New office set up has everyone sitting inches from each other, no walls or privacy! (job, companies)
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I thought it was cool when my new office was laid out in the open plan style. I soon realized it was a mistake. I need privacy, and knowing that my co-workers can overhear every single conversation I have, work-related and non-work related, makes me very uncomfortable. Accidentally hearing their conversations is not comfortable for me, either. These days I can't function in the office without my headphones.
Have you noticed that when there is a news story about the new office, they have tons of people sitting all together inches from each other without office walls or a cubical to provide any privacy? My wife has moved to this set up and every one hates it.
They say it will cause people to get along better and communicate, but the opposite has happened. No one talks and it is kind of like being on a long airplane ride in economy class in a full flight. People get into their own zone and ignore people sitting around them even though they are together inches apart for hours and hours.
My wife says the new office set up is driving her crazy. People can and do stare at her and watch what she is doing. There is no privacy and it is hard to concentrate.
My father worked in a room similar to this in the early 60s.
This reminds me of the early scenes in the great film "The Apartment," when Jack Lemmon works in a huge room with no privacy.
You can see it in the first minute of the following video, where he's moving to his own office because he's been promoted because he provides his apartment to philandering executives:
When cubicles became the rage, everyone was ranting about how workers were all shut off from each other. Now they are going back to the open-floor plan, but everyone is too close together.
If anyone remembers the show "WKRP in Cincinnati", the office set-up is open. The character of Les Nessman feels that as News Director he should have his own office, and puts tape on the floor to indicate where "walls" should be.
You can see them in the last 5 minutes of this video:
(not one of my favorite episodes, but at least it shows the tape "walls")
Have you noticed that when there is a news story about the new office, they have tons of people sitting all together inches from each other without office walls or a cubical to provide any privacy? My wife has moved to this set up and every one hates it.
They say it will cause people to get along better and communicate, but the opposite has happened. No one talks and it is kind of like being on a long airplane ride in economy class in a full flight. People get into their own zone and ignore people sitting around them even though they are together inches apart for hours and hours.
My wife says the new office set up is driving her crazy. People can and do stare at her and watch what she is doing. There is no privacy and it is hard to concentrate.
This article in the link above is written by someone who loves the open office.
My office did that a few months ago. We all hate it. My manager hates it. Unfortunately, the people above him love it...but they don't have to actually work in that environment. They have offices with doors.
Personally, I think they should be forced to sit out in the bullpen with the rest of us.
My office did that a few months ago. We all hate it. My manager hates it. Unfortunately, the people above him love it...but they don't have to actually work in that environment. They have offices with doors.
Personally, I think they should be forced to sit out in the bullpen with the rest of us.
C'mon now that's not INCHES from each other. They all have full sized desks.
I worked for the phone company(s) my entire life and in three different companies EVERY work center was that way including the supervisors. And even many middle management teams only had a half cubicle meaning up to your shoulders if that - but you were sharing a wall with your coworkers so they WERE very close.
OTOH, I was in an eight week training course for AT&T a couple years ago with NO DESK, just a terminal on something like a TV tray. NOWHERE to put your purse etc except under the TV TRAY and yes, the people next to me WERE inches away from each other. Now THAT was hell. The entire room of 20 people lined up and down like that.
And people STILL tried to sneak on social media, text etc. by hiding their phones on their laps. (a prohibited fire-able offense)
I can't stand listening to people at work having personal conversations, sneezing, coughing, clearing their throats, eating noisy food, or smelling what they brought for lunch,
Yep. all that is definitely a distraction.
I now have a heavy duty air filter unit & my personal fan at my desk due to the overwhelming smells. It's impossible to police all the employees and figure out who is wearing perfume. My company is supposed to be "green" and fragrance free, but it is not enforced. I talked to a few people who I thought were responsible for the smells, but I finally had to go to management because I was having allergic reactions (headaches, blurred vision, difficulty breathing).
The company I've been with for the past 5 years has the low wall cubicles that started out reasonably spacious, but about a year ago, management removed the file cabinets behind our chairs, so now we are practically right next to each other. And I've noticed the infection rate has increased. I've always hated the low walled cubicles, and realized even though they claim it's to increase collaboration, it's really about cost & watching the workers.
It's so noisy at times, that I had to start wearing a headset & listen to music in order to concentrate. I've never been one to listen to music while I worked, and I thought it was really odd that managements way to handle the noise was to encourage the use of headsets. There is absolutely no privacy. I used to be at the end of the row & I could look out & across the sea of cubicles, now I'm up in the front, facing a high wall cubicle (which is nice) and my back is towards the sea. But the floor vibrates...literally shakes when someone walks by. It's very annoying.
Thankfully, my company has become more telecommute friendly, and I get to work from home half of the week. It's the one thing that helps maintain my sanity.
Last edited by caligirlz; 12-24-2014 at 11:13 PM..
The company I've been with for the past 5 years has the low wall cubicles that started out reasonably spacious, but about a year ago, management removed the file cabinets behind our chairs, so now we are practically right next to each other. And I've noticed the infection rate has increased. I've always hated the low walled cubicles, and realized even though they claim it's to increase collaboration, it's really about cost & watching the workers.
It's so noisy at times, that I had to start wearing a headset & listen to music in order to concentrate. I've never been one to listen to music while I worked, and I thought it was really odd that managements way to handle the noise was to encourage the use of headsets. There is absolutely no privacy. I used to be at the end of the row & I could look out & across the sea of cubicles, now I'm up in the front, facing a high wall cubicle (which is nice) and my back is towards the sea. But the floor vibrates...literally shakes when someone walks by. It's very annoying.
Thankfully, my company has become more telecommute friendly, and I get to work from home half of the week. It's the one thing that helps maintain my sanity.
My office has no walls at all. We're in rows of 8 or 10, 4 or 5 "cubes" facing each other. My desk vibrates whenever anyone else thumps on theirs, or even when they're typing fast and hard. It shakes the monitors. Noise travels far, even conversations in low voices. I have to turn my headphones up loud to drown it out, which isn't good for my hearing as I have pretty bad tinnitus.
Working from home isn't an option, unless you're sick or the plumber's coming or something like that. Otherwise, butts in seats is the rule.
If you can believe it, some offices are even worse than mine. I turned down a contract that paid more money because the office environment was even worse. The second I saw it, I was thinking "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO." I went through with the interview anyway, cos y'know...I was THERE. But I was surprised when they offered me the contract. When I talked to the recruiter to turn it down, I listed the office as one of the reasons why. Not the top reason (I made up a few better-sounding ones), but one of them. When I described it to him, he said "Wow...I don't blame you."
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The second I saw it, I was thinking "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO." I went through with the interview anyway, cos y'know...I was THERE. But I was surprised when they offered me the contract. When I talked to the recruiter to turn it down, I listed the office as one of the reasons why. Not the top reason (I made up a few better-sounding ones), but one of them. When I described it to him, he said "Wow...I don't blame you."
