To find open plan offices too noisy

[Believeitornot]

I’ve recently changed jobs and it has struck me just how noisy open plan offices are.

Maybe I’m just not used to the noise levels as it’s new and I’m sat near a customer services team but I’m finding it incredibly difficult to concentrate and block out noises! I don’t remember this being an issue in my last open plan job.

Does anyone else have this problem? Wondering if I need to flag to my manager as I can’t be the only one. I feel like it’s making me very inefficient.

Ear defenders are your friend unless it's affecting you to a much greater extent than your colleagues.

A diagnosed medical condition with supporting letter from your Consultant handed to your Manager should be enough to have reasonable adjustments made.

But don't you dare wear earphones

Ours definitely is. We have the radio on all day and we are semi customer facing and so have people in and out for much of the day.

I love it and struggle to work somewhere if it's very quiet

“and it has struck me just how noisy open plan offices are.”

No, it has just struck you how noisy your open plan office is. I work in an open plan office and it is only noisy when the team next to us are having a bit of a laugh. We are just too busy for banter most of the time. Most communication is by email and not by telephone, so it is usually pretty quiet. Why don’t you stick some earphones in and listen to music on your phone?

I complained about it being too loud to concentrate on MN ten minutes ago so no, you're NBU

YANBU. At my previous job we were 30 people in the same office and some of the others would gossip for hours every day. Literally hours. And then come over to my desk and say: "I am soooo busy, so you need to do this, this and this task". The managers didn't mind them doing so much small talk apparently, but I found it to be extremely unprofessional as they were both wasting company time and making it more difficult for the rest of us to hear the customers over the phone.

There is a lot of research to show open plan offices are bad for productivity. However, they are a lot more cost effective for companies (I recently lead the switch over to open plan layout in our lab, it's a step backwards in so many ways, but we have no option with respect to cost/space).

There should be some "norms" with respect to behaviour in on open plan office. You should certainly flag it and discuss with your manager, nothing to lose!

YANBU open plan offices are pish. Not inherently, but because there is always some bastardos is who has swallowed a fucking loud hailer and does not technically even need to use the phone as the person they are calling could easily hear them without the fucker

I'm in a massive open plan office and have worked that way for years. It works fine but people have learned to be considerate and keep the noise down. Chat is totally fine but it's kept at the appropriate volume. If there's something I really need to concentrate hard on, then I'll put earphones in and listen to music.

Why don’t you stick some earphones in and listen to music on your phone?

Because I find that rude that’s why. I have a team and phone calls to answer.

Yes this office is noisier than my old one but even then I had somewhere to escape to. Here I don’t!

There's someone in my office who slurps his tea. It's only a matter of time before I am arrested for his murder.

@Paddington68 if only there was a like button for your post.