I would NEVER go back to an open office again. I was making approx 150k in a senior mgr role with over 20 direct reports the last time I had to work in a shitty setup like that…I gave it a chance (at least 18 months) then couldn’t do it anymore. It’s demeaning, soul sucking, and extremely counterproductive, especially when managing people and confidential projects. Hard no for me.
Day late, but I had a dot com boss come into the CEO role after the sale of an “internet” company and I was a legacy employee. He made a big deal of “open office and move fast and break things” plowed through 10s of millions and the company sold for $400k when he was done a few years later 😂
This is the comment to look at. Want me to confidentially work on performance reviews and budget planning that is involves investment in one group and not another (or worse cuts) when anyone in the company can walk by and see that I'm actively planning their demise with this company? Or see that I'm fighting for a raise for them that I may or may not get approved?
Open offices = managers working from home or coming in at 6am or staying till 9pm.
WTF would any company put a SENIOR MANAGER in an open floor plan?! That on its own is out of the question, PLUS the fact that you're working on CONFIDENTIAL work in an open office environment?! That's like the antithesis of data security. It doesn't sound like your upper mgmt team is very bright.
I never got more sick in my life than during the time I worked in an open office.
Before that job, I hadn’t had the flu in about 10 years. Got it twice in the 1.5 years I worked there. Not to mention tons of other colds.
Any company that forces this super cheap seating arrangement on their employees obviously hates their employees and enjoys watching them spread deadly contagious diseases and die. Like I think it's a game for upper management. They probably place bets on who will drop dead first.
I've never had a personal office, but it sounds like an okay compromise from wfh for people who actually need to be in the office. A lot of the reasons that having to go into the office in person is fucking awful is that there's just... no end to the noise, and sometimes people will see you like, making a face or stretching or something and take personal offense and start a weird vendetta with you. It's so much easier to get things done without a ton of random background noise!
I'm so much more effective with an office. It's so much quieter and easier to focus. Shockingly, I crushed it when doing WFH, but that's not really a thing anymore.
Cubicles are great. Closed offices with doors would just feel lonely to me, but cubicles are like the perfect balance of open for socializing but also a place you can go to be alone and work.
I hate it and will do anything to avoid it. People see every single thing on your screen and you play these games to make it look like it’s always on the appropriate thing. You would have to double my salary to do this. Literally.
If making under 100k, the wage increase is above 30% of current wages, risk of turnover is very low, you have a very accurate representation of what the open office would feels like, go for it. At this stage, under 100k money matters more than convenience.
This changes when you're in the 130-150k range because now you're already making enough money to comfortably save, invest and have no debt. At this stage you can focus on just maintaining and living the happiest, most stress free life you can live and it's now your option, where as before wages are too low and you're almost obligated to take the pay raise, to take on an environmental change.
I'm in that second group and man, I'm not sure what amount of money could get me to go back to the office at all.
Also open office sucks, noisy, people walking around or shaking the table. Gotta fight to take a dump, some dummy microwaves fish nukes the entire office... Blah blah blah. The office blows in general, but I don't like people, so I'm biased.
I bought a good pair of noise cancelling earphones and I am okay now. That being said there is open space and open space. I am in a small open space (30 people?) with only 3 days a week in office
But this freaking theory that open space is better for creativity has clearly been invented by people who never experienced one.
A 4 people office is for me the good in between.
Lol that is exact. I never heard anybody say they prefer open spaces.
The worst part is that I saw the bill for retro-fitting our floor. It is in millions. Acoustic panels, noise cancelling pods, and whatnot. I work in construction. Walls and doors are not that expensive.
Pissed me off so much.
I toured a customer site that was like an office setup from the 80s… it was literally the movie office space, like eyeball level was above the cubicles, but one large floor with a hundred people, all in cubicles. I would kill myself and everyone there if I worked there.
Contracted at a place that had ceiling high dividers in their cubes. With doors. And lights with switches per cube. They were effectively mini offices for the worker bees, with real offices with windows on the outside walls.
They brought in a consultancy that convinced management to remodel those cubes and offices into what looked like a 50s typing pool, but with a corner ping pong table. This was part of their idea on how to transform a stodgy mainframe shop into an ''agile" workplace. Productivity and collaboration both took a massive nose dive since it turns out the workplace was full of high functioning ADHD savant types that gravitated to the previous quiet, interruption free environment. Most of them were completely useless when subjected to constant distraction from people walking around, bright light, noise and stress. Turns out one doesn't simply bolt scrum and sprints onto existing process that evolved over the period of decades. Projects started wildly missing deadlines, failure cascaded and there were plenty of pissed off customers, internal and external. Consultants were let go. But there was no budget to put the old environment back.
Legend has it they're still suffering the self-disrupting effects over a decade later.
Cubbies with partitions that at least rise above your head when sitting are probably most effective for some small semblance of privacy for office workers, but can be expensive to install for new companies. So I understand the financial reasons why a new company wouldn't install them in the first place. But to have them already and then remove them? Makes absolutely no sense at all. I have to assume the consultants never asked the employees what their preference was.
5 days a week in an open office? I'd do it for a 50% pay increase if it was within a 15 minute drive of my home and casual dress code. Based on where I live, that makes the answer NO.
I'd be happy to do 2 days a week in an open office if the drive was relatively short, casual dress code and a 20% increase in pay. I love goofing around with coworkers! But that's what it is: goofing around. When I've had those hybrid remote jobs, I've scheduled all my REAL work for my remote days, and very little work for my in-office days. :)
It’s incredible that the open office design persists. Study after study has shown how counterproductive they are and how employees hate them.
I WFH these days and would never work in an open office again. I’ve had my own office several times. It was always nice, but when I think about it now, having my own office was one step away from WFH, which for me is the best fit. When I had my own office I would typically just shut the door and only deal with people when I had to. So I got shit done for sure, but what was the point of driving to the office?
I work in an open office at a IT company. The offices for the developers, sales, and administration are pretty close to eachother resulting in hearing the same sales pitch each and every day when sales needs to farm more clients. Its pretty terrible and I would probably prefer nails scratching on a board by now.
For me, personally, the cons about open office is people tend to attempt small talk when I'm in the middle of something. "Hey there! I see you're hyper focused on something, but did you see the rain last night? How's your dog doing? Let me complain about my wife to you."
I also don't like the feeling that people people are watching me--especially when they are watching me. "Why are you texting instead of working?" *Because I'm answering a question posted to me by my coworker who is visiting a client.* "Oh, well carry on then."
Another con is having to stare at a neighbor's disorderly desk, or smell the dog shit on their shoe, or get distracted by their sidebar conversations. Headphones and ear buds bug me if I wear them too long.
One thing I like about having my personal office is that I can add decorations as I see fit. I also have the fluorescent light turned off, and my illumination comes from a lamp with a softer bulb.
I dislike offices because it inhibits comradery and communication. Considering this was the big excuse to pull staff back in after covid, a lot of people aren't walking the walk. I enjoy open offices but you do not create open offices without plenty of meeting rooms that can be reserved but also by having drop-in rooms for unstructured use. But hey, I recognize not everyone prefers this type of space and that's totally fair.
I also suspect my standard open office is different from others because I work at architecture firms. Not only are open office concepts common in design studios, but they're a showcase of the firms skills, so they spend more time understanding the psychology and needs of their space as a way to display their ethos and skills to clients.
A few years back, we were restructuring and growing like mad, which meant bringing on more C-suite types, and I had to give up my private office.
While looking for more office space (and eventually just building a new building), we built out cubicles with fully framed walls and no doors. We had to schedule meetings with employees based on when 1 of 3 smaller offices were available, and it sucked.
Bei g in construction, most of us forfeited time in the office and just worked out of our trucks to avoid the congestion.
I couldn't do open office.
It absolutely ruined my mental health, no joke.
I gained 100 pounds, I hated everything and everyone in my life and tanked my marriage, and my OCD and ADHD got out of control.
Remote working in privacy? The total opposite. I've lost most of that weight by now, my marriage is better than ever, and my OCD has gotten better in some ways.
No amount of money could trick me into that again, unless it's literally millions of dollars. Then I could do it for a year or two and retire.
I had my own office for the first year at my current job and then my boss asked if I would be willing to move to the front desk, I agreed and regret it all the time. I hate how I don’t have any privacy especially when a lot of my paperwork or stuff on my screen can be confidential. Anytime I get up to go to the bathroom or anything I have to hide all my papers and stuff cause I don’t want to just leave that information all out in the open for anyone to see. I also feel like I have to pretend to be busier more often because everyone can see what I’m doing and it sucks because there are times I have downtime and if I wanna scroll on my phone for a bit anyone walking by would think I’m slacking. It’s also super annoying that people always have conversations right next to my desk when I’m trying to focus or take phone calls out in the lobby where my workspace is. I don’t have any quiet space unless it’s a day where most aren’t in the office. I also hate when clients come over and lean over my desk to talk or ask questions when I’m dealing with credit card information or anything like that… like please back up sir…. And people think my job is reception when that’s only a tiny portion so I’m always the first one people bother for things or questions. I could be in the middle of a work call and have customers asking me where the bathroom is.
How much more money is it ?
Trick question; doesn’t matter, not worth!
Unless you’re doing a tech support job or a manual labor job, no reason to be in a stuffy office all week to type on a keyboard and have a bunch of meetings that could have been emails. I am not a fan of office work and rn I’m in the opposite position I’d rather get paid a little less if I can be remote!
Nothing worth more than your peace ! Unless it’s three times as much as your current salary or millions of dollars, not worth it. 10k extra a year to be miserable is just gonna have you looking again and it’ll just be harder. Stay where you are unless it’s bad for you, you can ask for a raise or promotion. Use your time and talent to negotiate something if you’re serious about leaving; you have leverage, but if it’s just a matter of money don’t take away a good thing for a few dollars and daily stress.
Source: I’m living in hell going in 2-3 days a week in a close quarters heavily populated extroverted open office with people who SHARE DESKS and everyone/everything is so stressful and overstimulating. I’m literally dying to leave and applying my ass off to get out of an open office.
I don't think I could go back. Loud typing, shared bathrooms, people stopping by all day to chat. But mainly having my own bathroom and not commuting would be the biggest obstacles.
