Making Peace With Your Open Office

January 24, 2019

Goodbye cubicles…hello open offices. While talking with many of my colleagues, it sounds like the open concept office has replaced the traditional cubicles and walls-with-door offices of the past decades. One of my colleagues who works for the government indicated that they don’t even have a designated space anymore. At the end of the day, they take their computer, files, etc. with them and may wind up at a different desk when they arrive the next morning.

Open offices seem to be the new rage these days. Cool companies like Google were early adopters of the concept. But are they overrated?  Most employees would vote yes!

In a study by Australian researchers of 40,000 employees worldwide, they found that private offices outperformed open plan layouts in terms of acoustics, privacy and all-around satisfaction.

For companies, the benefits are supposed to be more collaboration, more creativity and more camaraderie. And, open offices are much more cost effective too.

For employees, the biggest downside of the open office concept is the noise factor. With more collaboration comes more chit-chatting—making the open office a nightmare, especially when you are working on something that needs your undivided attention.

With ringing phones, pinging emails, distracting conversations and loud copy machines, how is anyone supposed to get any work done? And let’s not forget those pungent coworker lunches and germs passed around when sitting together in close quarters, etc. All of these distractions actually undermine productivity.

So how can one navigate this public space concept and not come across as a whiner?

Here are some suggestions:

Invest in Noise Cancelling Headphones—If you look around most open plan offices, you will probably see lots of people with ear buds or headphones—which seems to blow the whole collaboration theory out the window!

.  Noise cancelling headphones can help eliminate distractions and help when you really need to concentrate intently.  Also make sure you put your cell phone on mute, so you are not annoying others.

• Reserve a Conference Room—If you need to make a number of phone calls or need to focus on work, signing out a conference room might be the way to go. A conference room is also better when you need to brainstorm with colleagues.
• Work remotely—Ask your manager for permission to work elsewhere. For example, at home or a nearby café might suffice—especially when you need to knuckle down on a project. These days, the work rules have gotten more flexible as long as you are delivering on commitments. 
• Collaborate on Office Rules—Take turns using an empty office with a door if you need privacy. 
• Don’t be a complainer— Try to embrace the positive benefits of an open office concept. You don’t want to be viewed as difficult or persnickety. 

Have any other suggestions?  Tell us below.