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The Open Office Is Destroying the Workplace
HughPickens.com writes: Lindsey Kaufman reports in the WaPo that despite its obvious problems, the open-office model has continued to encroach on workers across the country, with about 70 percent of U.S. offices having no or low partitions. Silicon Valley has led the way — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg enlisted famed architect Frank Gehry to design the largest open floor plan in the world, housing nearly 3,000 engineers within a single room that stretches 10 acres. Michael Bloomberg was another early adopter of the open-space trend, saying it promoted transparency and fairness. Bosses love the ability to keep a closer eye on their employees, ensuring clandestine porn-watching, constant social media-browsing and unlimited personal cellphone use isn't occupying billing hours.
But according to Kaufman, employers are getting a false sense of improved productivity. A 2013 study showed many workers in open offices are frustrated by distractions that lead to poorer work performance. Nearly half of the surveyed workers in open offices said the lack of sound privacy was a significant problem, and more than 30 percent complained about the lack of visual privacy. The New Yorker, in a review of research on this nouveau workplace design, determined that the benefits in building camaraderie simply mask the negative effects on work performance.
While employees feel like they're part of a laid-back, innovative enterprise, the environment ultimately damages workers' attention spans, productivity, creative thinking, and satisfaction says Kaufman. "Though multitasking millennials seem to be more open to distraction as a workplace norm, the wholehearted embrace of open offices may be ingraining a cycle of underperformance in their generation," writes Maria Konnikova. "They enjoy, build, and proselytize for open offices, but may also suffer the most from them in the long run."
But according to Kaufman, employers are getting a false sense of improved productivity. A 2013 study showed many workers in open offices are frustrated by distractions that lead to poorer work performance. Nearly half of the surveyed workers in open offices said the lack of sound privacy was a significant problem, and more than 30 percent complained about the lack of visual privacy. The New Yorker, in a review of research on this nouveau workplace design, determined that the benefits in building camaraderie simply mask the negative effects on work performance.
While employees feel like they're part of a laid-back, innovative enterprise, the environment ultimately damages workers' attention spans, productivity, creative thinking, and satisfaction says Kaufman. "Though multitasking millennials seem to be more open to distraction as a workplace norm, the wholehearted embrace of open offices may be ingraining a cycle of underperformance in their generation," writes Maria Konnikova. "They enjoy, build, and proselytize for open offices, but may also suffer the most from them in the long run."
I had a programming job in an open office with the boss on the phone faking jovial, garrulous laughter in sales calls all day long when he wasn't coming over to refocus our efforts many times a day and ask how long that would take.
Needless to say, I got more productive development done (on my hobby project/next business) in the private office of the back seat of the bus for half hour in the morning and evening. A bus can be noisy (and you have to hang on to your laptop for fear of sudden stops), but it beats the open plan office by a long shot anyday.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
Yes - I've turned down two solid offers in 2014 (both with a minor 10%ish package increase but more interesting research, at least more interesting to me) because the position did NOT come with dedicated office space. I agreed to do a followup interview and stated in no uncertain terms the entire reason for me refusing the offer was the open layout of their lab. The 30-something HR person looked at me like I had just grown two heads. Depending on your career level and path, your mileage may vary.
Lack of partitions is a dealbreaker for me. I will not work in a space where everyone sees everyone all the time and there is no private space. Period. I will not work on an open floor plan.
I'm not asking for my own office with a door that closes. I've never had that, and I don't expect it. I understand that I'm at work and that I have no real expectation of privacy. But we're all human, and I'm not comfortable sitting around where anyone can see what I'm doing at all times. Maybe I'm reading Slashdot for a few minutes, maybe I'm on StackExchange asking or answering something work-related, maybe I'm checking my personal email. Maybe I'm reading a white paper from a vendor, with my arm propped up on the desk while I gradually scroll through. As long as my work is being done and my employer is happy, there's no reason the rest of the floor should have a view of me, or vice versa.
Believe it or not, there's a happy medium. Partitions. Cubicles. They were implemented for a reason. I need some walls that extend several feet above my seated position and on all sides, which give me enough privacy to disregard the rest of the office for awhile. I'm never going to absorb a 30-page protocol spec if I'm exposed to every motion of everyone else around me. That's distracting. I have to have a bit of isolation in order to concentrate. I can mentally tune out things like telephones ringing, coworkers talking, etc. but in order to be truly productive, I need my cube partitions. I don't work in a restaurant, I don't want my workplace to resemble a restaurant.
This isn't about browsing porn at work, or spending all day on social media. I have no trouble with my company logging everything I do; I'm at work, after all. I just need some personal space to do what I'm paid for. I will not work on a big glass floor.
Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
Every time I read an article that mentions Zuckerberg I know it is going to contain some idea, process or plan I am going to hate. Zuck is the worst possible CEO to have so much power which we know translates to the tech industry following his lead and also legislation. It is dbags like the Zuckerbergs that make me want to get out of tech since with people following their lead things are only going to get worse for the rest of us.
