Open Space Offices

jimgoose

I blame weird-beard, woolly-hat-wearing Hipster arseholes and their bean-bags and foosball and such.

Dial Hard

I've been working since 1999 and open-plan was the norm even then. I'm actually surprised at how many people have worked in companies with a different set-up. I've spent my entire career in open-plan offices. Only once did I have my own office, and I hated it, I felt really isolated.

namloc1980

seamus wrote: »

Next thing the divider in the middle will be removed.
.

One of our offices was recently renovated and they literally took away all the dividers, even the ones in the middle. They also took away the desk pedestals and everyone now has a tiny locker thing at the end of the room. It's like school but for adults, ridiculous. Apparently it's great for collaboration though!

griffin100

I went for a job interview last summer for a role I was really interested in. Good money and quiet senior with confidential aspects so assumed an office of my own. Was left waiting to be interviewed in the reception at the front of a large open plan noisy cramped area........and yes this is where I would be seated. At the desk closest to me were two ladies slagging of a colleague to each other. Got offered the job and turned it down. The open plan wasn't the only reason but it helped make the decision easier ( I checked Glassdoor later and the open plan office was listed as a big negative about the place). I haven't worked open plan in about 15 years and swore I never would again.

Beasty

namloc1980 wrote: »

Apparently it's great for collaboration though!

Organising a strike?

Cordell

Hector Bellend wrote: »

You cant pick your nose in peace

You can, you just have to acquire the skill needed as to ignore the disgusted looks of your colleagues.

jimgoose

namloc1980 wrote: »

...Apparently it's great for collaboration though!

Everyone seems to wear headphones all the time to prevent being constantly distracted.

whisky_galore

namloc1980 wrote: »

Apparently it's great for collaboration though!

So was Vichy France.

Screw that.

the purple tin

poo poo wrote: »

Really?

Yep https://www.amazon.co.uk/Office-American-Workplace-Season-Complete/dp/B00JEZM1OU
It's quite good but it overstayed its welcome a bit.

Aglomerado

jimgoose wrote: »

Everyone seems to wear headphones all the time to prevent being constantly distracted.

I'm the only one who wears headphones in my office. And I get called out on it because occasionally one of the others can hear my classical music that I use to concentrate.

The only reason it's so loud is because that particular colleague bellows in the office all the time!

I'm pretty antisocial, but if being social means having to feign interest in sport, Eastenders, babies, "cupcake" recipes then I'll crank up the volume, thanks.

givyjoe

Chaos Black wrote: »

Who thought it would be a good idea to adopt this human Petri dish experiment as the norm in modern offices?! Does anyone actually prefer it to closed offices?

To a paint a picture, it’s winter, colleagues to your right, left, front and back, the air is dry, heating too dam high and once one person comes down with the latest plague, everyone gets a dose! The open space is supposed to promote collaboration. Hah! It’s like working in a loud call centre and the game is can you concentrate whilst Mary two rows down is discussing her consistency of ****s and John to your left is having an argument with the wife on his phone.

Sometimes I go toilet just to think.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but in mine, anyone who likes open space offices, is a masochist!

I have a pair of these 'fcukoff/shut up' noise blockers. Life saver when needing to concentrate.

Aglomerado

givyjoe wrote: »

I have a pair of these 'fcukoff/shut up' noise blockers. Life saver when needing to concentrate.

I had a set of those in an old job where I was in a warehouse a lot. They were attached to a hard hat!
I'm a civil servant now, I wish I had them still!

wakka12

I don't mind open plan if its open but subdivided into rooms. Like say you work with 10 or 15 or so people in a slightly smaller room, and everyone sits facing the perimeter wall. Thats fine I think..you don't have to constantly face somebody, and can turn around if you want to speak to somebody.

In some larger offices though they don't subdivide their floor space at all and so if everybody faced a wall and nobody sat in rows int he middle a lot of space would be wasted. And thats what I hate, being in the middle facing people constantly. it feels like primary school and is draining

biZrb

I work in an open plan office with short dividers between desks, I'm sandwiched between two sections of the business that are on the phones the most, so its incredibly noisy with nothing to absorb the noise. I also have a bloke behind me with an abnormally loud voice that is the type of person to tell the person next to him all the details of the phone conversation he just had, so I basically hear what he's just said, all over again.
The type of work that I do involves reading technical information so I need to be able to concentrate, but I can't with the level of noise in the office. Thankfully I have a demo room that I can hide in that's lovely and quiet.

salmocab

I’m in an open plan office it’s well spaced out, no dividers. Nobody has an office even all the managers and bosses just have a desk. Our teams are split up so I sit with half my team and the other half are the other side. All the teams are pretty much split up. It works well we have lots of meeting rooms and even random sofas for a chat. I like it. No phones on our desks.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

I hope and pray I will never ever again have to work in a big open plan office. It's like being a battery hen or something.

I've had my own office for the last few years and the bliss of being able to keep out of most of the office bitching and politics and speculation and come and go without everyone knowing my movements is brilliant.

Aglomerado

Amelia Tight Luck wrote: »

I hope and pray I will never ever again have to work in a big open plan office. It's like being a battery hen or something.

I've had my own office for the last few years and the bliss of being able to keep out of most of the office bitching and politics and speculation and come and go without everyone knowing my movements is brilliant.

+1. At this time of year my colleagues are up and down looking out windows to see who's got the shiny new 181 in the car park and commenting on it.

mcfitness20

the only time i had to share an office it was a nightmare
i had to start drinkin early in the morning just to be able to face into it
any way i was wheeling on dealing on the telephone
and the boss sitting across from me
only lasted 2 days there