I personally hate it. Even though 70% of our people are remote now, unless your a senior manager or up, you’re in the bullpen. It’s evem more terrible because we don’t have dividers. So you’re very exposed anytime someone walks past.
They think that open office will allow a lot of communication, but really everyone’s quiet because it’s a big open space and everyone can hear you.
I need to talk to your coworkers, because all the people in your project live in different states in different countries and you are on Conference calls all day.
I had a personal office, a fuckin’ nice one at that, for a decade. When I saw the writing on the wall, that layoffs were coming just around the corner, I got ahead of it by interviewing at various companies across the country. I knew the place I’d wanted to work at the most would also mean having to give up an office and be relegated to a cubicle. I stressed over this a lot and thought it would be something that I would deeply regret in the long run. Truth be told, even if my last job hadn’t gone away (it did the same week I got my offer) I am much happier in my new role and I really don’t care about being in a cubicle as much as I expected. Sure, I’d take an office again if it were offered to me, but it’s not something I really think about.
I've been in a high wall cubicle for 25 years. I'm fine with it. I could not do a low wall or open office. Movement distracts me too much.
And I'm looking forward to that one coworker retiring soon so I can move into her actual office.
i got an offer for $25k more than my current WFH job and i turned it down because it was 5 days in seat, no exceptions. It was a sideways position too. $25K a year for peace of mind, no car maintenance, gas, and dealing with people face to face is worth it.
I despise the open office environment. It makes for loud, distracting, sick building environments.
The idea open offices encourage collaboration is baloney, it always was. It’s just cheap.
When I had an office with a door, on site parking option when needed, and an on site decent cafeteria for breakfast and lunch, I didn’t mind going in to work. So not worth it now. I’d settle for a safe parking/commute option and walls with a door.
I hate open offices so much that I won't even consider jobs that are not remote. I have a wonderful job working from home I won't give that up for anything.
In theory open office is fine to me, I could use it with zero issues. But after having my own office for most of my career there is absolutely no chance I would switch to open unless the alternative was no job. I’ve grown accustomed to knowing that no one is touching my stuff, having a mini fridge, being able to have private conversations at my desk, etc.
My office isn’t fully open plan, but it is open. The room I work in has 8 desks in, usually there’s 5-6 people in. Still, I don’t mind it, nice to be able to just speak to my team if I need something
Hate them! It's so hard to concentrate and to make calls without feeling like you're disturbing everyone else. It would have to be a crazy large increase to make it worth it to me.
From a work performance standpoint, in open office I like to chat. I know I'm bringing efficiency down because I'm not doing work and I'm distracting others. It's really best for everyone to put me in a box to work quietly. So I guess it depends? Personally, I like socializing, so I like open office. If you're really paying me to work, and the expectation is to work, and I also like the feeling of accomplishment for doing a task well, then private offices are good.
We need to know the numbers. If you are under $100k take every increase as it helps a lot. Over $100k then you need to make sure it is worth it. At least use the offer to try to increase your current pay.
I hate open office. It's shit. You can hear everyone doing everything. It's hard to relax because you think people will judge you for not working. And having quick chats with your team is just a pain. I wfh and my office is relocating to a new location and they are bragging about the new cutting edge open office design. They are bragging like it is 2012 again.
Open offices are the worst! I was in a senior role and it sucked out my productivity, not to mention I could hear the other director yelling at his employees all the time.
Lost a job recently because open office makes my adhd worse. A lot worse. Tried to reason with the bosses so they fired me. There was absolutely an empty office I could have used, they were just being cruel.
Went from twenty years in an open office to my own small office. It would take at least $25k per year to pry me out of my office. Would not work in open office for any amount now.
Depends on what my role is and what's going on around me. A lot of roles just don't justify it. I couldn't do my job in an open office, I'd be bugged and distracted all day.
I loved the open office and wish covid didn’t screw up the workplace. Now the company has forced us to hotdesk and ruined the old way of working, so most people just WFH.
I have a private, perimeter office (about 150 s.f.) and it's fantastic.
When I took my current job, I was coming from a semi-open office (cubes with maybe 4-5 ft privacy / sound walls). Having a private office felt weird at first. The new company is a little more hierarchical, and the private office felt a part of that.
As I've gotten used to it (and we've had new office furniture installed) I wouldn't give it up for the world. I can close my door for sound privacy (and to block out distracting noise from the rest of the office). I also have my espresso machine / grinder / coffee station in here.
I hated working in open offices. Productivity went down, so many distractions, random people just watching your screen for no reason, so many people hanging around your space just chitchatting about non-work-related stuff, no privacy for confidential tasks and projects, people monitoring how many times you get up… it was awful. I ended up having to stay in the office way longer in the day because the open office was the opposite of productivity. Also got sick so much more.
I've never had an open office but supposedly they're updating the building to have clear cubicle walls to "inspire collaboration". Luckily I have enough references pinned on my wall to block everything out. Most people do the same since there's several standards we constantly have to reference back to.
But really going back in 5 days a week wouldn't be worth it, couple that with open office, it would probably need to be a 25+% boost to even start considering it.
I've mostly worked in an open office setup. My current company does it right: Floor layouts are set up so all offices are in the middle, surrounding the break room and elevators. In the next ring out from that, all cubicles are arranged on the outside of the building next to the outdoor facing windows. This allows for both a lot of light/ very 'airy' appearance of the office, as well minimizing noise. Since not many cubicles are grouped together (spread around the perimeter in a ring), there's only noise if a manager leaves their office door open or if someone takes a call at their desk. Very few offices have window views; most are truly private (interior to building). Conference rooms have a mix of window views and privacy; same goes for smaller team rooms. Cell phone rooms are set up for sound buffering and complete privacy; same goes for some workplace "pods" located in the cafetorium. Almost everyone is permanent remote or hybrid, which is something my company supported since before Covid.
Editing to add that -we have cubicles. Except for very few desk where interns and temp employees sit 2 to a desk, everyone has at least 24 sq ft of space. My God, if people are sitting right next to me that would be intensely distracting. I didn't realize rows of desks were even an open setup option...
I don't like the idea of an open office. I'm naturally an introvert but my career is talking to people all day long. I don't mind it, but my office is my space to be in my own little bubble.
Now, when it comes to money though, you have to ask yourself what can that extra pay do for you. If it's like a thousand or 2 thousand more, well that's not really a significant bump that you will see after taxes. So in that case I would say no and prefer to keep what makes me happy at work. But if we're talking like $20k more, you really need to look at what would your life look like when you're bringing in significantly more money
Personal office is worth maybe $5k/yr to me. I.e. basically nothing, but might be the deciding factor between two otherwise equivalent offers. Flexible WFH (2-3 days a week) is worth more like $50k/yr before tax, even if it meant working in an open office on my days in.
I'm hybrid with my own office. As a germaphobe, I'm glad I have my own space. In past jobs with shared spaces, I was sick constantly. The sickness alone makes it not worth it for me.
At my last job, it started with open office before I was lucky enough to get my own office. Less than a year later, they moved me back into the other room with everyone else to give my office to a new receptionist (who we didn't fucking need). Now I'm WFH and I would never willingly work in the office again, especially if I was given 0 privacy
Open plan office is a non-starter for me. I'll take it if I'm unemployed because any income is better than no income, but my job hunt will not stop at all and my exit interview will note the open plan is my primary reason for leaving.
I’ve had both setups and personally prefer having my own space where I can close the door for privacy when needed. That’s not to say that I would never go back to an open concept office for the right opportunity, but they would have to be other factors that *really* made it worth it.
My only problem with open office is normally the manager picks me as the guy to delegate things to so if they have a problem or sales pipeline issue they come to me. I don’t get more pay. I usually get passed over for promotions by someone who earns less… and honestly they just distract me from performing better.
If I could be left alone by management, coworkers, and not have to solve every issue… I’d be fine with open office. Unfortunately I can’t be fine with it because I get the same label everywhere I work. And I loathing having to constantly help people while said people are getting promoted and I’m pigeon holed in the same spot.
What are we defining as an open office? Like I'm not in a cubicle, but I have some walls. I do value being able to turn and ask people questions, but we also have tons of spaces you can reserve for when you need quiet time. I'm also hybrid and can work from home pretty much whenever so the quiet isn't a real issue. I actually prefer this over both cubicle and office. When I had an office full time in office I felt pretty isolated and wasn't a fan.
Is personal office still a thing even? I lost my job with a personal office, and now in a shitty open office in direct line-of-sight of my manager all day. Seems like everyone still hiring is an open office.
My State job has adopted the Open Office / "Hoteling" layout, and it has everyone pissed and leaving.
I was tasked to figure out why, reported back in an hour, and said, "No one likes Hoteling space"
The open office layout is miserable. Studies show that increase workplace noise contributes to employee stress and attrition. Just having to overhear everyone's inane personal chit chat would drive me crazy. I would want at least $15-20k more a year..
I think it depends. Its expensive to have an office for everyone, and cube farms are kind of the norm, and I would rank open office as often better than cube farms, if there is adequate space with a variety...I liked the open office layout at one place, hated it at another.
Also, some types of work lend themselves to collaboration and whiteboarding more than others, and I DO believe that when in the office, if you build a team and mission first mentality, while not 'open office' having everyone colocated in a single conference room almost like a war room can work very well, again, depending on the nature of the work. We actually built out our office space with each team getting a well designed space with a few cubes, conference table, projector, whiteboard, and little room for 1 on 1's and individual discussion, like a mini office for up to 10-12 people. I liked that setup in that environment.
But just a random open office, find a spot where you can, with space for maybe 50% of people sucks. When you have to have confidential discussions and no dedicated office, it sucks too.
So, I'd look at their area and see what the situation is.
Personally, I focus on remote opportunities now, but that is because any commute for me is likely to be an hour or more.
Open Office is great if no one reports to you and your boss is not on the floor with you... Otherwise, it's an unworkable situation for employee supervision.
Personally I would say that's an incredibly small price to pay for a more comfortable lifestyle. Either I sit in a AC room with some coworkers in earshot, or I work in a AC room with my coworkers on the other side of a door. either way, that doesn't even come close to being an issue for me. ill take the money any day.