Currently I have my own office and each of my coworkers has their own. We each naturally work mostly with one or two other people through the day - the two graphic designers work together, etc. Some coworkers spend MOST of their time in their associate's office visiting^H^H^H^H collaborating. Other's less so, but it seems most of us feel the need to get out of our office and go see another human face at some point in the day.
I think I preferred the setup at my previous company, where two or three people were in a large office, with their backs to each other. Nobody was looking at you, and you didn't see anyone, until you turned to talk to them. I could focus on my work, and they on theirs, but they could also easily ask me a question, and I could notice when one of my people was having a rough day, or just just a stressful hour. We could focus on our work, but when one person was clearly getting stressed about stupid customers we could go for some frozen custard and come back 15 minutes later in a better mood.
Where I am now, my boss's office is next to mine. We office shout to one another rather than using instant messenger or getting out of our chair. It'd be easier if she was eight feet away at the other end of a large office. On the other hand, maybe I wouldn't want my boss in my office all the time - at my last company I WAS the boss. :)
Each engineer had a desk. No deviders or walls.
All of the desks faced the same direction.
At the front of the room was a raised platform (about 1 foot high). On that platform sat the managers.
Four engineers shared one phone. That phone was on a swing arm that would swing in a circle above the four desks.
Oh, and I forgot. Your desk had to be completely bare when you left in the afternoon. And you do not want to be caught reading a newspaper anytime after the whistle blows at 8 AM.
Most Respectfully Yours Mark Allyn Bellingham, Washington
I have turned down offers in part because I'd be in an open layout office. In one case I would have had a couple feet of desk space at a long desk in a huge room. Heck, since he's mentioned in the article header and it was a few years back I don't mind saying it was at Bloomberg, doing C++ development; the work appeared great and the people that interviewed me seemed to know their stuff; and recently (so obviously it wouldn't have impacted me back then, but as a point of interest) I saw a couple of John Lakos's CppCon presentations and was singing with the choir. I took an offer much further south with an office (with a window, even). The NYC recruiting company managing the on-site interviews was not happy at this election, and tried to stiff me out of my travel reimbursement, but we worked it out.
Since Microsoft I've been spoiled for cubes (I've heard some of their newer buildings are cubes; I was in Office) and I won't say not having an office would always be a deal-breaker but pretty close to it. When my present company was in temporary space I had a cube with loud people making free to strike up random conversations or phone calls just outside it and it drove me absolutely bonkers; I even went home to work a couple times. Now I have an office as we had agreed on before coming on full time and things are much better.
Sheesh, I had to scroll down FAR to find someone else who didn't mind open office plans...
For me, working in an office is about maximizing Communication. Cubes and even conference rooms get in the way of communication, isolating and dividing groups so that they start wandering off in different directions and ends up creating more work to get everyone back on the same page.
Yes, distraction is an issue. But an important part of cognitive function is to be able to filter out distractions when you do need extended periods of hyperfocus. This is pretty easily handled with headphones and some discipline. My coworkers are polite enough not to approach someone who looks like they're "in the zone" and attach their comments and questions to their work tickets (woo documentation) and/or wait until standup to discuss things that need more eyeballs - usually things are resolved much faster that way anyway (as long as it's timeboxed not to waste the time of the entire team).
Plus, your workspace is very much a showcase of your work, personality, and work habits, and I find it way easier to display it on the open planform "science fair" office than in the empty nest "cube farm" booth format.
In the name of improving communication, I would even go so far as to split team members up and spread them around the office so they can better mingle with other groups in your supply / input / process / output / customer chain. After all, your teammates should already have a good deal of sync with each other, since they attend meetings together more frequently and back each other up on the same projects, so it's more beneficial to maximize inter-team communication by spreading your group out to keep tabs on the other groups in your office. They can do a better job passively filtering information discussed by other teams, helping keep track of the pulse of other groups so you have some advanced notice of when a deadline might slip or an important milestone is coming up. I always find it a greater waste of time when, after every 6 mo. reorg, they try to shuffle around everyone's seats so teams are seated near each other in a cluster by their current manager so they can "better collaborate" with each other, like they weren't going to be able to find a convenient way to do so anyway.
If you really need privacy, grab a break-out room, or work from home that day. But for the most part, I find that work sucks more when there's not enough communication, as opposed to when there's insufficient time for hyperfocus work (assuming your manager is doing a decent job shielding you from the BS, which I know is by no means a given).
How I've seen it done is generally a couple of things.
A) the walls are all using that paint that let you use arbitrary walls as white board. If there's pillars, paint those too. They're not as big, but they're often sufficient for quick sketches, and they have 4 sides.
B) Desks often have short separators. Those are also often whiteboards/magnet.
