The negative impacts of open offices
I have never seen a WP member say they like open offices. I have seen many say they don't, and I loathe them:
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/201701 ... r-memories
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Schools also. A disaster for autistic people. It reverses whatever gains have been made.
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http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/201701 ... r-memories
I hate open offices as well, and I think most people actually do. My office is semi-open but it doesn't impact me because most of my work is done elsewhere, but those work has to be done in the office often have headphones or ear defenders on.
It's interesting. Offices were originally open until the invention of the cubicle.
I think that I would like the modern office concept where nobody has their own office or their own desk. Instead, the office space is arranged in a variety of different types of work areas.
Cisco published a study on their experience at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/cisco-on-cisco/collaboration/connected-workplace-web.html. From the page:
...
The Connected Workspace floor plan was inspired by a university theme, with open spaces called quads, plazas where employees can meet informally, a commons area for breaks, and enclosed offices called colleges (see Figure 4). The absence of cubicle walls lets in more natural light and creates a more open and spacious atmosphere.
The designers included different types of work spaces to accommodate different work styles and business needs.

Figure 5. Workstation with Docking Station, IP Phone, Keyboard, and Screen
Click on Image to Enlarge 
Individual workstations, equipped with:
* Docking station, which enables quick connection to desktop accessories such as flat-screen monitors, keyboard, and mouse (see Figure 5)
* Cisco IP 7960 Phone, which employees personalize with their phone number and preferences with a login, using Extension Mobility or
* Cisco IP Communicator, a software IP phone that runs on a laptop and sends voice over the wireless network. Employees use either wired headphones or a wireless Bluetooth headset to turn their laptops into high-quality IP phones. Employees who use hardware IP phones tend to retrieve their Cisco Unity voice mail by phone while those using Cisco IP Communicator on their laptops tend to more often use their laptop browser to review, listen to, and manage voice mail.
* Liquid crystal display monitors at some workstations
* Collaboration spaces, both formal and informal. Formal meeting spaces have closed doors for privacy. They also have tables, speakerphones, and some IP videoconferencing stations. Two of the largest meeting rooms can be quickly reconfigured into smaller rooms using a movable wall. Informal spaces have soft seating on wheels, mobile tables, and movable privacy screens, enabling participants to spontaneously create a collaborative meeting space (see Figure 6).
* A quiet space, "the library," where employees can work without distractions (see Figure 7).
* A lab area to support both IT product testing and new product deployments in the Cisco Connected Workplace test area.
Employees often move to different areas throughout the day. When Woo was interviewed for this story, for example, she was seated in a small conference room, which she had chosen for privacy and so that her phone conversation would not disturb others. After the interview she planned to move to an individual workstation, the library, or a soft-seating area for individual work.
Agreed, we went fully open-plan last year. Open plan offices are basically designed to increase the stress levels of those of us on the spectrum. No privacy, people walking around you and behind you (I hate that) as well as no barriers to the people who cannot work without without incessant wittering, not to mention mobile phones and copiers going all the time.
This looks incredibly similar to the office where I work.
When I started, I had a private cubicle with high walls. Then we moved to shared cubicles with low walls. Around May of this year, we moved to completely open office. It feels too crowded when everyone's there.
I could work from home a good portion of the time if I wanted to, but I find it hard to be in a working frame of mind when I'm at home.
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Level 1 Autism Spectrum Disorder / Asperger's Syndrome.
Agreed, we went fully open-plan last year. Open plan offices are basically designed to increase the stress levels of those of us on the spectrum. No privacy, people walking around you and behind you (I hate that) as well as no barriers to the people who cannot work without without incessant wittering, not to mention mobile phones and copiers going all the time.
I absolutely hate people walking behind me. At work I had made them aware of this so I think it's a pretty easy guess as to where they put me.
The open office concept was part of my work downfall. Too many distractions, too much anxiety and I just shut down and did things which helped me manage the anxiety and those things just were not work related. I tried to ask for help, but they just didn't seem interested in giving it.
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Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
When I did work experience, it was in an open plan office and I really had no issue with it. Mind you, I was used to the routine at school so it might have had something to do with.
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DX classic autism 1995, AS 2003, depression 2008
~INFP~
Yes I too hate them, and I'm glad I don't work for an employer any more. Interesting article, with a ray of hope that they're on the way out. Seems that the problems have been known about for at least 8 years:
https://web.archive.org/web/20090218071 ... ntID=23175
but I've not personally seen much evidence that anybody took any notice.
The Guardian published this in 2015:
https://www.theguardian.com/small-busin ... workplaces
I love this snippet from the timeline:
1856
A UK government report on office space layouts says: “for the intellectual work, separate rooms are necessary so that a person who works with his head may not be interrupted; but for the more mechanical work, the working in concert of a number of clerks in the same room under proper superintendence, is the proper mode of meeting it”.
There we have it - office work isn't intellectual and requires no focus. I was kind of lucky as a science worker (that's got to be classed as intellectual, hasn't it?). In the 1970s and 80s I got to share a little office with 2 reasonably quiet surgeons, though I'd have been denied that if I hadn't proactively grabbed it for myself. After a career break I never had it so good again, though once more a bit of cheek on my part netted me a space in a room containing several other scientists, who were quieter than the hobbledehoy in the other, larger space in which I was originally put. But they shut the lot down and moved to a new building where only the bigwigs got decent individual rooms. That's when I started to use headphones, it was the only way I could get anything done. I didn't even bother asking for help - listening and adjusting wasn't in my employer's DNA.
`
Absolutely, our CEO (salary £210,000 p.a) has his own office. Surprised? Nope. Me neither.
This looks incredibly similar to the office where I work.
When I started, I had a private cubicle with high walls. Then we moved to shared cubicles with low walls. Around May of this year, we moved to completely open office. It feels too crowded when everyone's there.
I could work from home a good portion of the time if I wanted to, but I find it hard to be in a working frame of mind when I'm at home.
One big difference with this -- they aren't cubicles. There is no place in there that is "your cubicle", "your office", or whatever -- you are free to go sit (or stand) and work pretty much wherever you wish in the work area.
Think of it more like working in a large library.
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