To think a seating plan at work is like being treated as a child?

[Needtopaintmynails]

I had a seating plan throughout secondary school.

I assumed as a adult we would be allowed to sit with who we wanted at work (obvious exceptions such as if people distract each other etc).

Depends where you work really.

We each have our own desks in my office- not a seating plan as such but we always sit where our own stuff is...

Depends on your job. I have an allocated desk. We recently had a rejig to fit in a new appointment.
Some places entirely hot desk.
Makes sense to be with immediate colleagues if you need to talk to each other.

I work for a large company, we have a seating plan. We sit with our teams so we work on projects together. However, I have nothing to do with it (deliberately) it's sorted by admin as I refuse to mediate on who sits where!

yabu. if that's what the boss wants then that's what you do. Maybe they've had problems in the past

It's normal, every job I've had you get told where to sit. I'd say anything else is childish actually! Work involves doing things you don't necessarily want to do, you're there to work not to socialise.

We had 'seating plans' at work. In as much as areas were allocated to a department, a manger allocated bays to 4 people, and then you decided between you who got the window seats. There was lots of 'politics' especially when expansion or changing department sizes necessitated all moving around. And as for who got an office ...

I think yanbu OP. I've never actually thought about it but always had an allocated space. Nowadays it shouldn't matter anyway because the person 6 feet from me will still email me.

Do you mean sit where you like within your team, or anywhere within the office?

I’ve always worked in places where teams sit together, and then it has varied as to whether staff within the team get a free choice or an assigned desk. Sometimes there are reasons for the latter (eg seating the person who always relies on Colleague A to answer all their questions - that they’ve asked and had answered a dozen times before - away from Colleague A to give the latter a chance to get on with their own work in peace).

Well i didnt choose my own desk. Does anybody choose their desk? It depends where the empty desks are really!

This is often done in offices with a lot of people coming through to make it easier to navigate. Hot dealing can be quite confusing.

Does it really matter? You're not there to socialise.

I'd say allocated desks is the norm in the majority of organisations.

YANBU. I have sat in an office with a seating plan and I didn’t appreciate being made to feel like a naughty school girl. From a work culture perspective I think it’s better to treat people like the autonomous adults they are (unless they show they are not).

We have allocated desks, partly for those requiring specific space e.g. one colleague has eyesight problem so has to have the right light levels and another needs to be near the copier as they print customer contracts all day.

I used to be a manager and my team leaders always decided their team seating plan - to alleviate falling outs, stop certain people talking too much, let newer people be mentored by more experienced people. Some people do behave like they're in the playground and it worked quite well .

Does it really matter? You're not there to socialise

I remember my mother saying this when I whinged about seating plans in school!

If you have fixed desks with personal pedestals, how can you not have a seating plan?

If you have agile working, then a seating plan is quite unreasonable. Where I work, we have agile with defined team areas and it’s up to you as to where you sit as long as it’s within your team footprint. I have about 20 desks to choose from.

Having said that, we have a team (not mine) where they have a set desk within their team footprint, eg juniors are prohibited from sitting at the window. I find that a bit ridiculous.

How would that work? Would you ask someone else to move to enable you to sit with who you wanted to?

Where I used to work if they changed the seating plans it was some big secret it was pathetic, I don't mind where I sit but the secrecy was a little bit of power to them.

Yabu.
Of course you have allocated desks at work. Everyone is sitted next to who they would most likely need to speak to in the job.

I'm confused as to whether you're referring to hot desking or not. Unless it's a company where everyone hotdesks (which has its own issues), I've always been allocated a desk. I've never thought of it as childish, just entirely normal.

I prefer to have an allocated desk so I can leave things on it and in the drawers. It’s also made sense in the past to be close to managers and colleagues. But that’s usually when I’ve started a job where people are already seated at desks and I take one of the free ones as agreed with managers. I’ve never had an issue with being allocated a desk. I would request not to hot desk and have a good excuse.

I allocate desks/offices in my team at work. I'd think it was bizarre if someone wanted to sit with their mates. It's a professional environment, unless you have a business reason for your request I think you need to accept that this is how the majority of the working world operates.

When we had an office refurbishment, we came to an amicable agreement as a team about who would have which desk in the new layout. But it was based on job descriptions, rather than personalities.
Everyone sits close to the people they most need to discuss stuff with.

I guess if a couple of people were really incompatible we might change it. But new starters generally just get shown to their new desk, and then stay there.

I’ve just quit my job but we got moved around about 4 times in a year. Ridiculous! I just want an assigned desk and not have to shift all my shit all the time.