Who the hell ever thought open-plan offices were a good idea?
They’re great if you want to know who chose to have tuna for lunch today, or you’re interested in efficiently catching an airborne illness.
They’re also lots of fun if you enjoy saying “Bless you!” 45 times on a Tuesday, or listening in on phone calls for which you have no context.
For anyone who’s never had the pleasure, working in an open place office is like trying to have a very important conversation while a toddler pulls at your ankle and says the word ‘juice’ on repeat. It’s like trying to fall asleep with a mosquito buzzing above your left ear. It’s like trying to read a book with the goddamn lights off.
We can blame Frank Lloyd Wright, the 20th-century modernist architect who liked the idea of large, spacious and open work areas. Something tells me Wright had very little experience inside an actual office. He probably worked from home.
He mustn’t have known the often-cited statistic that it takes more than 23 minutes to recover from an interruption. Or that the noise impairs our ability to recall information. Or that workers in open-plan offices have 62 per cent more sick days than people in private offices, leading to a higher turnover rate.
But there’s new research to suggest that it’s women in particular who struggle with an open setting.
Dr Rachel Morrison, a Senior Lecturer at Auckland University of Technology Business School, was studying the consequences of open-plan offices when she accidentally discovered a significant gender difference.
Top Comments
One office I worked in had a special sound proof telephone booth for phone calls. It was glass so people could see where you were but there was a chair and a little desk in there, it was a pretty genius idea since we often had to do sales pitches by phone for clients.
I work in an open plan office and I hate it. I hate the noise and the distractions. Now some people have those sit/stand desks so that their phone conversations can be spread over an even greater area. We are not allowed to wear headphones to block out the noise. I have some earplugs in my desk for particularly noisy days. Colleagues have music on, often competing stations - I have often asked people to turn it down as I can't concentrate, but I don't want to seem like I am constantly whinging. I get so much more work done after hours or on weekends when there is no other noise. I have (half-jokingly) requested an introverts' corner with higher partitions where those who prefer to work in silence can hang with their fellow quiet lovers, but of course this will never happen. The working world is designed for extroverts.
Ive worked in a few open plan ofices, and playing music is definitely NOT accepted etiquette. One person can put on music for the office but competing music would be a nightmare.