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Anecdotal reply, hot-desking at WW in central London. * Some days noisy, some days very quiet. I have great headphones, but find myself more productive than wh
by iamben 9y ago
Anecdotal reply, hot-desking at WW in central London.
* Some days noisy, some days very quiet. I have great headphones, but find myself more productive than when I worked at home. People are noisy, but generally the 'hum' is a sensible level, and it's only really irritating if someone is on Skype and conversing without headphones in (I'm not sure why that's more annoying that overhearing a face to face conversation, but it definitely is).
* Conversation is what you make it. I'm on first name terms with lots of people here, it's easy to make small talk, exchange a name, then intro someone to someone else. Before long, most regular faces know most regular faces.
* The one thing I missed most working at home was water-cooler chat. I go out of my way now to offer tea / coffee, ask about people's lives, whatever - I can have headphones on for 95% of the day, but that 5% is important. I didn't know anyone here before I joined.
* Our kitchen area is tidy 90% of the time. People are pretty good about cleaning up after themselves, the WW staff are generally very good, and if something is awful, asking it to be sorted is usually pretty painless.
I think generally I'm very pro WW. There are some annoyances; it's usually people drinking and drink-chatting too early. But I don't begrudge it and the building is big enough to go work somewhere quiet. Definitely far more productive than WFH.
- akx 9y ago> I'm not sure why that's more annoying that overhearing a face to face conversation, but it definitely is My guess (and personal experience) is that it's because the frequency response of the speakers is so tinny and thin compared to what you'd expect a regular face-to-face conversation to be, your brain keeps being distracted by it? Same with people "listening to" music by keeping headphones on their desk on full blast...
- zuppy 9y ago> I'm not sure why that's more annoying that overhearing a face to face conversation That's because the brain is trying to fill in the missing part of the conversation, no matter what we want. See: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hearing-just-one-half-of-a-conversation-is-really-really-annoying-2657804/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hearing-just-one-h...
- deepGem 9y agoAnecdotal reply, dedicated desk WW Bangalore. * Very quite DD area. Some guys talk over the phone even though it's frowned upon. That's an annoyance. * Conversation is possible even in the quiet zone. I made quite a few acquaintances. * The hot desk area is noisy as hell, most of the days. There's also WW background music. It just feels like a pub. * The entire WW area, including toilets is super tidy and I mean tidy like a hospital OT. Overall pro WW.