Open Plan Office - good idea or big mistake?

[PanamaPattie]

My employer (NHS) has made the decision to take down walls and make our office space open plan. Over 100 people will be sharing. Hot desks and lockers will replace the current arrangement of individual desks and drawers.

I don't like this idea at all - I imagine fighting over desks, lack of privacy, heat (we're losing the air con), noise, no eating or drinking at desks.

It sounds like utter misery.

AIBU?

[TruculentandFarty]

My guess is that extroverts like it, introverts are tired by it.

So glad our office is not like that, I find them exhausting, I go home and want to cry because I've had too much people time. Plus I love having things where I can reach for them and know exactly where they are, I need a bunch of different stuff for my job and it is really slow on the occasions I have to work elsewhere (e.g. construction or repairs being done in my area). I also like having personal items at my desk. Lastly I find it really distracting having people moving constantly in my field of view.

[SwedishEdith]

Every day I have a whole room full of pristine, clutter free desks to choose from. If I want a view,I sit near the window. If I want to work quietly, I sit in the designated 'no phones or chat' area. If I don't like the company I just move. I'm not in the office most days so I've not had an allocated desk for a long time.

I don't understand this post. Does no-one else work in your office?

[hairypaws]

I'm nhs too in open plan. I do a lot of audio typing and it's really difficult to hear plus talking on the phone is tricky as it's so noisy. I also hate the constant battle with the air con - freezing cold air blasting on your head and your complaints being ignored. At least here admin don't hot desk due to our equipment but everyone else does, I think I would hate that.

I've had colleagues playing games noisily on their phone and there are regular noisy funny videos being shown with them all standing around laughing. I think staff should be more considerate of those trying to work.

[AnnaComnena]

I work for the council and they've just done this. We all moaned about it but to be honest it's working well.....Only thing is we're the noisiest section and get told to quieten down a lot!

Not working so well for the people who are being disturbed by your noise and have to keep asking your team to quieten down, is it?

[BackforGood]

It's become very fashionable in recent years.
The aim is to save money - particualrly with hot desking, the idea being they have far fewer desks than people where the employees are in roles that mean they are often out on visits or at meetings, or generally anywhere 'put of office'.
Hot desking is a real pain when you need to use something (stapler / polypocket / hole punch / highlighter / etc) and of course nothing is there.
When people work regularly in an open plan office though, everyone just settles in to their "own" desks, in the same way people always sit in the same place wherever they go (Pub / Church / on the bus).
I HATE the constant noise / talking. I stay away from our office for as much time as I possible can now, as I only get about 1/4 of the work done in the office, compared with spending the same amount of time at home.
To some extent it depends on what your role is, and what your colleagues are like - you could be in an office of 4 people and have some really annoying colleagues.

[BlueSkiesLies]

Totally standard.

Annoying for everyone to hotdesk especially if you don’t have lockers or something for you office ‘things’.

Works if each team has an area of hot desks but no good if it’s a total free for all. Also need enough quiet rooms, meeting rooms, phone booths and break out areas. Which there are never enough of!

[JenniferJareau]

To me it cuts down on the opportunity to have a quiet gossip, so you never hear what's going on unless you go to the pub at lunchtime or after work.

We just chat privately over instant messenger

[PregnantSea]

I cannot stand open plan offices. I find it so hard to concentrate when you've got all that hustle and bustle around you. I need quiet to work. But that's my own personal feeling on it - I think in studies it's been found that most people do better in open plan offices. Can't remember where I read this so I could be wrong.

[malmi]

@SwedishEdith, no, but we have flexible working, so some will work from home/elsewhere, and a lot of people who go out and about visiting customers, so there are generally plenty of free desks available, especially if you get in early.

[stressedoutpa]

I've worked in lots of open plan offices and I hate it.

There are just too many distractions. Fine if you are in sales and on the phone all day, laughing and joking with your colleagues but a nightmare if you need to concentrate on work without interruptions.

Invest in some noise cancelling headphones.

[Oblomov19]

I hate open plan, and hate hot desking even more, as does everyone I know.

No one could ever persuade me it's beneficial. It's not. It's just done to save money. But I think it's underestimated at what cost (mental, emotional and stress) that cost saving comes at.