C) Lots of small huddle rooms good for a quick ad-hoc 2-4 people meeting. Those rooms can't be booked and are so people just hop in and out.
D) Lots and lots of pair programming. Not a whiteboard, but for a lot of usages, it serves the same purpose.
No, it's jock-like one-upmanship (for the nerds) and bullying (for the SJW types). Same as Agile.
What, really is the purpose of the daily standup? Right. To make the boss, who, if he asked "What did you do yesterday. Why didn't it get done? What are you going to do to today? You'd better fucking have an answer by tomorrow at 0830h or you're out on your ass!" would result in you quitting on the spot -- into your friends, your peers. Boss gets the same micromanagement as if he'd harped on you, but most agilistas crave the abuse as long as it comes from members of their team.
As it is with the open office. "HEY AC, WHY ARE YOU READING SLASHDOT? IT'S NOT EVEN MIDNIGHT YET! YOU'RE AT WORK! YOU SHOULD BE WORKING!" (Just like Agile standups, if your boss said it, you'd tell him to fuck off and you'd quit on the spot. But you surf Slashdot at 2340h pacific time in front of your friends, and they see you as some kind of a slacker.)
Enjoy your panopticon, guys. You built this fucking culture. You fucking live with it. I've already quit a once-successful startup that went down this path and had nothing to show for it but embellished resmues of the Agilistas (who all quit for better jobs) while those of us who did the actual fucking work and actually had equity in the piece of shit company saw our earnings drop by 80%.
I think the productivity increase of private offices is vastly more than 1%. There's a direct increase: all of my co-workers claim that they get way more work done at home, and looking at what actually leaves their hands when working from home, I can believe it. I have the same experience myself. There is also an indirect increase: it's well known that a noisy and distractive environment kills concentration and creativity; doing a job that requires your full attention in such an environment results in a higher error rate, requiring rework or costly fixes.
Neither of these factors are taken into consideration when management decides to opt for open-plan, or they think that the benefits outweigh this loss in productivity. They think collaboration is key, and that open-plan serves collaboration best. Now it is true that open offices do encourage and speed up knowledge sharing, but some research shows [no citation given, do your own homework] that the value of collaboration vs. solo working is overestimated... and open-plan offices aren't even all that great for collaboration: you need a lot of quiet booths and breakout rooms as well. A lot of my co-workers complain about noise and distractions in our office even when they are on teleconferences, wearing a headset. And when they get distracted, they are more tempted to open a browser and get distracted even more. I notice the same thing: in teleconferences at work I tend to goof off; at home I am actually paying attention.
Doing small coding jobs or reading email in an open office is not as bad as doing focused coding where you need "flow" , but I still prefer a quiet workplace for those tasks. Email is important (or I'd leave my out of office reply on permanently) and it requires my full attention. The social interaction at the office is nice and helps with the job, and I limit my working from home to 2 days a week, but in the end I go to work to work. For productivity, I wager that most knowledge workers would greatly benefit from private offices, with meeting rooms, bullpens and coffee corners to socialize.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Even monks tended to have private monastic cells where they went throughout the day to pray alone.
Incipiamus, fratres, servire Domino Deo, quia hucusque vix vel parum in nullo profecimus.
I've worked at a Japanese company for a quarter of a century.
The Japanese have a highly effective open-office system. They often have about 3-4 feet of desk space apiece, and the desks tend to be 18 inches wide, and jammed together back-to-back, so employees face each other in long rows. Thank God for flatscreens. It was pretty bad when CRTs were the norm.
I don't consider the Japanese to be particularly productive in a creative, "coming up with new ideas" sense, but they can be amazingly productive in a "gang up on a difficult problem and solve it" sense.
However, this don't work without the cultural aspect. The Japanese are a highly social people. They have an innate sense of community that is completely missing from the US.
In Japan, being relegated to a private office is often considered a punishment. They have the term "window seat" to indicate an office where all you is stare out the window all day. About the worst thing that can happen to you.
Without the cultural backup, there's a good chance that open offices won't give you anything like what Japan has.
That said, they may work out OK. Open offices are nothing new. They just tend to encourage work that is team-oriented, and not especially creative.
For creativity, a small bullpen may be best. Think an office with four people in it, and a lot of room. I don't think that is what managers really want.
What country have you worked in where workers are more empowered to make decisions, and trusted to act independently?
Germany, Austria and Switzerland for three. Throughout many joint projects I've worked with self-motivated people that crush through a work day focused on their tasks and the work environment is irrelevant. They could be in a private office or a conference room packed with people, these Europeans are still doing what they need to do. Americans on the other hand, give them a private room and they may do their work but their web logs often show otherwise. Anyone ever evaluated and stacked up web logs of Germans to those of Americans? The latter always encourages me to wonder why 1 out of 7 men can't obtain porn on a home computer and how they can feel comfortable viewing it in a work environment.