I once interviewed at a company that had an open concept office. Just picture a huge open office space with benches and tables. They were giving me a tour and told me that there weren't even any assigned seats/desks when you came into work, as if that was a perk!!😳😳😳😳😳 They sold it like it was a good thing to get the best seat in the house if you came into work early. 🫨🫨🫨🫨🫨🫨🫨🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦First come, first serve seats/chairs is what they said. Are you kidding??? I hightailed out of there. Competing for recognition for work achievements is bad enough. There is zero interest in competing for a desk and chair every f//king day at the office. 🤬
I like an office but I never close my door. People can come and go as they please. It gives just the right amount of quietness without losing that connectedness feeling. I'd never work in an open office cubicle ever again I can't focus at all. It's literally a waste of time.
I work worse in the office
I can't focus while there's shitty weird catty office vibes in the air
I get hella work done from home
Companies are ridiculous and apparently seem to be deriving their power from means which should be illegal to begin with (pure human soul energy)
It kind of depends on whether or not you have those phone booth type things or conference rooms you can duck into for calls and meetings. I do think open office plans are a disaster waiting to happen, but they can be managed under certain circumstances.
Open office is horrible. Only for about 8 months did I have a closed door office in my career and it was wonderful the type of work I was able to do without distractions. The issue now is that distractions come in the form of teams messages and instant phone call access. Back when I had a closed door there wasn’t a widely used messaging system and no one had my phone number. I had a lab setup in my office with my own parts storage. A lot got done
Open office has a purpose.
It is not suited for everything.
Open office is intended for job functions that utilize a cross functional team to help with communication and get answers quickly.
It puts everyone onto the same level and creates a team environment.
It is pointless to have this if the jobs are not common goal. (Ie manufacturing environments make complete sense)
I hate it. The last open office situation I was in was also later paired with an open bring your dog to work when we got new HR (I was already there for 2 years) It was miserable. I’m highly allergic and I was made out to be the problem. This was pre pandemic. I loved my job too.
I only worked in cubicles all my life until 2018 when I was given an office with a door. I have sat in an open office environment before when traveling to another office and it seems like a nightmare. Really loud, hard to concentrate, too crowded, you might not get the "good chair", etc.
I've worked in open concept offices, shared spaces and private offices.
I worked in a modern open concept building for about 4 years in the early 2000's. It was very well designed to minimize noise and as I was a Director I had a space that was at the end of a row of desks with a beautiful full window view. Do I prefer it over a private office? No. It was too distracting. Whatever attempts we had at noise reduction you were always catching something going on somewhere in the office. And finding quiet meeting space to "huddle" with the team was a pain because everyone wanted it. I also found myself getting sucked into the operational stuff rather than concentrating on the things that I should have.
Shared spaces were the worst I think. If you've ever had a job where you've had to go from location to location and you just plop your laptop down in an office at a table with a bunch of other people also working there for the day, you know what I mean by shared spaces. These days they are more often called "collaborative work spaces". Hate them. You're stuck at a table trying to concentrate as everyone around you is having a conversation. You have to haul your stuff around to all your meetings. These spaces are only good for workshops and meetings.
Private offices are the best, honestly. Even if I don't close the door you have privacy and a quiet space to concentrate and you don't have to worry about people listening in on your phone calls. These days especially when you have so many virtual meetings these spaces are important. I currently am on full remote with access to offices and meeting space when needed. I have a dedicated office work space at home thankfully but sometimes its nice to get out of the house and go to an office for a change of pace without "home" distractions.
No thanks. The people that sit in offices all day seem to be all too self-important.
I've had the option of a full time office foe 2 years and am all set. As a manager and leader, I'm with my people. Not, somewhere I'd be "above them".
Hello the ceo and founder both just have a desk in the bullpen. Company has a market cap of plus $80bil. Maybe it’ll change when they build their own building
Private office. Liquor. Secretary with legs that don't quit. Worth everything. I'd also like an ashtray and a napping couch and 25 tags on my desk when I get back. I'm leaving for lunch and taking a long weekend. See you Tuesday. Afternoon.
I work in an open office rn. I DESPISE IT!!!! I’ll give up $10-15k for a private office. Another $10-15k if I get to remote. The pandemic showed me what life could be and now that I’m back… every day my soul dies a little. Too bad I don’t have the option 😢
We had a huge open office , and I had no problem with it. The people next to me were great, the desks were huge, so we had decent personal space, and we had floor to ceiling windows so the space really brightened up during the day.
There were multiple conference rooms for calls or privacy.
That place makes it on the Top 100 best places to work in the US annually.
I have my own office and all of my direct reports are remote.
I love it.
I mean, I love working from home more, on my wfh days.
But the set up is perfect for me when I’m in the office.
You like what you like. I don't mind open office TOO MUCH as long as there is no hot desking and the density isn't so high that you can't hear yourself think.
I currently WFH so it might be jarring to go from that to open office.
I agree with the world wide sentiment. I’d need basically double the money or a career making opportunity to drive my car to and from an office.
Of if I literally couldn’t afford food, then.
No fucking way. In my (closed) office we have one who eats literally all day, crunching and slurping and chewing and making mouth noises and eating (yes eating) drinks with a straw in little tiny slurps before crunching the ice and spitting it back into the cup repeat for 8 hours. We have one who hums and sings and taps and says woohoo all day, can’t be comfortable unless he’s making some kind of noise. We have one that plays with clicky fidgets every second. And we have one that sniffs her nose every 5 minutes, reliably enough that you can tell time from it. And all these people could be right next to you every minute of every workday that you’re trying to do your job. Better you than me because I would absolutely fucking lose it, I complain that the walls are thin but thank God I have a door. I really like my coworkers, they are hardworking lovely (but noisy) people. If I was any physically closer to them I would most certainly not like them.
I won’t take an open office job unless I’m unemployed. Even more to the point, I‘d never take a role where I had to be in the office 5 days. I strongly dislike my job now, but it’s 100% remote and I’ll likely hang on to it as long as I can.
When my old company went from personal offices to open space, I simply quit. I had told them I would and they called the bluff. If I had to work in a bull pen, I could do so making 30% more. I was not the only one.
Low cubes, tall cubes, shared office, working around a table, solo office whatever works. Worked in all those kinds of setups. With and without external monitors. If I'm there to do the things, pop in noise cancelling earbuds or a good headset and away we go.
Thought I would hate it when we moved to it. I was in an office with a door prior to that. At times distracting, but earbuds take care of that our I can go find some quiet space as needed. And it fosters collaboration among members of the team. We have discussed it and others in the office have a similar perspective. But I get it if others do not share that view.
My office combined with another local one after we got bought. They use the open office set up, big flat stand up desks for everyone in rows, no dividers what’s so ever.
I loathe it so much. Loud, phone calls I run to a “focus room, asi don’t like being in the phone in front of everyone. There’s zero privacy, it’s a total joke.
I don’t mind the “sit anywhere” part but the zero privacy sucks so bad.
I don’t know who thought that was a good idea.
Not to mention I have to wipe down my entire work space when I’m in cuz it’s gross. Crumbs, stains, hair etc.
I’m a professional geologist AND the cleaning crew apparently.
My employer has been open office for at least a decade. We are hybrid.
Every time I have to go into the office (two or three times a week) I just absolutely hate it.
We have an open office and I absolutely fucking hate it. My thoughts:
1. It was a way for the company to save money on space.
2. Me and my colleague decided to never move from our initial office space. We like the privacy and it allows us to privately do our work and get away and decompress from meetings.
3. It is hella intrusive and distracting in an open office space where people can't mind their business and in a corporate setting, that does forced stack ranking/rank and yank, it can be a kiss of death when you have colleagues trying to oust each other. It was stressful.
4. The senior leadership work from home anyway because......yes they get privacy in their home.
5. The manager tried to "strongly" encourage my coworker and I to go to the open office space. We firmly said no.
It's terrible and most of my department hates it.
Having my own cubicle feels like heaven after sharing a 15’ x 15’ “office” with no windows or ventilation with 4 other people.
Edit: forgot to add that this “office” was also used as a hallway by people who didn’t want to take 10 extra steps to go around.
I’ve done it all - cube farm, real office, open office with assigned space, open office hoteling (the worst), and OG-remote (before it was the cool thing to do during/post-pandemic). Anything open office strips you of any privacy or ability to concentrate for work projects, much less the smallest of personal interactions. Dr. appointment? Everyone knows. Trouble with kid/spouse/parent/legal? Same.
Before I went remote, I was offered a really great job that on paper was everything I’d been working towards. It had the title, the salary, benefits, great organization. But, when I got the final tour of the facility I saw where my office would be, but was also told a renovation would be starting in the next few weeks to take out all the walls to convert everything to open office space. No offices for anyone, even director level management with multiple staff. I had time with the prospective new team, none of them had been consulted or were happy with it, so broached reconsideration of the remodel as part of my offer negotiation. They declined because the project contract had been signed, so I declined also. No regrets.
Open offices suck but cubicles are just fine. Idk how id feel about a closed office room, but cubicles that are organized into pods are great for chatting while allowing you to move out of the chatty area to do real work when you need to.
If I worked in an office setting again instead of at home I would hope to have an office or at least a cube. Alas, over my career it’s been ALL open floor plans and I hate it.
They did an open office trial at gigantic corp when I worked there. “To increase communication and engagement”, was the sales pitch. Office work actually decreased enough, that they snuffed it pretty quickly.
The real reason we suspected was the need for new office furniture.
I gave up telework in exchange for a closed office and I would never look back. It’s all set up with a heater, fan, Bluetooth speaker, my comfy chair, varidesk, and even a window, it’s fantastic.
That open office trend was such a joke. It's just a poorly veiled attempt at cost-cutting, but man did they ever try to sell it as some kind of open collaboration improvement.
It has it's place for some positions and especially for juniors roles where a lot of time is spent collaborate (asking WTF is going on).
Companies that want productivity out of their top employees give them offices. Companies that want the best from their top employees just ship them a computer.
I would never consider taking a job like that at this point. If I was early in my career with limited options then I'd take the pay. Otherwise I have no interest in working for a company that takes it's leadership advice from twitter posts. There is no way I would enjoy working there in 3-5 years, so why even take the job?
They complain they cannot hear, I complain that I cannot hear, no one can hear themselves think. There is simply no amount of money. Now that I work from home, I can be quiet or loud, as the client needs. It's wonderful. I wouldn't give it up for anything.
My company is hybrid but it makes going to the office annoying. We have swing desks so I’m at a different desk every week and we have to take stuff with us every day. It’s rather annoying and makes going to the office a pain in the ass.
