Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for February 08, 2015

I worked for a dot com in the early naughts that had an open floor plan for most of its workers. There was a senior vp who preferred talking to the clients on speakerphone even though everybody else in the office could hear the conversation. It was quite possible that the other party may have been communicating certain matters in confidence to the vp, not realizing that he was being heard by a dozen other people.In 2003, when the invasion of Iraq started, he streamed the news of the invasion on his computer speakers for the entire office to hear. It didn’t seem to occur to him that might be disturbing other workers, especially those on the phone with clients and business associates.

Moved from an office I shared with two other, door, windows, back to the wall, to an “open space” with cubes, lasted three months before PTSD kicked in in a big way, and I turned in retirement papers after the second time someone “startled” me and got the response. Worst concept in history.

I used to work in a small newsroom long before it was called “open concept” and other than having to occasionally shush and be shushed, no real problems. Now, I work in the garage and a small room off the kitchen. Only my wife bothers me then. Good times.

The only way most of our workers who are stuck with open floor plan offices survive is to build ‘walls’ of file boxes, to give themselves a bit of insulation. One coworker, who is partly deaf (and won’t try a hearing aid) constantly uses his speaker phone. His nearest officemate has solved the problem by wearing ear buds and listening to music. (And he can’t hear questions asked by other coworkers, which may also be his intent…)

What I hated most about working in a call centre….

With all of the technology we have available, there’s little need for anyone to work in an office. The problem is that managers, and colleagues, don’t trust people who work from home, or otherwise remotely, to actually be working.

Have a look at The Apartment (Jack Lemmon, Shirley Maclaine), or any car company in the 60s, or a scriptorium, or Mission Control…

On the other hand, isn’t it nice to actually have a job to even complain about???

I’ve worked in Open Office concepts a few times. The best one I’ve see Had walls between the call reps but they were open to the center. The Team Leader and Senior Rep had desks in the middle so they could respond as needed or we could get up for help. Very efficient.

Not just offices – I was a stringed instrument tech sharing an eight-person work space at a guitar farm, and the distraction was considerable.

What?! No Dilbert jokes?

I don’t see this as complaining, it’s more like reminiscing and nostalgia.

It was usually the engineers down the hall in their “offices” that liked to use the speaker phones, sit back in their chair and leave the door open while complaining to vendors and clients.

Based on the above, some can’t work in isolation and some can’t work without it.I used to work in an office with one other engineer but could hear conversations in nearby offices. It was informative and interesting.Lately I work with up to 65 children right behind me, also informative and interesting and entertaining.

I worked at Continental Bank in Chicago from 1974 to 1984. Back then open office (open-space office, open floor plan, office landscape floor plan, open plan office) or whatever the current, politically correct stupid name happens to be was called a “bullpen”. It was HELL and very popular at large banks. There was no privacy and I sat next to an avid nose picker who, on occasion, liked to masturbate through his clothing. Yes, Vince, I saw you doing that at least twice!

We have an open floor plan for our home on the main level. It works for us. However, I can see where it might be difficult for an office situation.

@leftwingpatriot:

dot com in the early naughts + senior vp = didn’t seem to occur to him

’nuff said

I have been reading Doonesbury since Trudeau started.

I went to a job interview at a dotcom that turned out to be one big open room with long tables and the workers sitting side by side. At the job I was considering leaving, I had a private office with a door and windows with a view.

They wound up making an offer which I immediately declined and never regretted.

I set up my engineers with offices, but put them 2 to 4 to an office with only the project leads having their own. It cut down on the noise, kept team members where they could ask each other questions, but also allowed them to close their doors when they were in code mode and didn’t want the hassle.

Seemed to work a GREAT deal better than the open setup at my previous employ, and we cranked out project in two years that some industry wags had described as “impossible”.

Have been working in an “open concept” for the last 14 years. At least the baffle board are high enough to stop people from leaning over. Every once in a while – you do have to yell HEY! Quiet Down! I’m on the phone. Customers should hear work, not laughter in the background. there are roughly 60 people per floor. Can’t work from home. A separate room, with a door that locks is required.

Open plans aren’t about improving productivity. They are about reducing total square footage per employee, thus reducing real estate costs.