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That's why we have them... we literally can't afford to give everyone (or anyone for that matter) a private office.
by throwaway2016a 10y ago
That's why we have them... we literally can't afford to give everyone (or anyone for that matter) a private office.
- falcolas 10y agoThe amortized cost of building and furnishing a private office, when compared to the salary you are paying that programmer, is miniscule. A measly additional 60 square feet of floor space, 10-20 grand in construction costs, and the same desk/chairs, amortized over 5 or so years. Even building separate rooms for groups of programmers would provide for great gains at low costs.
- Declanomous 10y agoEpic Systems has a private office for each of their 9,000+ employees. Their campus is outside Madison, WI, so it's cheaper to do that there then it would be elsewhere. Private offices don't have to be large. I'm sure the money for private offices would appear if companies were sufficiently motivated to provide them.
- npongratz 10y agoI don't know if Epic is a private office nirvana for each of their employees, but to be fair, it does sound like the majority do have a private office. I only live in the area and hear stuff second- and third-hand, but I gather an increasing number of Epic employees are assigned to shared offices. The Boston Globe's glowing commentary on the campus concurs: "Most employees have a private office; some share one with a colleague." https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/07/28/epic-systems-success-like-its-headquarters-blend-creativity-and-diligence/LpdQ5m0DDS4UVilCVooRUJ/story.html https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/07/28/epic-systems...
- Declanomous 10y agoI've heard the same thing. From what I understand, the issue is that Epic is growing faster than buildings can be built. Regardless, while a shared office is worse than a private office, it's way better than almost any other option. I've worked in a shared office with a partition, a cubicle farm, and an open office, and the shared office was the best work environment by a huge margin.
- amyjess 10y agoSharing an office is great if both of your backs are to the wall. If not, it turns into hell.
- Declanomous 10y agoWithout a partition I'd totally agree. We faced each other with a partition in between. The partition basically made it two separate offices.
- pconner 10y agoI was there for a bit in 2014. From what I saw, most offices had two people.
- jnbiche 10y ago> That's why we have them... we literally can't afford to give everyone (or anyone for that matter) a private office. You know, if a prospective employer was straight up with me about that, I'd give it serious consideration. I can understand that not every company can afford an endless supply of private offices in urban areas (although obviously this is not the case with companies like FB). What bugs me the most about the open office fetish is how it causes productivity to plummet for most developers, at the same time the leadership is spouting off on how great it is for productivity. I mean, as that goofy reality judge said, don't piss on my shoes and tell me it's raining.
- jrs235 10y agoIt's tempting to ask "leadership" "If it's so great for productivity, why doesn't leadership/management forego their private offices and sit in the middle of the open office floor plan?"
- Domenic_S 10y agoThey often do have cube desks. But they spend most of their time traveling or in meeting rooms anyway.
- st3v3r 10y agoI don't buy that for a second. With what gets spent on salaries, the cost of offices is a drop in the bucket.
- greenyoda 10y agoAlso, if people in private offices are more productive, you can hire fewer people to do the same work, saving lots of money.
- andrewflnr 10y agoReal estate is also really expensive. I can easily believe that if a company really went for it and tried to give private offices to several hundred engineers, the cost would start rivaling that of salaries.
- amyjess 10y agoThat's what cubicles are for.