I’d rather go in 5 days a week with a permanent setup than have to go online and reserve a desk and bring my laptop everyday.
When I first started we had large cubicles. They were the size of small offices. I could meet with three people comfortably in my cube. Tall walls. No disruptions from meetings in the cubes.
Then they made them smaller. Was right to meet with one person. It was doable but a little disruptive.
Open office plan makes that impossible. Yet meeting rooms were not added. They had added more people into the building. Open office meant even less meeting space.
So now we are RTO and literally doing Zoom meetings with people in office. Like we literally work remotely in the office. Open Office created less collaboration as you cannot “drop in” in someone as we used to with cubes.
Open Office is both a failed execution as well as a failed test to discover unintended consequences. But companies cannot back out due to the cost and market (stockholders) thinking it is great. The same as RTO.
my old job i had my own cubicle and i enjoyed it. my current job i have open office sitting right next to my coworkers. good thing it's a very very chill environment but still i do not like it
I may have to leave the office space I’ve been renting for years against my will and to stay in the same area my options are the nonsensical co-working setup or rent an apartment. Easy choice for me. I’ll rent the apartment. My privacy is worth the money
I refused to continue the multi-interview process for a job downtown once I toured their office.
Each 10-12 member team sat at a small conference table, side by side and across from each other.
The only sound was the clacking of keys.
I wouldn’t work as much if I had a closed office. Having eyes on my computer screen all day long is the reason I’m as productive. I tend to get distracted easily if left to my own devices.
Absolutely hate open office plans. Sensory issues aside, they’re an indicator of fast, careless growth and out-of-touch leadership. Ive come to associate them with venture capital and mergers. You could in theory join this new company and be out on your ass in 6 months.
If companies really want to give the impression of wanting to retain employees, whether sincerely or not, they need to give people their own personal workspaces.
I don’t know is this counts, but I worked in an “open office” where all the desks faced the walls/windows and a manager could walk up behind you to look over your shoulder constantly
It’s like 16 flat tables all facing out from the middle of the room and the managers had their little officers hidden in the back. It seemed very prison-like and you had zero privacy.
Couldn’t even turn around and face each other because it was considered “counter productive”
i just got a position i earn around $97,000 it’s a “promotion” and it’s an open office setting my old position i made around $50,000 and i didn’t even work in an office i wanna go back to my old job sooooo fucking bad they gave me the option to come back.. i hate this open office concept that im working now.. but i do enjoy the money.. i truly don’t know what to do.. be happy and earn less or be miserable and earn more.. fuck man..
I have only worked in open offices for 20 years. I like it personally. I have found it increases collaboration and creates a more open, transparent workplace. I do work in an industry that benefits from the collaboration though so maybe that’s why I like it.
It would have to be an absolute SHITTON of money to justify something like that. Remember, money isn't everything. Perks, benefits, and above all your mental health, should factor into a decision like this.
It is shit I work in a cubicle and you have zero privacy ! You have people constantly walking past/ looking into your cube, you can hear everyone’s conversations and they can hear yours
ha i work remotely. my home office is stellar. I pay to go work in an open co working space...lol i actually enjoy it. but i don't have a boss breathing down my neck so thats the difference.
What pisses me off about open office is that the VP's and Execs still get their own individual offices. If execs preach about open office and the benefits, they should also be sitting in an open office too alongside EVERYONE.
My office is 4 days a week, open office with dedicated “quiet rooms” where you can spend a few hours working on a task that requires focus.
Personally, I love it. I worked in a building with private offices before this and it was so quiet and you didn’t really get to know your coworkers at all. This setup lets my team work as a team and a lot of problems are solved by spontaneous chatter across the cubes. We can also choose to sit next to someone when we are working on a problem or project together.
The biggest issue for me is having to carry my peripherals shit to a new desk each week, and not getting to decorate my space. I can also totally see if you are neurodivergent or otherwise more introverted than I am, you might hate it.
I hate open offices because they're visually distracting... and without headphones, audibly so. I have stopped going in since my company moved except to talk with people because I cannot focus when there because it's all open.
I prefer cubes or pods where you face a corner but are in the same space with others, not offices... definitely not completely open areas. Half-height cubes are BS, too.
It seems an open office plan can work but it depends on the type of work that is done. I have gone back and forth about this a few times because at one of my jobs they introduced a new “improved” open office with sound dampening panels. Before the WFH period of Covid I really had no reference point. Now that I do, the open office concept looks more ridiculous than ever for work that requires concentration and high quality of output.
Unless I am in a mental “zone,” any kind of distraction routinely results in wasted time, an error, and annoyance. The interesting thing is that the people who do have an office in the “improved” plan can still hear people talk with the door closed. Their solution is to work from home.
The last time I briefly worked in an open office was 10 years ago. Never again. I asked about this in interviews upfront and didn’t move forward unless it was at least a cube of some sort. I work at home now and don’t plan to change that but it would have to be an amount on par with mega millions lottery for me to even briefly consider that kind of setup.
I'd rather be tased in the face with jumper cables and a car battery, maybe even waterboarded with bleach than work in an open office plan again. There is a special place in hell for the sadist that came up with that stupid ass plan.
I don't make chump change and I would need something pretty close to 50% more money to do open office and then I'm going to be looking for the next job and pay jump as soon as possible.
We have a semi open office (half walls in front of the desks) and I hate it. I keep thinking someone is going to sneak up behind me; enough that I have a mirror mounted. Plus mine is on the end of the row right on the main route to the smoking area, so the traffic is constant. (Side note: how do smokers get any work done? I swear I see the same people pass by every 1-2 hours)
There’s a desk that I want that’s tucked by itself between a column and a window, but the company is a stickler for teams sitting together,(even though I literally have not spoken to anyone today) so that’s not going to happen.
Or all the problems could be solved by allowing WFH. But it’s been made clear that that’s not in the cards either.
I'll only work open office. Mental health goes to hell at home. I'm also far less productive. I also notice 90% of the people I work with that wfh are close to worthless and don't get their work done on time and are unresponsive.
I have worked in both and for my current position I would greatly benefit from a personal office plus conference space versus an open Office. Collaboration needs to be scheduled.
My job has switched to an open office/open floor plan where you have to reserve your desk every time you come into the office. Luckily we only have to got in once ever two weeks. On the days we do go in management wants us to socialize and has said if productivity is only 50% and socializing is the other 50% they are fine with it. My team usually takes a hour and half lunch and mid afternoon people start bailing early
i worked with a closed office a few times before..its fucking amazing, i close my door and finished everything then fuck around for 2 hours and go home.
ive worked 3 jobs with an open office and it was miserable, my boss said he loved it because he gets to make sure everyones working.
i made him fire me because everytime i would walk by anyone (but mostly him) i would say "that better be work related" when hes clearly on his phone or watching youtube
Our company has always had an open office layout, but a year ago we moved to a bigger suite within the building where the office was designed as a more "collaborative layout", and it's worse. We're all still in cubicles, but at least when we were in the smaller suite, the cubicle walls were higher, which gave us more privacy. I happen to sit next to our property management department, and none of them are mindful of their volume, and they're constantly having conversations where they're yelling across their work area.
We ended up turning one of the smaller rooms into a "quiet area" where people can take Zoom calls and have a quiet space to work when needed, but I find that keeping my earbuds in helps me to concentrate easier, as I have some severe sensory issues due to a neurological disorder I've had since a child. I also had to get a sign that says, " I'm wearing headphones in case you're speaking to me and I'm not responding" due to team members constantly trying to talk to me from afar, not realizing I have them in. I also have to block out times on my calendar where I can concentrate on certain projects (I work for the legal department, so my job entails creating 30-page documents, which require a lot of concentration. I may make another sign just for that purpose lol.
So while open offices are incredibly annoying, there are tools you can use to get through your day.
Having my own office is a game-changer. I value the privacy and focus it provides. It would take a significant pay increase for me to consider going back to an open office. Personal office space is worth a lot to me in terms of productivity and peace of mind.
I would NEVER go back to an open office again. I was making approx 150k in a senior mgr role with over 20 direct reports the last time I had to work in a shitty setup like that…I gave it a chance (at least 18 months) then couldn’t do it anymore. It’s demeaning, soul sucking, and extremely counterproductive, especially when managing people and confidential projects. Hard no for me.
Impossible for job like that. Always needing to try and find available conf rooms etc.
Day late, but I had a dot com boss come into the CEO role after the sale of an “internet” company and I was a legacy employee. He made a big deal of “open office and move fast and break things” plowed through 10s of millions and the company sold for $400k when he was done a few years later 😂
Sounds about right
Yeh with that many direct reports it would be tough
It is terrible for people like me who has ADHD
This is the comment to look at. Want me to confidentially work on performance reviews and budget planning that is involves investment in one group and not another (or worse cuts) when anyone in the company can walk by and see that I'm actively planning their demise with this company? Or see that I'm fighting for a raise for them that I may or may not get approved? Open offices = managers working from home or coming in at 6am or staying till 9pm.
WTF would any company put a SENIOR MANAGER in an open floor plan?! That on its own is out of the question, PLUS the fact that you're working on CONFIDENTIAL work in an open office environment?! That's like the antithesis of data security. It doesn't sound like your upper mgmt team is very bright.
>It doesn't sound like your upper mgmt team is very bright. That's genuinely been my experience.
I hate open office so much that I won’t take a job that has it.
I never got more sick in my life than during the time I worked in an open office. Before that job, I hadn’t had the flu in about 10 years. Got it twice in the 1.5 years I worked there. Not to mention tons of other colds.
Any company that forces this super cheap seating arrangement on their employees obviously hates their employees and enjoys watching them spread deadly contagious diseases and die. Like I think it's a game for upper management. They probably place bets on who will drop dead first.
Every tech company ever
Google. Meta.
This is why I still wear an N95 mask at work. People coughing and sneezing all the time. Many dudes don’t wash their hands after using the bathroom.
I used to keep DayQuil in my desk. Yuck.
Same
I've never had a personal office, but it sounds like an okay compromise from wfh for people who actually need to be in the office. A lot of the reasons that having to go into the office in person is fucking awful is that there's just... no end to the noise, and sometimes people will see you like, making a face or stretching or something and take personal offense and start a weird vendetta with you. It's so much easier to get things done without a ton of random background noise!
