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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)

#231

Post by loco5niner »

wtbob wrote: post #224
tps5 wrote: post #26

My office is switching to an open design. And none of the people who work there are happy about it. It was decided by the folks who own the company, several thousand miles away. I think the real allure of open offices is how they look. Open offices look modern . They look like the kind of working area a hip, young, collaborative, industry-disrupting company would favor. But that's all bullshit. It's just a fairy tale…

> I'll have headphones on all day, instead of 10-20% of the day. I worry about the damage that my office headphones have on my hearing. I wonder if there's some sort of OSHA regulation regarding it, and if I have recourse against my employer because I am forced to don headphones are be distracted.

I actually did end up with tinnitus. I had other things going on (sleeping through alarms, sinus issues, watching too much TV, but I was also spending WAY too much time with headphones on at work) . If I could take it back....

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

#232

Post by pdimitar »

VLM wrote: post #118
Ralfp wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Depends how close you live to operations / devops / pager rotation. If the boss trusts you not to have both of you drive in at 2am for every little problem (you to work and him to hover over you to make sure you work), they'll trust you to also actually work at 2pm from home on a normal day. You also have to be realistic about slacking. I can let in service people and rotate the laundry and cook dinner in less time t…

Very much this.

Many people don't understand that everybody is slacking. In general though, the good remote workers spend less time slacking than everybody else. And that's what makes the difference. They are more productive because of the freedom.

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

#233

Post by loco5niner »

obstacle1 wrote: post #136
radicalbyte wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to touch a keyboard that someone has painted with ketchup and knows what else.

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 horrible solution for a couple of reasons: #1 - Ewww (yes, I know most people are sanitary... most) #2 - Straight keyboards vs curved (and similar for mouse, etc). Both for working effectiveness and RSI.

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

#234

Post by JBlue42 »

rm999 wrote: post #32

The best work setup I've ever had by far was not private offices or cubicles (and definitely not an open office); it was a hybrid where our team of 3-5 people sat in a large private office. This increased collaboration while enforcing respect. It allowed our team to create a work culture democratically (how do we arrange seating? what noise levels are ok?) that simply isn't possible in an open seating arrangement. I…

We have this. 5-7 people per area, some smaller, some larger. Moving to open office space in six months. I think the office culture will take a definite hit.

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

#235

Post by rocqua »

mistersquid wrote: post #197
rocqua wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try something like noisli. It still has that masking background-noise effect without being music (i.e. without drawing your attention). It basically allows you to play a configurable mix of background noises; e.g. Wind blowing, rain faling, white noise, train tracks. Heck, writing this makes me want to try it tomorrow again.

As someone who is sensitive to sound quality, I've been using a combination of mid-range Shure 315 earbuds with custom ear sleeves which is low-fatigue compared to over-the-ear. Noise-cancelling equipment isn't as effective for human voices, so I've used low-to-high volume music to mute out my coworker's voices. This works great until early afternoon when. I. am. Just. Acoustically. Exhausted. I'm susceptible to musi…

I personally find white noise to aggressive, mostly due to the high pitch. Pink noise works better, but it still keeps me on edge. That's why I like the more natural background sounds. They still mask outside signal, but give me less tension.

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

#237

Post by loco5niner »

joatmon-snoo wrote: post #142
coldcode wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me open offices remind me of factories or cattle pens, where people are forced into acting like machines. Unlike many you I cannot code while listening to music as being a musician, my brain winds up analyzing what I am hearing instead of concentrating on work. The worst thing of all is having music piped into a huge room making it impossible to even use headphones if you don't like the tunes. You may as well shoo…

Have you tried earplugs?

Earplugs don't work. They cut out the lower volume background noise which ends up enhancing the piercing voices that get through.
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