Why open plan offices suck

[barrydidit]

I worked in a place in Bristol where they played GWR 96.3FM in the office; and in the corridors; and in the lifts; and even in the bogs

Then again, it was the studios. At least they put Planet Rock on in our office on Fridays

Previous client had this. Plus, TV's on the walls. The nearest one to me was in the breakout area and was set on ITV or C5 or one of those channels and the sound of Jeremy Kyle competing with the radio just boiled my piss. Fortunately, as an early bird, I was in position to turn the damn thing off and hide the remote.

I don't think i've ever worked anywhere that wasn't open plan though. At the very least 50 people in proximity so unless there is a radio/tv to cause especial annoyance then i'm probably just used to it.

[d000hg]

Little distractions are one thing. A constant barrage of high level noise is quite different and many open plan offices are badly laid out so that you have a very noisy department next to one that needs to concentrate.

It's preety much a science fact that noise means distraction means lower performance on intellectually demanding tasks.

It's science fact that if you look at a large number of people you find productivity drops. But in that large sample size, the majority are probably also distracted talking about what happened in Eastenders last night or what Kim Kardashian has done now. I find external stuff tends to get filtered out when concentrating on something hard and have observed the same in others.

Good post. And quite right. I'm surprised you fed the crap troll though.

All my permie jobs were in open plan offices and it never really bothered me. Maybe I have better ability to focus. Or maybe you just suck.

[Dallas]

My last few places were like battery farms. I was in early enough to sabotage the desks either side of me sufficient to deter folks

[mudskipper]

Drives me fecking mental. Gonna go postal one of these days...

[VectraMan]

One poor guy would always end up with a desk with his back to the swing doors from reception, so not only did he hear everyone stomp through the doors and get a draught of air, everyone got to nose at what he was doing when passing through

That's worse. I can't stand people walking behind me, that does stop me getting stuff done. Fortunately at PermieCo I've got a corner suite.

[hyperD]

That's worse. I can't stand people walking behind me, that does stop me getting stuff done. Fortunately at PermieCo I've got a corner suite.

That reminds me of a past clientco with a twat of a team lead who told me to send an email to someone and then preceded to sit behind me and read out loud as I was typing. It took all of my midi-chlorians to stop me from pummeling his scrawny, twisted, lizard face to a reddy, pulpy mess as though it was some abominable, irritating piñata.

[Halo Jones]

You should try working in an open plan glorified tin can, stacked on 2 other tin cans in a wind tunnel next to a construction site

[MaryPoppins]

That reminds me of a past clientco with a twat of a team lead who told me to send an email to someone and then preceded to sit behind me and read out loud as I was typing. It took all of my midi-chlorians to stop me from pummeling his scrawny, twisted, lizard face to a reddy, pulpy mess as though it was some abominable, irritating piñata.

Just worked with someone who did that. Major twathead. She also constantly asked me to 'double check' her incoherent emails before sending, to 'make sure they made sense'.

[doodab]

It's science fact that if you look at a large number of people you find productivity drops. But in that large sample size, the majority are probably also distracted talking about what happened in Eastenders last night or what Kim Kardashian has done now. I find external stuff tends to get filtered out when concentrating on something hard and have observed the same in others.

All my permie jobs were in open plan offices and it never really bothered me. Maybe I have better ability to focus. Or maybe you just suck.

If I can get paid what I get paid for working at home when I feel like it, I must suck, **** and clean up afterwards. Or maybe I just do more cognitively demanding stuff than you. Or maybe you've never actually been in a position to focus properly so you can't appreciate the difference. Either way you are getting into being a tit territory now.

How does background noise affect our concentration? - Scientific American

2nd question down

BACKGROUND OR LOW-LEVEL noise in the home, work or school often disrupts people’s concentration. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, ambient noise also affects people’s health by increasing general stress levels and aggravating stress-related conditions such as high blood pressure, coronary disease, peptic ulcers and migraine headaches. Continued exposure does not lead to habituation; in fact, the effects worsen.

I've been in good and bad open plan offices. The good ones (which includes the biggest, openest one oddly enough) were perfectly workable, but in the bad ones (which are the majority) it was next to impossible to work on seriously complex tasks during mainstream office hours. Those tend to be the ones where the majority are distracted by last nights TV, or phone calls or whatever because they can't concentrate on their ******* work. I've also been in bad "normal" offices, i.e. with no aircon in 38 degree heat in the south of France, or with a stack of rack servers going full pelt at 80+dBA in the corner.

[minestrone]

It is not open plan offices that are the problem, it is the insufferable cock jockeys that fill them.