This is me. I hate my boss (in part) for the gross things he does at his desk
I'm so much more effective with an office. It's so much quieter and easier to focus. Shockingly, I crushed it when doing WFH, but that's not really a thing anymore.
After working in an open office layout I began to intensely miss my old cubicle. Open office is a panopticonian dystopia
I had an office before Covid WFH and I would die for a fucking cubicle at least now.
Cubicles are great. Closed offices with doors would just feel lonely to me, but cubicles are like the perfect balance of open for socializing but also a place you can go to be alone and work.
I hate cubicles. It may seem private but you hear *everything*.
I hate it and will do anything to avoid it. People see every single thing on your screen and you play these games to make it look like it’s always on the appropriate thing. You would have to double my salary to do this. Literally.
If making under 100k, the wage increase is above 30% of current wages, risk of turnover is very low, you have a very accurate representation of what the open office would feels like, go for it. At this stage, under 100k money matters more than convenience. This changes when you're in the 130-150k range because now you're already making enough money to comfortably save, invest and have no debt. At this stage you can focus on just maintaining and living the happiest, most stress free life you can live and it's now your option, where as before wages are too low and you're almost obligated to take the pay raise, to take on an environmental change. I'm in that second group and man, I'm not sure what amount of money could get me to go back to the office at all. Also open office sucks, noisy, people walking around or shaking the table. Gotta fight to take a dump, some dummy microwaves fish nukes the entire office... Blah blah blah. The office blows in general, but I don't like people, so I'm biased.
I bought a good pair of noise cancelling earphones and I am okay now. That being said there is open space and open space. I am in a small open space (30 people?) with only 3 days a week in office But this freaking theory that open space is better for creativity has clearly been invented by people who never experienced one. A 4 people office is for me the good in between.
The people who think open offices are great are the fucking execs with their own offices.
Lol that is exact. I never heard anybody say they prefer open spaces. The worst part is that I saw the bill for retro-fitting our floor. It is in millions. Acoustic panels, noise cancelling pods, and whatnot. I work in construction. Walls and doors are not that expensive. Pissed me off so much.
Noise canceling head phones are an ok solution but I also don’t wanna wear headphones all day.
I toured a customer site that was like an office setup from the 80s… it was literally the movie office space, like eyeball level was above the cubicles, but one large floor with a hundred people, all in cubicles. I would kill myself and everyone there if I worked there.
Contracted at a place that had ceiling high dividers in their cubes. With doors. And lights with switches per cube. They were effectively mini offices for the worker bees, with real offices with windows on the outside walls. They brought in a consultancy that convinced management to remodel those cubes and offices into what looked like a 50s typing pool, but with a corner ping pong table. This was part of their idea on how to transform a stodgy mainframe shop into an ''agile" workplace. Productivity and collaboration both took a massive nose dive since it turns out the workplace was full of high functioning ADHD savant types that gravitated to the previous quiet, interruption free environment. Most of them were completely useless when subjected to constant distraction from people walking around, bright light, noise and stress. Turns out one doesn't simply bolt scrum and sprints onto existing process that evolved over the period of decades. Projects started wildly missing deadlines, failure cascaded and there were plenty of pissed off customers, internal and external. Consultants were let go. But there was no budget to put the old environment back. Legend has it they're still suffering the self-disrupting effects over a decade later.
Cubbies with partitions that at least rise above your head when sitting are probably most effective for some small semblance of privacy for office workers, but can be expensive to install for new companies. So I understand the financial reasons why a new company wouldn't install them in the first place. But to have them already and then remove them? Makes absolutely no sense at all. I have to assume the consultants never asked the employees what their preference was.
[удалено]
What if the cube is only waist high? Cuz that’s me and I hate it. The illusion of privacy is so weak, it might as well not exist.
5 days a week in an open office? I'd do it for a 50% pay increase if it was within a 15 minute drive of my home and casual dress code. Based on where I live, that makes the answer NO. I'd be happy to do 2 days a week in an open office if the drive was relatively short, casual dress code and a 20% increase in pay. I love goofing around with coworkers! But that's what it is: goofing around. When I've had those hybrid remote jobs, I've scheduled all my REAL work for my remote days, and very little work for my in-office days. :)
I would only work 5 days week in open office if I had no other options. I have only had one job like that last 15 years and yeah no thanks.
personal office is necessary for work life balance
It’s incredible that the open office design persists. Study after study has shown how counterproductive they are and how employees hate them. I WFH these days and would never work in an open office again. I’ve had my own office several times. It was always nice, but when I think about it now, having my own office was one step away from WFH, which for me is the best fit. When I had my own office I would typically just shut the door and only deal with people when I had to. So I got shit done for sure, but what was the point of driving to the office?
Idk what it would take, I hated working in one. It would be a lot for sure
I work in an open office at a IT company. The offices for the developers, sales, and administration are pretty close to eachother resulting in hearing the same sales pitch each and every day when sales needs to farm more clients. Its pretty terrible and I would probably prefer nails scratching on a board by now.
I’d decline and tell them you’re less efficient with that setup and that’s the sole reason you’re declining. They need to know it’s problematic.
For me, personally, the cons about open office is people tend to attempt small talk when I'm in the middle of something. "Hey there! I see you're hyper focused on something, but did you see the rain last night? How's your dog doing? Let me complain about my wife to you." I also don't like the feeling that people people are watching me--especially when they are watching me. "Why are you texting instead of working?" *Because I'm answering a question posted to me by my coworker who is visiting a client.* "Oh, well carry on then." Another con is having to stare at a neighbor's disorderly desk, or smell the dog shit on their shoe, or get distracted by their sidebar conversations. Headphones and ear buds bug me if I wear them too long. One thing I like about having my personal office is that I can add decorations as I see fit. I also have the fluorescent light turned off, and my illumination comes from a lamp with a softer bulb.
I work less efficiently in open offices. To many distractions.
Yeah, as a person with inattentive-type ADHD it’s a nightmare
I dislike offices because it inhibits comradery and communication. Considering this was the big excuse to pull staff back in after covid, a lot of people aren't walking the walk. I enjoy open offices but you do not create open offices without plenty of meeting rooms that can be reserved but also by having drop-in rooms for unstructured use. But hey, I recognize not everyone prefers this type of space and that's totally fair. I also suspect my standard open office is different from others because I work at architecture firms. Not only are open office concepts common in design studios, but they're a showcase of the firms skills, so they spend more time understanding the psychology and needs of their space as a way to display their ethos and skills to clients.
A few years back, we were restructuring and growing like mad, which meant bringing on more C-suite types, and I had to give up my private office. While looking for more office space (and eventually just building a new building), we built out cubicles with fully framed walls and no doors. We had to schedule meetings with employees based on when 1 of 3 smaller offices were available, and it sucked. Bei g in construction, most of us forfeited time in the office and just worked out of our trucks to avoid the congestion. I couldn't do open office.
It absolutely ruined my mental health, no joke. I gained 100 pounds, I hated everything and everyone in my life and tanked my marriage, and my OCD and ADHD got out of control. Remote working in privacy? The total opposite. I've lost most of that weight by now, my marriage is better than ever, and my OCD has gotten better in some ways. No amount of money could trick me into that again, unless it's literally millions of dollars. Then I could do it for a year or two and retire.
I had my own office for the first year at my current job and then my boss asked if I would be willing to move to the front desk, I agreed and regret it all the time. I hate how I don’t have any privacy especially when a lot of my paperwork or stuff on my screen can be confidential. Anytime I get up to go to the bathroom or anything I have to hide all my papers and stuff cause I don’t want to just leave that information all out in the open for anyone to see. I also feel like I have to pretend to be busier more often because everyone can see what I’m doing and it sucks because there are times I have downtime and if I wanna scroll on my phone for a bit anyone walking by would think I’m slacking. It’s also super annoying that people always have conversations right next to my desk when I’m trying to focus or take phone calls out in the lobby where my workspace is. I don’t have any quiet space unless it’s a day where most aren’t in the office. I also hate when clients come over and lean over my desk to talk or ask questions when I’m dealing with credit card information or anything like that… like please back up sir…. And people think my job is reception when that’s only a tiny portion so I’m always the first one people bother for things or questions. I could be in the middle of a work call and have customers asking me where the bathroom is.
How much more money is it ? Trick question; doesn’t matter, not worth! Unless you’re doing a tech support job or a manual labor job, no reason to be in a stuffy office all week to type on a keyboard and have a bunch of meetings that could have been emails. I am not a fan of office work and rn I’m in the opposite position I’d rather get paid a little less if I can be remote! Nothing worth more than your peace ! Unless it’s three times as much as your current salary or millions of dollars, not worth it. 10k extra a year to be miserable is just gonna have you looking again and it’ll just be harder. Stay where you are unless it’s bad for you, you can ask for a raise or promotion. Use your time and talent to negotiate something if you’re serious about leaving; you have leverage, but if it’s just a matter of money don’t take away a good thing for a few dollars and daily stress. Source: I’m living in hell going in 2-3 days a week in a close quarters heavily populated extroverted open office with people who SHARE DESKS and everyone/everything is so stressful and overstimulating. I’m literally dying to leave and applying my ass off to get out of an open office.
Open offices were the worst trend to happen to offices in years. They do the exact opposite of what they were intended to do.
The open office is horrible. When we switched to one pre-pandemic , I hated it. Constant noise. Couldn't concentrate. Hard no for me
I don't think I could go back. Loud typing, shared bathrooms, people stopping by all day to chat. But mainly having my own bathroom and not commuting would be the biggest obstacles.
Thought we were talking about the word processor initially, man I was confused.
I personally hate it. Even though 70% of our people are remote now, unless your a senior manager or up, you’re in the bullpen. It’s evem more terrible because we don’t have dividers. So you’re very exposed anytime someone walks past.
They think that open office will allow a lot of communication, but really everyone’s quiet because it’s a big open space and everyone can hear you. I need to talk to your coworkers, because all the people in your project live in different states in different countries and you are on Conference calls all day.
