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High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

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Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#31

Post by ConceptJunkie »

madengr wrote: post #14
iamdave wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't we have an office with a variety of different workspaces that we can move between as our needs change? This would require companies to invest in their people beyond "Here's your paycheck, here's your healthcare, be glad we're giving you this much". Granted, some companies do-and some probably do come with a variety of workspaces. I used to work at one, but I don't know how many people would answer in the affirm…

Healthcare? Hell, we just had our dental insurance dropped. Healthcare is now a $10k OOPM at rates 3x what they were 10 years ago. The open office plan could work with tall, fabric cubicles. My place now uses short, glass & aluminum ones. Not to mention people chit chat too much. I'm an EE and have to think about complex stuff; I can't think with the chit-chat; breaks my squelch. Fortunately I have a lab I can retrea…

Those fabric cubicles absorb a lot of sound. I miss them.

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#32

Post by hosh »

solaris_7 wrote: post #8

The obsession for open plan offices continues to amaze me. Companies that invest huge amounts in staffing and other strategic programmes don't seem to spend much time challenging the default suggestion that 'openness = collaboration'. This article mentions high performance employees - but most knowledge workers (designers, programmers etc.) that I know all struggle with open plan office environments irrespective of t…

I am working my way through some material about "Inclusive Neurodiversity", which does question the open office plan. It works well (very well) for some people, and yet not others. How to get everyone working together well?

https://salfreudenberg.wordpress.com/2016/05/12/the-case-for...

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/cucumber-podcast/cucumber/e/...

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#33

Post by lwlml »

drcongo wrote: post #17

I find it very odd that these articles make the front page of HN on an almost daily basis. I'm currently working at home with twin toddlers with chicken pox playing at full volume, yet I'm having little trouble concentrating. Why do techs seem to obsess over this so much?

That's because you live with your twin toddlers nearly 24/7, the "activation" of distraction is much different than in an office when any noise might be something you need to pay attention to. When it is just your two toddlers' the distraction threshold is much lower-- after all, isn't the sound of your own children playing a pleasing sound? You're only having to filter for "Is that sound going to require a trip to the first aid kit or more?"

This is much different than the office environment.

Imagine: Someone's else half-duplex conversation with their significant other about what colors to paint the bathroom this weekend or how much fun a guy had at the bar with the girls from the other division or the hen-pecked husband accepting orders for what to bring home from the Pret-a-manger don't even come close. Then there are the custom ring tones and chatter from random cell phones, the rustling of strangers between the cubicles as new employees are given the tour. A random maintenance person wanders around holding a ceiling tile and pack of fluorescent bulbs knocking the step ladder about having another half-duplex conversation about last night's sporting event.

Your kid's "play" don't even come close to this, because you're not working in the traditional office environment, you're working at home.

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#34

Post by mmagin »

solaris_7 wrote: post #8

The obsession for open plan offices continues to amaze me. Companies that invest huge amounts in staffing and other strategic programmes don't seem to spend much time challenging the default suggestion that 'openness = collaboration'. This article mentions high performance employees - but most knowledge workers (designers, programmers etc.) that I know all struggle with open plan office environments irrespective of t…

> The obsession for open plan offices continues to amaze me.

Well, the decisions about these things are made by upper management (who probably get an office, and sit in meetings all day anyway) and/or facilities (who walk around a lot of the day dealing with various facility issues).

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#35

Post by ghostly_s »

watmough wrote: post #21

There's no mention of the bare fact that: * Cubicles are 'furniture' and therefore receive advantageous tax treatment (accelerated depreciation, increasing profits), * Walls, not so much.

Sure, but there's no reason you can't use this approach to create fully private spaces. In fact, most of the cube manufacturers have a fully-enclosed product line, also. [0] Of course, twice the wall height will always ~= twice the price.

0. https://www.steelcase.com/products/walls-work-walls/privacy-...

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#36

Post by imauld »

drcongo wrote: post #17

I find it very odd that these articles make the front page of HN on an almost daily basis. I'm currently working at home with twin toddlers with chicken pox playing at full volume, yet I'm having little trouble concentrating. Why do techs seem to obsess over this so much?

There are other factors besides just volume. I find it easier to concentrate in a cafe than I do in the office and it's not exactly quiet in the average coffee shop. What people are talking about around you also has an impact. The conversations in a cafe for example just seem to blend together and become a sort of white noise.

The discussions in the office however are sometimes related to what I'm working on. So hearing bits and pieces of them stands out in my mind and can get me thinking about that instead. People in cafes are also very unlikely to come up and tap me on the shoulder and start asking questions about completely unrelated topics.

YMMV of course and some people concentrate just fine in loud places. On the other hand the people that say "I don't mind the open office plan, it doesn't bother me" might just be the people who are disrupting everyone else.

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#37

Post by mmagin »

drcongo wrote: post #17

I find it very odd that these articles make the front page of HN on an almost daily basis. I'm currently working at home with twin toddlers with chicken pox playing at full volume, yet I'm having little trouble concentrating. Why do techs seem to obsess over this so much?

It's out of band. The noisy toddlers are not saying something that might be relevant to your job.

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#38

Post by noir_lord »

ConceptJunkie wrote: post #31
madengr wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Healthcare? Hell, we just had our dental insurance dropped. Healthcare is now a $10k OOPM at rates 3x what they were 10 years ago. The open office plan could work with tall, fabric cubicles. My place now uses short, glass & aluminum ones. Not to mention people chit chat too much. I'm an EE and have to think about complex stuff; I can't think with the chit-chat; breaks my squelch. Fortunately I have a lab I can retrea…

Those fabric cubicles absorb a lot of sound. I miss them.

Cubicles where original marketed as "Action Offices" there is a book on the history of them called Cubed: A secret history of the workplace.

The creator of them came to regret his creation as they where subverted in a direction he never expected.

I've often wondered what a modern cubicle if designed today would look like, we've done wonders in computer modeling and such since even sound dampening designs would be much easier.

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#39

Post by iamdave »

mason240 wrote: post #19
solaris_7 wrote: post #8

The obsession for open plan offices continues to amaze me. Companies that invest huge amounts in staffing and other strategic programmes don't seem to spend much time challenging the default suggestion that 'openness = collaboration'. This article mentions high performance employees - but most knowledge workers (designers, programmers etc.) that I know all struggle with open plan office environments irrespective of t…

Our company is currently relocating to new office, and they want an open office plan in the space. We will pack in tight, and our cube walls will all be 3.5 feet high. We have adjustable standing desks that will coming with us, so when standing we will towering over every one and I already know it's going to be awkward for me. The best part is our 5 person IT team will be right next to 25 people who work phones for c…

The best part is our 5 person IT team will be right next to 25 people who work phones for customer service.

Lemme guess, your company is the type of company that thinks the entirety of IT equals help desk, and therefore will be on the phone all day fielding tickets, so to whoever made this god awful decision, sticking IT right next to CS "just makes sense".

I'm with the other guy here, run.

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#40

Post by leonroy »

drcongo wrote: post #17

I find it very odd that these articles make the front page of HN on an almost daily basis. I'm currently working at home with twin toddlers with chicken pox playing at full volume, yet I'm having little trouble concentrating. Why do techs seem to obsess over this so much?

Heh, you're lucky. I have two toddlers and I cannot stand to hear them cry and I sure as heck can't say 'no' to pleading eyes asking me 'Daddy do you want to play Legos with us?'.

As a result I had to get a desk in a co-working space. Not cheap but I find grown ups bantering loudly far less distracting than my kids asking me to play.

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