Friends and we were talking about the new Google building at XNUMX North Shoreline Blvd. in Mountain View, California. In all fairness, we're not impressed. As one person stated, it looks like a sunken tent city covered in dragon scales (and not in a good way). But the real trick? Someone else dared to hope that there would at least be real offices in place of an open plan office plan.
Unfortunately, this is not going to be the case. And "that's one of the reasons I'll never go back to the office," said a friend. “At least at home I have a private office where I can close the door. Those days are long gone at "work".
Personally, I think open offices are one of the many reasons for the Great Renunciation. In truth, the hate they produce is one of the reasons why so many people are in love with the idea of working from home now.
This is especially true with Omicron, which immediately brings us back to the workplace blues of COVID-XNUMX. Remember that one of the great supposed virtues of the open office was that we could share ideas with colleagues sitting nearby. Innovation would flourish, friendships would be born, and work would not be like work. This is not really true. It turns out that the simplest thing to share in an open office is viruses.
Whoops!
In an investigation carried out a few years ago in an open office, a harmless virus was placed on a single door. By the end of the day, virtually the entire office, including the restrooms, doors, and rest room, was contaminated. It was a generic virus. The Omicron reproduction number (R-value) is XNUMX. It is, in short, "terrible".
It's no wonder that with an ongoing pandemic, absolutely no one wants to be wrapped in a petri dish outdoors.
To be clear, my disdain for open offices predates COVID-19; Open offices always and at all times have been a bad idea. Supporters of the open office say that at home their employees will be able to better cooperate with each other and form united teams. Indeed, research in XNUMX found that open offices would engender a sense of shared mission and increase cooperation.
The reality is, as research from the Harvard Business Review found, “Face-to-face interactions dropped about XNUMX% after companies moved to open offices. "Let him in. Open offices are not neutral. They actively discourage people from working together.
And why wouldn't they? Any talk becomes a public discussion. When you're trying to focus, you have Joe and Anne screeching behind you and George doing an interpretive dance of his PowerPoint problem in front of you.
Another XNUMX study found that nearly half of open-plan office workers surveyed said noise and lack of sound privacy was a real inconvenience for them. Cubicles seemed pretty jaded to me when I was still working in offices. The very idea of being in an open preschool in an open space tickles my nerves like nails on a blackboard.
But there are other reasons why companies like the idea of an open office. First, it is cheaper. Point and end. That is. It also makes it easier for bosses to control people. And, as Lindsey Kaufman stated in the Washington Article, “Bosses love being able to take a closer look at their employees, make sure the surreptitious viewing of pornography, relentless surfing of social media, and unlimited use of the personal cellular phone do not occupy billing hours. . "
All this great outdoors gives your workers another message: you don't matter. They are interchangeable and unreliable parts in a corporate machine, much like the cubicles they lean into. It's not what you want your valued employees to think.
I am a firm believer in judging staff members by the quality of their work. I don't care how they do it. If they watch TikTok from time to time, it all depends on the results for me. Making your employees uncomfortable with an open office, or literally spying on them by neglecting them or technology, is a recipe for disaster.
Give your employees the space and privacy they need to do their best work. Whether it's in traditional offices, cubicles or working from home, it's up to . Either way you do it, you'll end up with more productive and happier workers.
And happier workers tend to create more successful businesses.
So read this:
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