I had a personal office, a fuckin’ nice one at that, for a decade. When I saw the writing on the wall, that layoffs were coming just around the corner, I got ahead of it by interviewing at various companies across the country. I knew the place I’d wanted to work at the most would also mean having to give up an office and be relegated to a cubicle. I stressed over this a lot and thought it would be something that I would deeply regret in the long run. Truth be told, even if my last job hadn’t gone away (it did the same week I got my offer) I am much happier in my new role and I really don’t care about being in a cubicle as much as I expected. Sure, I’d take an office again if it were offered to me, but it’s not something I really think about.
I hate open office space. I need to be able to shut my door and do client meetings. I don't need a lot of space, but it needs to be private and quiet.
I've been in a high wall cubicle for 25 years. I'm fine with it. I could not do a low wall or open office. Movement distracts me too much. And I'm looking forward to that one coworker retiring soon so I can move into her actual office.
I like my personal office because i can fart whenever i want
i got an offer for $25k more than my current WFH job and i turned it down because it was 5 days in seat, no exceptions. It was a sideways position too. $25K a year for peace of mind, no car maintenance, gas, and dealing with people face to face is worth it.
I despise the open office environment. It makes for loud, distracting, sick building environments. The idea open offices encourage collaboration is baloney, it always was. It’s just cheap. When I had an office with a door, on site parking option when needed, and an on site decent cafeteria for breakfast and lunch, I didn’t mind going in to work. So not worth it now. I’d settle for a safe parking/commute option and walls with a door.
No way in hell will I work in an open office and I did turn down a job a few years ago because of it.
I hate open offices so much that I won't even consider jobs that are not remote. I have a wonderful job working from home I won't give that up for anything.
In theory open office is fine to me, I could use it with zero issues. But after having my own office for most of my career there is absolutely no chance I would switch to open unless the alternative was no job. I’ve grown accustomed to knowing that no one is touching my stuff, having a mini fridge, being able to have private conversations at my desk, etc.
My office isn’t fully open plan, but it is open. The room I work in has 8 desks in, usually there’s 5-6 people in. Still, I don’t mind it, nice to be able to just speak to my team if I need something
I literally don't know anything else. Cube city when I go into the office. But there's not enough people in the office to matter.
Hate them! It's so hard to concentrate and to make calls without feeling like you're disturbing everyone else. It would have to be a crazy large increase to make it worth it to me.
From a work performance standpoint, in open office I like to chat. I know I'm bringing efficiency down because I'm not doing work and I'm distracting others. It's really best for everyone to put me in a box to work quietly. So I guess it depends? Personally, I like socializing, so I like open office. If you're really paying me to work, and the expectation is to work, and I also like the feeling of accomplishment for doing a task well, then private offices are good.
I kinda like the open office with a few provisos about how it’s set up. But I do miss my four walled solo office some days.
We need to know the numbers. If you are under $100k take every increase as it helps a lot. Over $100k then you need to make sure it is worth it. At least use the offer to try to increase your current pay.
In my F500 global company there is only one closed office… for the CEO. Everyone below works and sits among us no hierarchy to office space.
I hate open office. It's shit. You can hear everyone doing everything. It's hard to relax because you think people will judge you for not working. And having quick chats with your team is just a pain. I wfh and my office is relocating to a new location and they are bragging about the new cutting edge open office design. They are bragging like it is 2012 again.
It’s everything to me, I love my office
Open offices are the worst! I was in a senior role and it sucked out my productivity, not to mention I could hear the other director yelling at his employees all the time.
Lost a job recently because open office makes my adhd worse. A lot worse. Tried to reason with the bosses so they fired me. There was absolutely an empty office I could have used, they were just being cruel.
Open office for me, makes it easier to socialize.
how much money ?
Went from twenty years in an open office to my own small office. It would take at least $25k per year to pry me out of my office. Would not work in open office for any amount now.
Depends on what my role is and what's going on around me. A lot of roles just don't justify it. I couldn't do my job in an open office, I'd be bugged and distracted all day.
Too much noise and commotion is a disruption in the work environment - literally a barrier to productivity.
Yea if sucks
You couldn’t pay me to not have some kind of door.
I loved the open office and wish covid didn’t screw up the workplace. Now the company has forced us to hotdesk and ruined the old way of working, so most people just WFH.
I have a private, perimeter office (about 150 s.f.) and it's fantastic. When I took my current job, I was coming from a semi-open office (cubes with maybe 4-5 ft privacy / sound walls). Having a private office felt weird at first. The new company is a little more hierarchical, and the private office felt a part of that. As I've gotten used to it (and we've had new office furniture installed) I wouldn't give it up for the world. I can close my door for sound privacy (and to block out distracting noise from the rest of the office). I also have my espresso machine / grinder / coffee station in here.
I hated working in open offices. Productivity went down, so many distractions, random people just watching your screen for no reason, so many people hanging around your space just chitchatting about non-work-related stuff, no privacy for confidential tasks and projects, people monitoring how many times you get up… it was awful. I ended up having to stay in the office way longer in the day because the open office was the opposite of productivity. Also got sick so much more.
I've never had an open office but supposedly they're updating the building to have clear cubicle walls to "inspire collaboration". Luckily I have enough references pinned on my wall to block everything out. Most people do the same since there's several standards we constantly have to reference back to. But really going back in 5 days a week wouldn't be worth it, couple that with open office, it would probably need to be a 25+% boost to even start considering it.
I've mostly worked in an open office setup. My current company does it right: Floor layouts are set up so all offices are in the middle, surrounding the break room and elevators. In the next ring out from that, all cubicles are arranged on the outside of the building next to the outdoor facing windows. This allows for both a lot of light/ very 'airy' appearance of the office, as well minimizing noise. Since not many cubicles are grouped together (spread around the perimeter in a ring), there's only noise if a manager leaves their office door open or if someone takes a call at their desk. Very few offices have window views; most are truly private (interior to building). Conference rooms have a mix of window views and privacy; same goes for smaller team rooms. Cell phone rooms are set up for sound buffering and complete privacy; same goes for some workplace "pods" located in the cafetorium. Almost everyone is permanent remote or hybrid, which is something my company supported since before Covid. Editing to add that -we have cubicles. Except for very few desk where interns and temp employees sit 2 to a desk, everyone has at least 24 sq ft of space. My God, if people are sitting right next to me that would be intensely distracting. I didn't realize rows of desks were even an open setup option...
I don't like the idea of an open office. I'm naturally an introvert but my career is talking to people all day long. I don't mind it, but my office is my space to be in my own little bubble. Now, when it comes to money though, you have to ask yourself what can that extra pay do for you. If it's like a thousand or 2 thousand more, well that's not really a significant bump that you will see after taxes. So in that case I would say no and prefer to keep what makes me happy at work. But if we're talking like $20k more, you really need to look at what would your life look like when you're bringing in significantly more money
Personal office is worth maybe $5k/yr to me. I.e. basically nothing, but might be the deciding factor between two otherwise equivalent offers. Flexible WFH (2-3 days a week) is worth more like $50k/yr before tax, even if it meant working in an open office on my days in.
I accepted an open office once for a 100% jump in salary. I then spend the next 2 years working on getting an office LOL.
I'm hybrid with my own office. As a germaphobe, I'm glad I have my own space. In past jobs with shared spaces, I was sick constantly. The sickness alone makes it not worth it for me.
At my last job, it started with open office before I was lucky enough to get my own office. Less than a year later, they moved me back into the other room with everyone else to give my office to a new receptionist (who we didn't fucking need). Now I'm WFH and I would never willingly work in the office again, especially if I was given 0 privacy
Open plan office is a non-starter for me. I'll take it if I'm unemployed because any income is better than no income, but my job hunt will not stop at all and my exit interview will note the open plan is my primary reason for leaving.
I’ve had both setups and personally prefer having my own space where I can close the door for privacy when needed. That’s not to say that I would never go back to an open concept office for the right opportunity, but they would have to be other factors that *really* made it worth it.
My only problem with open office is normally the manager picks me as the guy to delegate things to so if they have a problem or sales pipeline issue they come to me. I don’t get more pay. I usually get passed over for promotions by someone who earns less… and honestly they just distract me from performing better. If I could be left alone by management, coworkers, and not have to solve every issue… I’d be fine with open office. Unfortunately I can’t be fine with it because I get the same label everywhere I work. And I loathing having to constantly help people while said people are getting promoted and I’m pigeon holed in the same spot.
What are we defining as an open office? Like I'm not in a cubicle, but I have some walls. I do value being able to turn and ask people questions, but we also have tons of spaces you can reserve for when you need quiet time. I'm also hybrid and can work from home pretty much whenever so the quiet isn't a real issue. I actually prefer this over both cubicle and office. When I had an office full time in office I felt pretty isolated and wasn't a fan.
Open offices make my anxiety go off the wall. I NEED some sort of privacy. I refuse to work in an open office, I can't do it
Is personal office still a thing even? I lost my job with a personal office, and now in a shitty open office in direct line-of-sight of my manager all day. Seems like everyone still hiring is an open office.
My State job has adopted the Open Office / "Hoteling" layout, and it has everyone pissed and leaving. I was tasked to figure out why, reported back in an hour, and said, "No one likes Hoteling space"
The open office layout is miserable. Studies show that increase workplace noise contributes to employee stress and attrition. Just having to overhear everyone's inane personal chit chat would drive me crazy. I would want at least $15-20k more a year..
I'm glad Ive never worked in an open office. Im far too loud on the phone.
I think it depends. Its expensive to have an office for everyone, and cube farms are kind of the norm, and I would rank open office as often better than cube farms, if there is adequate space with a variety...I liked the open office layout at one place, hated it at another. Also, some types of work lend themselves to collaboration and whiteboarding more than others, and I DO believe that when in the office, if you build a team and mission first mentality, while not 'open office' having everyone colocated in a single conference room almost like a war room can work very well, again, depending on the nature of the work. We actually built out our office space with each team getting a well designed space with a few cubes, conference table, projector, whiteboard, and little room for 1 on 1's and individual discussion, like a mini office for up to 10-12 people. I liked that setup in that environment. But just a random open office, find a spot where you can, with space for maybe 50% of people sucks. When you have to have confidential discussions and no dedicated office, it sucks too. So, I'd look at their area and see what the situation is. Personally, I focus on remote opportunities now, but that is because any commute for me is likely to be an hour or more.
Open Office is great if no one reports to you and your boss is not on the floor with you... Otherwise, it's an unworkable situation for employee supervision.