[Sarcelle]

I don't mind open plan or hot desking and I am an introvert. I also have misophonia. Hot desking is great if you have this. I know where the loud Tyler's and eaters are and stay away from them. I would find it very difficult to sit in the same spot with loud people around me all the time.

Of course the move to this model is done for cost reasons. It does fractured teams. But sometimes it's a godsend.

[Sarcelle]

Typers!

[SwedishEdith]

no, but we have flexible working, so some will work from home/elsewhere, and a lot of people who go out and about visiting customers, so there are generally plenty of free desks available, especially if you get in early.

Then they've got too many desks - from an efficiency pov. True hot desking should take account of that. And it certainly shouldn't favour those who can come in early.

[JenniferJareau]

And it certainly shouldn't favour those who can come in early.

How can it not though? For our team we have 8 desks allocated for 10 people. When all of us are in the office, those who get in later have to sit elsewhere, that means another floor or in a break out space.

They tried a desk booking system but people block booked then didn't update so desks were often 'booked' but never used so that stopped.

[Yura]

hot desking is great! no fixed neighbours, you just pick a desk that suits your needs. no clutter everywhere. its amazing

[YeOldeTrout]

I did open-plan hotdesking that was fine, using desktop computers, not huge number of colleagues, very quiet, personal & work items stored within reach.

I mostly cope now, but... Am stressed out by huge maze of cables on the desktop, lack of space on/near/below desk for either work OR personal items, too small lockers (many people have 2 lockers), wasted time setting up/breaking down workstation each day & loud background trying to use phone, especially IT support (only available over phone). Feeling like a nuisance to the people seated next to lockers every time I go to my locker.

No desktop computers & relying on issued laptops = no spare machines if one is damaged or goes faulty (happened to me & colleague the other day). Some work stations are only on wifi (unreliable), so tend to go unused.

[Fjosen]

I can't stand open offices, when my last job converted to open plan offices, I ended up looking for a job where I could work from home.
They work for a lot of people but urgh not for me, I couldn't work in them even with noise cancelling headphones on.

[echt]

I wonder has there been a study that shows the correlation between those proposing open plan offices who actually have private rooms.

[HolyForkingShirt]

I hate open plan. Can't concentrate because people are always on calls and won't use meeting rooms, temperature always too cold for me, office only has 1 row of windows. Someone always sniffling or tapping or has their phone going off.

[DontCallMeCharlotte]

I don't mind open plan at all but I really don't understand the point of hotdesking, unless it's a shift-based organisation I suppose?

What happens if everyone's in and there aren't enough desks? And how much time is wasted setting up every morning?

[BestIsWest]

In 35 years I’ve never worked anywhere that isn’t open plan. Surely it’s the norm?

We once moved into brand new premises and were banned from eating at desks. We all protested like mad but in fact I loved it. It was really nice to be get way from desks and interact a bit with colleagues.

[YeOldeTrout]

And packing down at night. I guess it's only 8-10 minutes combined or so for both setup/pack down, since locker only 70 feet away. Still stupid waste of time. If I'm paid £18/hour that's only £15/week cost to employer right? * 50 in office on a typical day, so £750/week in lost productivity.

We have a coat area where I can leave my work/outdoor shoes, jacket & hat, at least.

[motheroftinydragons]

I hate open plan offices but then I've only worked in an office where it was really badly executed. I worked dealing with the vulnerable/defrauded/severe complainants/etc etc and was in a mid-senior position. My team were sat next to the sales team, who spent the entire day whooping and hollering when they made a sale selling the very product I often had someone on the end of the phone in tears about. It wasn't good. I requested a move many times but was told the sales team were doing a good job making money for the business so basically tough. I wasn't to 'kill their vibe' by asking them to pipe down.

I also needed to get my head down to run investigations and write reports and letters for 75% of my day. Not easy when you're in constant hullabaloo.

Also no headphones were allowed.

I work for myself now, from home in my office. Bliss.

I am somewhat of an introvert though, perhaps that's why I struggled so much.

[Yura]

Just out of interest, what takes people so long to set up/pack up?
plug laptop in docking station/unplug is 10 seconds. getting folder out on desk about the same. (all offices i’ve ever worked in had clean desk policy anyway -keeps clutter at bay)