I worked in a company that changed their old, legacy office block for a brand new open plan one. Everyone was out in the open, and though there was an obvious h

I worked in a company that changed their old, legacy office block for a brand new open plan one. Everyone was out in the open, and though there was an obvious hierarchy of seating, most of the desks were unassigned and changed ownership each day. The floors themselves opened out into a huge open space, and all the meeting rooms had glass sides. I have to say I wasn't a fan. There was a lot of background noise, and it was very difficult to have a private conversation. I constantly felt like someone might look over my shoulder (a problem if dealing with sensitive documents), or interrupt work I'd struggled to get focussed into. It was also hard to have private conversations about sensitive topics without having to search for a space away from everyone's desk. Previously we'd just talk about stuff without moving. My biggest frustration, though, was the fact it was very hard to be anything other than corporately bland in our attitudes. When we were split into floors and rooms, it was much easier to laugh and joke, and I often saw people bring something in to announce someone's birthday and make a fuss of them. After going open-plan, it seemed the only way to celebrate anything was to interrupt the entire office, which put a large dampener on it. There's also the issue that if you tend to be introverted, open-plan offices can be exhausting.