Open concept office space

[rennigade]

If this has been discussed before feel free to delete this thread...a search didnt yield anything related from what I saw.

Our office is moving in the next couple months. The higher ups think it will be great for morale to have an open concept floor plan. Its not completely open...about 50/50 between open cubes bunched together and offices.

I think I may luck out...since im in IT I almost always have multiple desktops/laptops in my current locked room. Im hoping I get some kind of office. Worst case if they throw me in an open cube...ill grab my laptop and make a space in the locked server room or locked closet where I store the IT stuff. I dont plan on staying for more than a year so ill just suck it up if I really have to.

Does anyone think these open concept spaces are good? I think little to no privacy in the workplace isnt good. Not to mention the amount of distractions everyone is now going to have to deal with. Everyone will be able to hear one single person on the phone. Maybe I should request the office provide everyone with bose noise cancelling headphones?

Its funny how open concept offices work...the managers typically are in an office while everyone under them is out in the open. Guess it makes it easier to micro manage/keep an eye on everyone.

The only benefit I can see is it requires less space...which equates to a smaller office space...rent is cheaper per month.

[disneysteve]

I think it depends on the nature of the work. If the job is something that is very collaborative, an open space can really help enhance that because it's easy to toss around ideas and have open communication.

If, however, the job is more solitary, the space should reflect that.

I'm a doctor. In my office obviously the exam rooms are private but the front desk area is open and the staff can freely interact which is very helpful. In fact, one difficulty we have is that we don't have the physical space for all 3 staff people to be in the same room so the one who is off by herself is often out of the loop. It would be far better to have all 3 of them together.

[bjl584]

I don't think that I'd do well in an open office concept.
Too many distractions and too much noise.

I have an office where I work. It's nice being able to shut my door when I need to make a phone call or concentrate on something.

[disneysteve]

I don't think that I'd do well in an open office concept.
Too many distractions and too much noise.

I have an office where I work. It's nice being able to shut my door when I need to make a phone call or concentrate on something.

Same here. I can't concentrate when I hear everybody else chattering. I'll often close my door to block it all out.

[greenskeeper]

depends a lot on cubicle design and/or whether white noise (fountain, etc) is used.

[DaveInPgh]

I work in one and absolutely hate it. I imagine that it can be a great thing for certain types of jobs/workers, but counterproductive for most. Without a doubt it is a money saver, and that is why my company went to it.

However, the open environment is not appropriate for our company. I have a group behind me that do data entry, and despite the fact that they should be concentrating they never shut up. The group on the other side of me has a lot of phone contact with customers. And my group is in the middle trying to work with numbers.

[disneysteve]

Without a doubt it is a money saver, and that is why my company went to it.

I bet if they actually looked at the big picture, it probably doesn't save them as much as they think. What they save on the physical space they lose in productivity and increased errors.

[DaveInPgh]

I bet if they actually looked at the big picture, it probably doesn't save them as much as they think. What they save on the physical space they lose in productivity and increased errors.

No doubt.

But they didn't quantify that in the planning stage because they are delusional and think we can function like a Google type company.

[Fishindude77]

I think closed door offices can lead to a lot of goofing off and playing around on personal stuff while at work. In an open environment people keep busier because others can see what they're up to. And if you need privacy you can use a conference or meeting room. Open offices with cubicles are also much more economical to build and allow rearrangement in the future.

[disneysteve]

I think closed door offices can lead to a lot of goofing off and playing around on personal stuff while at work. In an open environment people keep busier because others can see what they're up to.

My experience (which is admittedly limited) has been the exact opposite.

When people are in an open space, they are much more easily distracted by one another. I certainly am. I can't concentrate with other people close by.

[moneybags]

I worked in one for a few years. I was not a fan. All managers were out in the open also which made it difficult to have private conversations with the boss. It was very distracting when people were on the phone.

[FLA]

in home healthcare, I think open concept works. We used to have rooms with 4 people who worked together as a team. That worked well, we could easily communicate with each other, etc. Then we moved into another county's office and got one big room for 24 cubicles. It was so noisy, you couldn't talk to elderly hard of hearing patients on the phone without totally disturbing everyone. The person in the cubicle behind me and myself could not stand up without hitting the other person's chair. It was ridiculous. They've since moved another county into that office and I hear no one comes into the office anymore. Which is bad for spontaneous case coordination and getting ideas from peers. Plus, being in your car day in and day out without seeing co-workers is demoralizing.

[phantom]

I've been in mostly open spaces throughout most of my career, and it's been good and bad, usually both at the same time.

My best experience with it was when there was a team of 6 of us around with our desks facing away from a big white board table. We collaborated often, and it was nice to be able to turn around and work ideas out on the whiteboard whenever we needed to. A couple of people could start talking through something, and others could chime in if they had useful input. We chatted a lot about non-work related stuff too, and on the surface that probably looked terrible for productivity. But, often, we continued to get stuff done while chatting, and I think the fact that we came to enjoy each other's company made our actual work much more pleasant and more productive.

My worst experience with it was when I was situated next to a bunch of sales people and away from most of my teammates (because there wasn't enough space for people to sit in more logical seats). One sales guy tended to get really upset and swear and bang his phone. It was entertaining, but incredibly distracting. Occasionally, I'd hear people talking to customers about issues that I could help with, but that was far too rare to be worth me listening to the rest of it.

[TexasHusker]

Corporate America is always tinkering. There is always a fad and this is the latest and greatest.

I feel sure that the brass implementing the open concept will be exempt from it because they are so important. Only the plebes are subject to these lab experiments.

Enjoy.

[riverwed070707]

See this is a couple years old but I’ll throw in my experience. Been with my company 11 years and I’ve worked at a desk in the dept storage room, had a cube with high walls, had an office and now we’re in open concept. I absolutely despise it and find it to be the least productive setting I’ve ever worked in. Fortunately my boss is awesome and my work is fairly solo so I often work from the break room in the afternoons when it’s not busy and I work from home a lot. There’s definitely a cost savings as we went from occupying 9 floors of our downtown office building to 5 and the other props I would give my company is that everyone moved to the open concept from the ceo to the lawyers to the operations teams. Still a lot of resistance to it but they’ve added some perks to cheer people up like fountain soda machines and bringing in lunch once a month.