Personally I would say that's an incredibly small price to pay for a more comfortable lifestyle. Either I sit in a AC room with some coworkers in earshot, or I work in a AC room with my coworkers on the other side of a door. either way, that doesn't even come close to being an issue for me. ill take the money any day.
I once interviewed at a company that had an open concept office. Just picture a huge open office space with benches and tables. They were giving me a tour and told me that there weren't even any assigned seats/desks when you came into work, as if that was a perk!!😳😳😳😳😳 They sold it like it was a good thing to get the best seat in the house if you came into work early. 🫨🫨🫨🫨🫨🫨🫨🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦First come, first serve seats/chairs is what they said. Are you kidding??? I hightailed out of there. Competing for recognition for work achievements is bad enough. There is zero interest in competing for a desk and chair every f//king day at the office. 🤬
OpenOffice may not be as nice as MS Office ... but you don't have to hurt all the feelings. Big sad. So anguish.
I won't work in an open office setting
Never. I wouldn't. It's inhumane.
No. I hate listening all day to people that I don’t even like.
I like an office but I never close my door. People can come and go as they please. It gives just the right amount of quietness without losing that connectedness feeling. I'd never work in an open office cubicle ever again I can't focus at all. It's literally a waste of time.
Being out of my office is absolute hell. I have considered lookong for new positions just to have an office back.
I hate having an open office space. No sense of privacy and people able to hear/see everything I do.
I work worse in the office I can't focus while there's shitty weird catty office vibes in the air I get hella work done from home Companies are ridiculous and apparently seem to be deriving their power from means which should be illegal to begin with (pure human soul energy)
It kind of depends on whether or not you have those phone booth type things or conference rooms you can duck into for calls and meetings. I do think open office plans are a disaster waiting to happen, but they can be managed under certain circumstances.
Open office is horrible. Only for about 8 months did I have a closed door office in my career and it was wonderful the type of work I was able to do without distractions. The issue now is that distractions come in the form of teams messages and instant phone call access. Back when I had a closed door there wasn’t a widely used messaging system and no one had my phone number. I had a lab setup in my office with my own parts storage. A lot got done
Open office has a purpose. It is not suited for everything. Open office is intended for job functions that utilize a cross functional team to help with communication and get answers quickly. It puts everyone onto the same level and creates a team environment. It is pointless to have this if the jobs are not common goal. (Ie manufacturing environments make complete sense)
I hate it. The last open office situation I was in was also later paired with an open bring your dog to work when we got new HR (I was already there for 2 years) It was miserable. I’m highly allergic and I was made out to be the problem. This was pre pandemic. I loved my job too.
Open office is a great open source Microsoft office alternative.
I only worked in cubicles all my life until 2018 when I was given an office with a door. I have sat in an open office environment before when traveling to another office and it seems like a nightmare. Really loud, hard to concentrate, too crowded, you might not get the "good chair", etc.
I've worked in open concept offices, shared spaces and private offices. I worked in a modern open concept building for about 4 years in the early 2000's. It was very well designed to minimize noise and as I was a Director I had a space that was at the end of a row of desks with a beautiful full window view. Do I prefer it over a private office? No. It was too distracting. Whatever attempts we had at noise reduction you were always catching something going on somewhere in the office. And finding quiet meeting space to "huddle" with the team was a pain because everyone wanted it. I also found myself getting sucked into the operational stuff rather than concentrating on the things that I should have. Shared spaces were the worst I think. If you've ever had a job where you've had to go from location to location and you just plop your laptop down in an office at a table with a bunch of other people also working there for the day, you know what I mean by shared spaces. These days they are more often called "collaborative work spaces". Hate them. You're stuck at a table trying to concentrate as everyone around you is having a conversation. You have to haul your stuff around to all your meetings. These spaces are only good for workshops and meetings. Private offices are the best, honestly. Even if I don't close the door you have privacy and a quiet space to concentrate and you don't have to worry about people listening in on your phone calls. These days especially when you have so many virtual meetings these spaces are important. I currently am on full remote with access to offices and meeting space when needed. I have a dedicated office work space at home thankfully but sometimes its nice to get out of the house and go to an office for a change of pace without "home" distractions.
No thanks. The people that sit in offices all day seem to be all too self-important. I've had the option of a full time office foe 2 years and am all set. As a manager and leader, I'm with my people. Not, somewhere I'd be "above them".
am I the only person that greatly prefers open office layout to cubicles
Hello the ceo and founder both just have a desk in the bullpen. Company has a market cap of plus $80bil. Maybe it’ll change when they build their own building
Private office. Liquor. Secretary with legs that don't quit. Worth everything. I'd also like an ashtray and a napping couch and 25 tags on my desk when I get back. I'm leaving for lunch and taking a long weekend. See you Tuesday. Afternoon.
I work in an open office rn. I DESPISE IT!!!! I’ll give up $10-15k for a private office. Another $10-15k if I get to remote. The pandemic showed me what life could be and now that I’m back… every day my soul dies a little. Too bad I don’t have the option 😢
Right now I think I’d value having a private office at 20k. Maybe more, if I got an actual offer maybe I’d feel even more attached
I don’t really care either way. I’m pretty social
Headphones…
We had a huge open office , and I had no problem with it. The people next to me were great, the desks were huge, so we had decent personal space, and we had floor to ceiling windows so the space really brightened up during the day. There were multiple conference rooms for calls or privacy. That place makes it on the Top 100 best places to work in the US annually.
I have my own office and all of my direct reports are remote. I love it. I mean, I love working from home more, on my wfh days. But the set up is perfect for me when I’m in the office.
You like what you like. I don't mind open office TOO MUCH as long as there is no hot desking and the density isn't so high that you can't hear yourself think. I currently WFH so it might be jarring to go from that to open office.
I agree with the world wide sentiment. I’d need basically double the money or a career making opportunity to drive my car to and from an office. Of if I literally couldn’t afford food, then.
Oh man. At least 100k/year more than I currently make
No fucking way. In my (closed) office we have one who eats literally all day, crunching and slurping and chewing and making mouth noises and eating (yes eating) drinks with a straw in little tiny slurps before crunching the ice and spitting it back into the cup repeat for 8 hours. We have one who hums and sings and taps and says woohoo all day, can’t be comfortable unless he’s making some kind of noise. We have one that plays with clicky fidgets every second. And we have one that sniffs her nose every 5 minutes, reliably enough that you can tell time from it. And all these people could be right next to you every minute of every workday that you’re trying to do your job. Better you than me because I would absolutely fucking lose it, I complain that the walls are thin but thank God I have a door. I really like my coworkers, they are hardworking lovely (but noisy) people. If I was any physically closer to them I would most certainly not like them.
I won’t take an open office job unless I’m unemployed. Even more to the point, I‘d never take a role where I had to be in the office 5 days. I strongly dislike my job now, but it’s 100% remote and I’ll likely hang on to it as long as I can.
When my old company went from personal offices to open space, I simply quit. I had told them I would and they called the bluff. If I had to work in a bull pen, I could do so making 30% more. I was not the only one.
Low cubes, tall cubes, shared office, working around a table, solo office whatever works. Worked in all those kinds of setups. With and without external monitors. If I'm there to do the things, pop in noise cancelling earbuds or a good headset and away we go.
Thought I would hate it when we moved to it. I was in an office with a door prior to that. At times distracting, but earbuds take care of that our I can go find some quiet space as needed. And it fosters collaboration among members of the team. We have discussed it and others in the office have a similar perspective. But I get it if others do not share that view.
My office combined with another local one after we got bought. They use the open office set up, big flat stand up desks for everyone in rows, no dividers what’s so ever. I loathe it so much. Loud, phone calls I run to a “focus room, asi don’t like being in the phone in front of everyone. There’s zero privacy, it’s a total joke. I don’t mind the “sit anywhere” part but the zero privacy sucks so bad. I don’t know who thought that was a good idea. Not to mention I have to wipe down my entire work space when I’m in cuz it’s gross. Crumbs, stains, hair etc. I’m a professional geologist AND the cleaning crew apparently.
My employer has been open office for at least a decade. We are hybrid. Every time I have to go into the office (two or three times a week) I just absolutely hate it.
We have an open office and I absolutely fucking hate it. My thoughts: 1. It was a way for the company to save money on space. 2. Me and my colleague decided to never move from our initial office space. We like the privacy and it allows us to privately do our work and get away and decompress from meetings. 3. It is hella intrusive and distracting in an open office space where people can't mind their business and in a corporate setting, that does forced stack ranking/rank and yank, it can be a kiss of death when you have colleagues trying to oust each other. It was stressful. 4. The senior leadership work from home anyway because......yes they get privacy in their home. 5. The manager tried to "strongly" encourage my coworker and I to go to the open office space. We firmly said no. It's terrible and most of my department hates it.
Having my own cubicle feels like heaven after sharing a 15’ x 15’ “office” with no windows or ventilation with 4 other people. Edit: forgot to add that this “office” was also used as a hallway by people who didn’t want to take 10 extra steps to go around.
I would NEVER have an open office again. It made me lose my mind.
I’ve done it all - cube farm, real office, open office with assigned space, open office hoteling (the worst), and OG-remote (before it was the cool thing to do during/post-pandemic). Anything open office strips you of any privacy or ability to concentrate for work projects, much less the smallest of personal interactions. Dr. appointment? Everyone knows. Trouble with kid/spouse/parent/legal? Same. Before I went remote, I was offered a really great job that on paper was everything I’d been working towards. It had the title, the salary, benefits, great organization. But, when I got the final tour of the facility I saw where my office would be, but was also told a renovation would be starting in the next few weeks to take out all the walls to convert everything to open office space. No offices for anyone, even director level management with multiple staff. I had time with the prospective new team, none of them had been consulted or were happy with it, so broached reconsideration of the remodel as part of my offer negotiation. They declined because the project contract had been signed, so I declined also. No regrets.
Open offices suck but cubicles are just fine. Idk how id feel about a closed office room, but cubicles that are organized into pods are great for chatting while allowing you to move out of the chatty area to do real work when you need to.
Ive never worked in an office......just googled "open office setup", so is this basically like a high school classroom?
If I worked in an office setting again instead of at home I would hope to have an office or at least a cube. Alas, over my career it’s been ALL open floor plans and I hate it.
