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Open concept offices are awful. As someone who is more vulnerable to interruptions than most, being able to control my work environment is a godsend. Everyone

by User23 5y ago

Open concept offices are awful. As someone who is more vulnerable to interruptions than most, being able to control my work environment is a godsend. Everyone is different, but my ideal work environment is library quiet. No music and certainly no overheard conversations or people constantly walking past. I’ve never worked in an office that was willing to provide such an environment, but I have it at home.

catsarebetter 5y ago
Totally agree, used to wear enormous noise cancelling headphones but I would have to pay music to completely block out noise from the office, but then there would be loud music playing in my ears. Real challenge there
- erik_seaberg 5y ago
  Noise cancelling responds to droning, repetitive sounds, while a big chunk of plastic responds to everything. Not to sound like a shill, but there’s an old headphone model (HD-280 pro) I’ve always sworn by, and I was pleased to see that same model was in Google’s “stuff” catalog for any employee to request. Another colleague reused his earmuffs and earplugs from the gun range, but I think most of those are pretty uncomfortable.
  - JohnBooty 5y ago
    Another colleague reused his earmuffs and earplugs from the gun range, but I think most of those are pretty uncomfortable. You can definitely get ones that are about as comfortable as a pair of comfortable over-ear headphones. Ideally, everybody struggling to work in an office would wear big, absurd earmuffs. Maybe if management looked around and saw that 80% of their employees were geared up like they were working on the tarmac of a busy fucking airport just to get some work done, they would rethink the hell of open offices. Nah. They wouldn't.
techsupporter 5y ago
> Open concept offices are awful. The only people I've met who seem to like them are people who do sales for a living or the exact kind of coworkers who I would really not like to be in an open office with. I have a really nice office in Seattle. Since I am the second most tenured person on the team, I even have a water view and am right next to the snacks. I haven't seen the inside of this office since May 2020, and probably never will again. All of my colleagues and I have agreed that we don't see the need to go back and our employer is likely going to sell our admin building (we have several other buildings for actual patient services) and distribute some of the money to those of us who worked in that building as a bonus or as an allowance to buy equipment for home. I've visited the open offices at friends who work for Microsoft and Google and they're just awful hives of noise. I would rather have my own door and own bathroom.
- lamontcg 5y ago
  Don't underestimate the utility of being able to just take a goddamn nap when you've had shit sleep the night before rather than powering through the day trying to appear productive when you're a zombie. Most normal people have bad days when they really shouldn't be at work, its so much easier when you just aren't at work and can deal with the problem (take a nap, take a cold shower afterwards, get in a few hours of actual non-zombie productivity and call it a day). Then you're much less stressed the next day. And there's no worry about insomnia-spirals where you get so worried about being tired at work that you can't sleep.
  - jasonkester 5y ago
    One of the big upsides of contracting is the days when I’ll down tools at 10am and declare that “I am not smart enough today to accept money in exchange for programming computers”. I get the occasional day off to go do things that don’t require brain. They only pay for bites of the donut with the jam in them. It’s a net win for everybody.
  - JohnBooty 5y ago
    Yeah. God. The ability to take an afternoon nap if you need it... there's no way to even put a monetary value on it. Can walk, get some exercise/sunshine, nap, even have a quickie with your partner or look at porn, etc. No matter how awesome one's office is, those things are generally not options.

by User23 5y ago

catsarebetter 5y ago

Totally agree, used to wear enormous noise cancelling headphones but I would have to pay music to completely block out noise from the office, but then there would be loud music playing in my ears. Real challenge there

erik_seaberg 5y ago
Noise cancelling responds to droning, repetitive sounds, while a big chunk of plastic responds to everything. Not to sound like a shill, but there’s an old headphone model (HD-280 pro) I’ve always sworn by, and I was pleased to see that same model was in Google’s “stuff” catalog for any employee to request. Another colleague reused his earmuffs and earplugs from the gun range, but I think most of those are pretty uncomfortable.
- JohnBooty 5y ago
  Another colleague reused his earmuffs and earplugs from the gun range, but I think most of those are pretty uncomfortable. You can definitely get ones that are about as comfortable as a pair of comfortable over-ear headphones. Ideally, everybody struggling to work in an office would wear big, absurd earmuffs. Maybe if management looked around and saw that 80% of their employees were geared up like they were working on the tarmac of a busy fucking airport just to get some work done, they would rethink the hell of open offices. Nah. They wouldn't.

techsupporter 5y ago

> Open concept offices are awful. The only people I've met who seem to like them are people who do sales for a living or the exact kind of coworkers who I would really not like to be in an open office with. I have a really nice office in Seattle. Since I am the second most tenured person on the team, I even have a water view and am right next to the snacks. I haven't seen the inside of this office since May 2020, and probably never will again. All of my colleagues and I have agreed that we don't see the need to go back and our employer is likely going to sell our admin building (we have several other buildings for actual patient services) and distribute some of the money to those of us who worked in that building as a bonus or as an allowance to buy equipment for home. I've visited the open offices at friends who work for Microsoft and Google and they're just awful hives of noise. I would rather have my own door and own bathroom.

lamontcg 5y ago
Don't underestimate the utility of being able to just take a goddamn nap when you've had shit sleep the night before rather than powering through the day trying to appear productive when you're a zombie. Most normal people have bad days when they really shouldn't be at work, its so much easier when you just aren't at work and can deal with the problem (take a nap, take a cold shower afterwards, get in a few hours of actual non-zombie productivity and call it a day). Then you're much less stressed the next day. And there's no worry about insomnia-spirals where you get so worried about being tired at work that you can't sleep.
- jasonkester 5y ago
  One of the big upsides of contracting is the days when I’ll down tools at 10am and declare that “I am not smart enough today to accept money in exchange for programming computers”. I get the occasional day off to go do things that don’t require brain. They only pay for bites of the donut with the jam in them. It’s a net win for everybody.
- JohnBooty 5y ago
  Yeah. God. The ability to take an afternoon nap if you need it... there's no way to even put a monetary value on it. Can walk, get some exercise/sunshine, nap, even have a quickie with your partner or look at porn, etc. No matter how awesome one's office is, those things are generally not options.