Open plan offices for academics

[Poofus]

My whole department is being threatened with being moved into a massive open plan office, with 65 people, with desks in "cubicles" (not fully walled off from the open space). I think it sounds horrendous and am panicking, but I'd love to hear of others' experiences. Does anyone work in this kind of layout? Any tips or thoughts on how to cope with this?

[HPsauciness]

I could do office tasks and admin and see the odd student in a shared space, but absolutely not do thinking and writing with 64 people around me. I just couldn't, I need peace and quiet and take quite a long time to put pen to paper. It's not a hot-desking type of an activity!

That's not to say I have never written in a crazy environment, I wrote most of a book around small kids and used to go to the local playcentre and type among the screeching. But only for an hour or two at a time and only in utter desperation.

I found a shared office with two other people fine, because we used to chat for a couple of minutes, then crack on and work. But we didn't have students then.

I cannot imagine trying to write 'world-class research' above the noise of people counselling students or getting up and down holding meetings.

I agree with whoever said what they really mean is work doing research and writing from home in your own time (evenings and weekends) and is just a space saving money oriented exercise in which you have to work harder just to keep up what you were achieving beforehand.

As for collaboration with other academics, I find that takes a couple of hours once a week (or less) to plan what you are doing, not all day every day with students wandering about.

Horrific, hope my place doesn't hear about this!

[Chrysanthemum5]

I work in an RG university and half of my week I'm seconded to another area to work on a specific research area. That area has open plan offices and I hate it. In general it's incredibly quiet but then someone will drop something, or have a phone call and it's like someone standing there shouting! The contrast between the silence and the random noise is so disturbing.

Fortunately on my secondment time I don't have to see students, but I just don't see how it would work in open plan offices. I've had students turn up in tears, or want to discuss confidential things - and meeting rooms aren't generally available.

[Anononooo]

This is my worst nightmare. No way. I spend all day in my office with the thousands of books I cannot store at home writing, reading, doing research, preparing lectures,..I need my own space, my own music or silence...I would leave the profession If I were forced into a shared office. Much of my day is also spent on supervisions with students....I would not book random rooms for that. No. End of times. Plus...how could I face book and ebay in between too!

[Princessdeb]

Dear OP,
I couldn't tolerate that. I work for a RG university in an academic but non-research role. I share an office with 7others doing similar roles and that actually works well for us as it allows for discussion and challenge. There is a general understanding however that if you have your headphones on you are "unavailable". Importantly however I have my own desk, with my own books and it feels like I belong. If it was suggested that I share a room with 65 others and don't even have my own desk I would be leaving. The message sent about how the organisation values its staff when it makes decisions like that does not require a PhD in qualitative research to understand!

[WalterFlipstick]

I read a report, which I now can't find, about a department (I think at Loughborough?) that moved to a building with lots of shared working space but also small individual offices for academics. It was the best of both worlds apparently, more collaboration but crucially private space available. Saved space overall and satisfied senior management's need to meddle .

I've worked in all types: open-plan hot-desking, shared small-group offices, and now blissfully my own individual office. Open-plan is just about bearable, but hot-desking is terrible and not really compatible with serious academic research.

[Impostersyndrome]

I'm afraid I'd hate it. I sat in open-plan for a while and only survived due to having headphones on all the time (obviating the so-called collaboration that open-plan is supposed to engender). Being able to work from home helped, but I resented paying heat, light and shelf space so the bean counters could save pennies on walls and ceilings (and by the way cubicles are the worst - giving semblance of privacy without any soundproofing or security of your stuff).

There's a piece on it in the Guardian today. Plenty of research against it, and lots on how it's worse if the open-plan is also a corridor:

www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2015/oct/16/the-open-plan-university-noisy-nightmare-or-buzzing-ideas-hub

[MedSchoolRat]

I'm seriously worried about security when I read this. One of my past depts. we had a long huge spate of thefts and that was when each academic had own office (just didn't always keep them locked).

Our open plan offices are (mostly) not huge & definitely not public access. They work fine for me b/c, the atmosphere tends to resemble a morgue. I don't get the headphones strategy. I can't work with music on & the headphones don't really block out noise completely otherwise.

Although open-plan, we don't have to constantly keep eyes on valuables because we're behind a secure door. So yes students mostly have to make appointments but there are meeting rooms around the building and many of the Profs make their private offices avail as mtg rooms when not otherwise in.

Also I have confidential research data, it's supposed to be kept in a locked file cabinet in a lockable room with restricted key access.

[Impostersyndrome]

MedSchoolRat I have just the same sort of commitments to keeping data secure. These are exactly the sort of issues that flipping facilities staff seem to overlook in their zeal to save space by removing all our walls.

[toddlerwrangling]

I cannot see how one could properly supervise either undergraduates, say in 1-1 or 1-3 size groups, or, especially, graduate students, in an open plan office. A PhD supervision is not just feedback on writing; it might involve all sorts of discussion about professional aims, the student's personal life or difficulties, career and professional advice, all sorts of things that a student or supervisor might not want colleagues earwigging on. And bookable supervisions rooms are no use: how do you consult your library, access research materials online to show students, print material, all sorts of things you might need to do in a teaching session or graduate supervision? Not to mention sensitive discussions with colleagues about student matters, all sorts of stuff. No no no, an institution which thinks you can do serious teaching or research whilst hotdesking is under some crazy management delusions.

[jclm]

My most productive sessions are when I am locked away, working quietly in my office. I can't imagine having to analyse and write complex stuff when sharing a room with several other staff

[NeverEverAnythingEver]

There is only one way out of this - get the students to complain. Being "customers" senior management would listen to them. If they are anything like our senior management. Their consultation style is to ask us if we like X and "our opinion is valuable to them". And if we tell them X is a terrible idea, with supporting reasons, they would still go ahead with it... But student complaints is another matter ...

[Bored12345]

I like my job but if (when, more likely) my uni changes to this is when I will start looking for new job. For me the whole point of my academic job rather than a better paid training or research role elsewhere is own office and long holidays.

[NeverEverAnythingEver]

Long holidays?

[StealthPolarBear]

Seriously, plenty of people manage to work with highly sensitive data in open plan offices. It can work.

[JeffreysMummyIsCross]

Also boggling at "long holidays". I took two weeks leave this year, as did most of my colleagues.

[Bored12345]

I get long holidays... Even with marking and planning and research

[Grazia1984]

I don't agree it ever makes thinkig work better. It's been horrendous in law firms that have done it for example and in house legal departments where my daughter works. You cannot think because of noise. The only thing it improves on is saving money.

[NeverEverAnythingEver]

It seems that all kinds of research says it's a bad idea, but it saves money ...

We don't get any much time where we can take a stretch of time off, not even during the summer. :( But mostly you could take the odd days off.

[MultiShirking]

I had 10 days holiday (counting weekends, so I s'pose actually only about 6 actual holiday days) this summer, and took work with me ...

[Toraleistripe]

We are open plan. It's fine. We have our own locked cabinet for storage though. We book interview rooms to see students and there are usually extra rooms around if we need them.