Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
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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)
#2I 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 members just by talking. On the other hand, you also don't want to drag a person into another room for privacy if you just want some quick update on something. Some team members might use noise-cancelling headphones to keep out the typing noise and occasional conversation, but these headphones are an additional barrier for face-to-face talk. You don't want to snap them out of a musical experience, and getting a person with noise-cancelling headphones to notice you are standing behind him/her might get very awkward.
If you are convinced that stuffing people into a room with little to no privacy leads to increased social interaction, you should start riding public transit during rush hour.
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#3Honestly 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 /least/ having my own desk.
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#4I'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 there all day long and I would have privacy but I would literally not see anyone. The worst was a cubicle where it had none of the privacy (couldn't eat fish or fart or have private conversations) but you still have the lack of social interaction.
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#5Honestly 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…
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.
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#6I'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…
Some people can work even though they get interrupted and disturbed all day, others are very averse to being distracted and try to reach deep work or get in the zone. The problem with an open office is the first group.
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#7I'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 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.
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#8I'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 absolutely detest open offices but what' with downvoting disagreeing opinions? This comment was gray when I typed this comment
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#9I found open offices to be an incredibly alienating experience, felt about as personal as a a cubicle since everyone is pretty much using headphones and "deep working" and you can't really make much noise since you're disturbing an entire org if you are.
My favorite experience was working on a team where the open office was essentially a large office for about 6 people only. That felt great since there was a more communal vibe and I had sufficient personal space. We had a couch, a table with a chessboard and some people brought snacks over.
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#10Not surprising in hindsight. See lqet's and kylia's comments elsewhere on this thread for first-hand accounts.[a]
In my view, Steve Jobs had the right idea when he helped design Pixar's headquarters: plenty of private and semi-private working areas interconnected by multiple larger, more central, common areas through which everyone would have to travel throughout the day, increasing the odds of spontaneous interaction and collaboration with colleagues from different areas:
https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-designing-pixar-o...
https://bcj.com/projects/pixar-animation-studios-emeryville
Think of it as "privacy when you need it, sprinkled with spontaneous interaction throughout the day, when you take breaks from private work."
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[a] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19683405 / https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19683419