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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)

#41

Post by DoreenMichele »

matz1 wrote: post #33
lqet wrote: post #2

I am not surprised. I was working in an open-plan office for a few years, and I also preferred talking to colleagues sitting only a few meters away via mail. It's incredibly stressful to talk to a person face-to-face knowing that everyone on the team listens to the conversation. Not only do you have to constantly weight and evaluate your sentences, you also have the constant feeling that you are disturbing other team…

>It's incredibly stressful to talk to a person face-to-face knowing that everyone on the team listens to the conversation. Not only do you have to constantly weight and evaluate your sentences, you also have the constant feeling that you are disturbing other team members just by talking Fortunately I don't have this physiological barrier. I don't care if everyone on the team listens to the conversation.

You are probably also oblivious to the very real consequences of other people knowing various things or having partial information, etc.

It's stressful because it has consequences. If you don't find it stressful, you probably are failing to connect the dots and see that x outcome is related to y behavior.

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

#42

Post by closeparen »

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…

Our negotiating position as engineers is way too good to put up with shit like this. I have savings precisely so that I can walk off the job the instant hot desking is announced.

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

#44

Post by matz1 »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #41
matz1 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's incredibly stressful to talk to a person face-to-face knowing that everyone on the team listens to the conversation. Not only do you have to constantly weight and evaluate your sentences, you also have the constant feeling that you are disturbing other team members just by talking Fortunately I don't have this physiological barrier. I don't care if everyone on the team listens to the conversation.

You are probably also oblivious to the very real consequences of other people knowing various things or having partial information, etc. It's stressful because it has consequences. If you don't find it stressful, you probably are failing to connect the dots and see that x outcome is related to y behavior.

Of course there is consequences for everything, I just embrace it. Having to be stressful because of this is in itself stressfull.

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

#45

Post by switch007 »

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…

No assigned desks with a badly implemented "flat structure" is a special kind of hell. You're a nobody with nowhere to go. No title, no fixed desk, no fixed chair, no identity. Developer #13 sitting at desk #21.

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

#46

Post by rightbyte »

Kiro wrote: post #32
hliyan wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

No, that's just the tech echo chamber where the "true" opinion right now is to hate open offices. Normal people have no problem with it.

People that don't need to concentrate or that are not easely disturbed have no problem with it.

I dislike it with passion and open office together with no parking spaces close by later than 08:15 made me look for a new job. These everyday problems are the most annoying.

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

#47

Post by mercer »

matz1 wrote: post #33
lqet wrote: post #2

I am not surprised. I was working in an open-plan office for a few years, and I also preferred talking to colleagues sitting only a few meters away via mail. It's incredibly stressful to talk to a person face-to-face knowing that everyone on the team listens to the conversation. Not only do you have to constantly weight and evaluate your sentences, you also have the constant feeling that you are disturbing other team…

>It's incredibly stressful to talk to a person face-to-face knowing that everyone on the team listens to the conversation. Not only do you have to constantly weight and evaluate your sentences, you also have the constant feeling that you are disturbing other team members just by talking Fortunately I don't have this physiological barrier. I don't care if everyone on the team listens to the conversation.

Do you also do this when the 'conversation' is just you making statements about yourself that serve no purpose other than providing you with the pleasure of making statements about yourself?

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

#48

Post by exelius »

rightbyte wrote: post #25
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…

So imagine a single 6x12 table. You can comfortably seat 8 people at a table that size. Even if you packed those people into 4 person offices, 2 offices take more space than a big table in the middle of a floor that shares walking space with the other stuff around it.

They’re awful for productivity, but they definitely are cheaper.

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

#49

Post by howard941 »

dijit wrote: post #18
richardhod wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with the opinions of this comment, but I'm glad you made your opinion and your experience heard. Even when for most people an open office works worse, for some people it is preferable new people: please don't down vote people just because you disagree.

Chiming in to say I also disagree with the opinion and to make the same request to downvotes==disagree button. I would like to ask another question though, how does the community feel about people who talk to themselves when they're focused? I find myself doing that at home a lot when working and I really do perform focused tasks significantly better. "Aha, this is a bit stupid" "So, if I move this here it'll be more…

You and me both. I constantly berate myself outloud and hate myself for what it must do to my neighbor who's too considerate to say something, or not considerate enough to bitch to my manager so I could turn this into a remote job.
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