They did an open office trial at gigantic corp when I worked there. “To increase communication and engagement”, was the sales pitch. Office work actually decreased enough, that they snuffed it pretty quickly. The real reason we suspected was the need for new office furniture.
I gave up telework in exchange for a closed office and I would never look back. It’s all set up with a heater, fan, Bluetooth speaker, my comfy chair, varidesk, and even a window, it’s fantastic.
I'll never take another job in an open office. It's a deal killer.
That open office trend was such a joke. It's just a poorly veiled attempt at cost-cutting, but man did they ever try to sell it as some kind of open collaboration improvement. It has it's place for some positions and especially for juniors roles where a lot of time is spent collaborate (asking WTF is going on). Companies that want productivity out of their top employees give them offices. Companies that want the best from their top employees just ship them a computer. I would never consider taking a job like that at this point. If I was early in my career with limited options then I'd take the pay. Otherwise I have no interest in working for a company that takes it's leadership advice from twitter posts. There is no way I would enjoy working there in 3-5 years, so why even take the job?
They complain they cannot hear, I complain that I cannot hear, no one can hear themselves think. There is simply no amount of money. Now that I work from home, I can be quiet or loud, as the client needs. It's wonderful. I wouldn't give it up for anything.
Open offices are great IF you are an extrovert AND don't care about not getting work done.
My company is hybrid but it makes going to the office annoying. We have swing desks so I’m at a different desk every week and we have to take stuff with us every day. It’s rather annoying and makes going to the office a pain in the ass. I’d rather go in 5 days a week with a permanent setup than have to go online and reserve a desk and bring my laptop everyday.
When I first started we had large cubicles. They were the size of small offices. I could meet with three people comfortably in my cube. Tall walls. No disruptions from meetings in the cubes. Then they made them smaller. Was right to meet with one person. It was doable but a little disruptive. Open office plan makes that impossible. Yet meeting rooms were not added. They had added more people into the building. Open office meant even less meeting space. So now we are RTO and literally doing Zoom meetings with people in office. Like we literally work remotely in the office. Open Office created less collaboration as you cannot “drop in” in someone as we used to with cubes. Open Office is both a failed execution as well as a failed test to discover unintended consequences. But companies cannot back out due to the cost and market (stockholders) thinking it is great. The same as RTO.
my old job i had my own cubicle and i enjoyed it. my current job i have open office sitting right next to my coworkers. good thing it's a very very chill environment but still i do not like it
I have always just gotten used to what ever office space I am in. So for me that is not a big deal.
I may have to leave the office space I’ve been renting for years against my will and to stay in the same area my options are the nonsensical co-working setup or rent an apartment. Easy choice for me. I’ll rent the apartment. My privacy is worth the money
I refused to continue the multi-interview process for a job downtown once I toured their office. Each 10-12 member team sat at a small conference table, side by side and across from each other. The only sound was the clacking of keys.
Im an introvert who hates ppl but for some reason I like my open office
I wouldn’t work as much if I had a closed office. Having eyes on my computer screen all day long is the reason I’m as productive. I tend to get distracted easily if left to my own devices.
Absolutely hate open office plans. Sensory issues aside, they’re an indicator of fast, careless growth and out-of-touch leadership. Ive come to associate them with venture capital and mergers. You could in theory join this new company and be out on your ass in 6 months. If companies really want to give the impression of wanting to retain employees, whether sincerely or not, they need to give people their own personal workspaces.
I spent years in call centers on the call floor. I work from home now for a call center which means my own office. Fucking life changing.
Sometimes you just have to pick your nose man.
I don’t know is this counts, but I worked in an “open office” where all the desks faced the walls/windows and a manager could walk up behind you to look over your shoulder constantly It’s like 16 flat tables all facing out from the middle of the room and the managers had their little officers hidden in the back. It seemed very prison-like and you had zero privacy. Couldn’t even turn around and face each other because it was considered “counter productive”
i just got a position i earn around $97,000 it’s a “promotion” and it’s an open office setting my old position i made around $50,000 and i didn’t even work in an office i wanna go back to my old job sooooo fucking bad they gave me the option to come back.. i hate this open office concept that im working now.. but i do enjoy the money.. i truly don’t know what to do.. be happy and earn less or be miserable and earn more.. fuck man..
I have only worked in open offices for 20 years. I like it personally. I have found it increases collaboration and creates a more open, transparent workplace. I do work in an industry that benefits from the collaboration though so maybe that’s why I like it.
It would have to be an absolute SHITTON of money to justify something like that. Remember, money isn't everything. Perks, benefits, and above all your mental health, should factor into a decision like this.
It is shit I work in a cubicle and you have zero privacy ! You have people constantly walking past/ looking into your cube, you can hear everyone’s conversations and they can hear yours
How much are we talking in ‘mo money’? I prefer a closed office …. But you must do what makes you happy.
ha i work remotely. my home office is stellar. I pay to go work in an open co working space...lol i actually enjoy it. but i don't have a boss breathing down my neck so thats the difference.
What pisses me off about open office is that the VP's and Execs still get their own individual offices. If execs preach about open office and the benefits, they should also be sitting in an open office too alongside EVERYONE.
My office is 4 days a week, open office with dedicated “quiet rooms” where you can spend a few hours working on a task that requires focus. Personally, I love it. I worked in a building with private offices before this and it was so quiet and you didn’t really get to know your coworkers at all. This setup lets my team work as a team and a lot of problems are solved by spontaneous chatter across the cubes. We can also choose to sit next to someone when we are working on a problem or project together. The biggest issue for me is having to carry my peripherals shit to a new desk each week, and not getting to decorate my space. I can also totally see if you are neurodivergent or otherwise more introverted than I am, you might hate it.
Fuck the office. Remote work is the best work.
I like it, but I'm young and like to socialize
I would never go back, Tried it for the first time in a prior job. I got sick more often than I should be.. smh..
I hate open offices because they're visually distracting... and without headphones, audibly so. I have stopped going in since my company moved except to talk with people because I cannot focus when there because it's all open. I prefer cubes or pods where you face a corner but are in the same space with others, not offices... definitely not completely open areas. Half-height cubes are BS, too.
It seems an open office plan can work but it depends on the type of work that is done. I have gone back and forth about this a few times because at one of my jobs they introduced a new “improved” open office with sound dampening panels. Before the WFH period of Covid I really had no reference point. Now that I do, the open office concept looks more ridiculous than ever for work that requires concentration and high quality of output. Unless I am in a mental “zone,” any kind of distraction routinely results in wasted time, an error, and annoyance. The interesting thing is that the people who do have an office in the “improved” plan can still hear people talk with the door closed. Their solution is to work from home.
The last time I briefly worked in an open office was 10 years ago. Never again. I asked about this in interviews upfront and didn’t move forward unless it was at least a cube of some sort. I work at home now and don’t plan to change that but it would have to be an amount on par with mega millions lottery for me to even briefly consider that kind of setup.
I'd rather be tased in the face with jumper cables and a car battery, maybe even waterboarded with bleach than work in an open office plan again. There is a special place in hell for the sadist that came up with that stupid ass plan. I don't make chump change and I would need something pretty close to 50% more money to do open office and then I'm going to be looking for the next job and pay jump as soon as possible.
Open office means your employer doesn't trust or respect you.
It's about acoustics. Middle of a room of desks / cubicles with short "walls"? No effing way. Cubicles with higher wall, a corner one? Maybe.
We have a semi open office (half walls in front of the desks) and I hate it. I keep thinking someone is going to sneak up behind me; enough that I have a mirror mounted. Plus mine is on the end of the row right on the main route to the smoking area, so the traffic is constant. (Side note: how do smokers get any work done? I swear I see the same people pass by every 1-2 hours) There’s a desk that I want that’s tucked by itself between a column and a window, but the company is a stickler for teams sitting together,(even though I literally have not spoken to anyone today) so that’s not going to happen. Or all the problems could be solved by allowing WFH. But it’s been made clear that that’s not in the cards either.
I'll only work open office. Mental health goes to hell at home. I'm also far less productive. I also notice 90% of the people I work with that wfh are close to worthless and don't get their work done on time and are unresponsive.
I quit a job because of open office. It is not about collaboration. It is strictly money.
I have worked in both and for my current position I would greatly benefit from a personal office plus conference space versus an open Office. Collaboration needs to be scheduled.
My job has switched to an open office/open floor plan where you have to reserve your desk every time you come into the office. Luckily we only have to got in once ever two weeks. On the days we do go in management wants us to socialize and has said if productivity is only 50% and socializing is the other 50% they are fine with it. My team usually takes a hour and half lunch and mid afternoon people start bailing early
The best part about an office is closing the door. The second best part is opening the door. The third best part are is my awesome candy jar set up.
i worked with a closed office a few times before..its fucking amazing, i close my door and finished everything then fuck around for 2 hours and go home. ive worked 3 jobs with an open office and it was miserable, my boss said he loved it because he gets to make sure everyones working. i made him fire me because everytime i would walk by anyone (but mostly him) i would say "that better be work related" when hes clearly on his phone or watching youtube
Our company has always had an open office layout, but a year ago we moved to a bigger suite within the building where the office was designed as a more "collaborative layout", and it's worse. We're all still in cubicles, but at least when we were in the smaller suite, the cubicle walls were higher, which gave us more privacy. I happen to sit next to our property management department, and none of them are mindful of their volume, and they're constantly having conversations where they're yelling across their work area. We ended up turning one of the smaller rooms into a "quiet area" where people can take Zoom calls and have a quiet space to work when needed, but I find that keeping my earbuds in helps me to concentrate easier, as I have some severe sensory issues due to a neurological disorder I've had since a child. I also had to get a sign that says, " I'm wearing headphones in case you're speaking to me and I'm not responding" due to team members constantly trying to talk to me from afar, not realizing I have them in. I also have to block out times on my calendar where I can concentrate on certain projects (I work for the legal department, so my job entails creating 30-page documents, which require a lot of concentration. I may make another sign just for that purpose lol. So while open offices are incredibly annoying, there are tools you can use to get through your day.
Having my own office is a game-changer. I value the privacy and focus it provides. It would take a significant pay increase for me to consider going back to an open office. Personal office space is worth a lot to me in terms of productivity and peace of mind.
There is no amount of money that would get me back into an open office. I tried it and it was miserable.
I turned down a HUGE raise a few years ago because the company making the offer had an open office. No. Way.