since there's no assigned seating! As much as i like open spaces, i miss at…

Hmm... there should be digital photo frames, and a stapler with LEDs inside. When you “check in” to your station, your phone activated, your family photos go on the photo frames, and the stapler lights up in your preferred color.

Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)

#22

Post by commandlinefan »

hliyan wrote: post #14
docker_up wrote: post #4

I'm probably an outlier, but I love open-office. I've worked in all the different environments over the last 25 years, single office, shared office, cubicle, remote and open office. Open office was weird at first, but I find it much more social. I don't get distracted by noise or movement so that could be a big factor, so I can code without any problems. The least social for me was the single office. I would stay in…

You truly are an outlier. I immediately started assuming that you might be in a more right-brain role, but realized my mistake when I saw your comment about coding. You're clearly better than I am at focusing...

I can _code_ while surrounded by interruptions and distractions (I can put on headphones and face the least busy part of the office so I'm not _too_ distracted most of the time), but I can't _learn_ without some semblance of focus. I suspect that the open-office cheerleaders are mostly people who do the sort of work that you or I might be able to do on autopilot and never try to tackle any sort of real challenge.

Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)

#23

Post by gray_-_wolf »

kylia wrote: post #15
crankylinuxuser wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This ensures that you know you're nothing more than a lineworker in a digital factory. Open offices are the first half of that, and open desks are the other half. Who does it benefit? The company in cost per person of space. Any other metric applied shows gross inadequacies of open offices.

Yeah, they market it as "even the CEO doesn't have his own office!" Oh, cool, he works from home or is travelling the whole time and doesn't need one. Maybe i'm just being a baby, but a work desk doesn't feel complete without at least a picture of my dog at it, haha.

Hm, I would definitely miss second and third monitors and docking station for my laptop..

Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)

#25

Post by rightbyte »

exelius wrote: post #12

I agree that open-plan offices drive the opposite behavior than they are touted to. They make it impossible to have impromptu discussions that have any sensitive aspect to them. I have a lot of those conversations. I work from home or a coffee shop down the street from my office as a result and almost never even see my coworkers faces. But the main driver of open-plan offices is usually density / cost. I suspect many…

We use MS Teams to chat with people at the next desk. Especially since some uses headphones and you would have to scream.

How much space does a indoor wall take in comparation to the space between the desk there are anyway in open offices.

You have to put cabinets on the floor since shelves can't hang on walls.

Whiteboards are on feet in the "hallway".

I have never been in an open office and though "Jeez look at all the space they save by not having walls" if you would compare to 6 or 4 person offices.

Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)

#26

Post by baddox »

docker_up wrote: post #4

I'm probably an outlier, but I love open-office. I've worked in all the different environments over the last 25 years, single office, shared office, cubicle, remote and open office. Open office was weird at first, but I find it much more social. I don't get distracted by noise or movement so that could be a big factor, so I can code without any problems. The least social for me was the single office. I would stay in…

I doubt you’re an outlier. I think that open offices have a place, but are over-used especially in the Bay Area tech scene, so the opponents are particularly vocal. I’ve worked at a few open offices for fairly small companies and almost without exception I loved the dynamic.

Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)

#27

Post by baddox »

kylia wrote: post #3

Honestly this article comes as no surprise. I work for a company that not only has an open plan office, but no assigned seating either. It's honestly the worst, mostly because I like to have my own environment at work. I can't bring in my keyboard or any of my other stuff, and as corny as it is i can't even bring in photos to keep at my desk since there's no assigned seating! As much as i like open spaces, i miss at…

Not having assigned seats is frankly just bizarre, and doesn’t seem to have any relation at all to open office. Individual closed offices with no assigned seats would be just as bizarre.

Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)

#28

Post by matz1 »

docker_up wrote: post #4

I'm probably an outlier, but I love open-office. I've worked in all the different environments over the last 25 years, single office, shared office, cubicle, remote and open office. Open office was weird at first, but I find it much more social. I don't get distracted by noise or movement so that could be a big factor, so I can code without any problems. The least social for me was the single office. I would stay in…

I too prefer open office, if I don't want to see my coworker, why would I even go to the office, I could just work remote.

>I don't get distracted by noise or movement so that could be a big factor, so I can code without any problems

Same here.

I think better alternative is to allow both option, allow employee to work remove if they prefer not to see their coworker.

Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)

#29

Post by SonicSoul »

this "study" is riddled with issues. only 2 companies studied. i can't imagine how different every place is depending on its culture. how comfortable are employees ? are the teams next to people they don't know? was this measurement amortized over project volumes after the move? are these companies designed with some private areas easily accessible on every floor for teams to discuss / have daily stand ups if needed?

seems one could easily come up with 2 new companies example where the opposite is true given a different design / team layout / project types and so on

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