apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I would recommend having a sign that says "Busy" or "Available." NEVER say you are "Not Busy" at work!

I think it's not possible to do any really meaningful work, like writing, in an open space. Luckily, I've not had to subject myself to the torture of the corporate team.

I think these open layouts are terrible. All it takes is one loud co-worker to ruin everyone's productivity. Not to mention annoyances like perfume, smelly lunches, compulsive knee-jiggling, nail-biting, etc.

A big open space looks nice, but give me a warren of tiny offices any day.

we have an open office (however there is only 3 of us) and i like it just fine. My boss sits behind me on the opposite wall and the intern next to me. We pretty much converse throughout most of the day. If we had separate offices it would be quite lonely and boring.

I think the sign idea is stupid though. First of all i would never remember to flip it either way. I don't think it's that you're "not working" with one side of the sign but more that you're working but can be interrupted if needed. None the less, i just don't think it's a good idea. If it's an open office. Someone can ask you if you have a minute, and if you say no, then the other people will know too. You don't need a sign to tell everyone to leave you alone.

I don't know though most of these ideas just don't seem right to me.

My lab has 8 people in it, I have some earphones and some earplugs, but they don't drown out conversations in the room at all. I find coming in early helps, as well, I never feel guilty telling people to take their conversation into the hallway. I get some glares, but really, who cares!

Yeah. EARPLUGS. They're a lifesaver. I finally got my office to just buy a big box from the office supply people, so there are fresh ones on hand. Now I'm not the only person who uses them!

i think offices are uncivilised. or maybe its just y coworkers.

The "busy/not busy" sign is a bad idea. And the regular use of headphones and earplugs doesn't work in every office. At my old job, the intern with the iPod was judged harshly by the full-time staff (they really liked being able to shout-out things to each other all day). In my current job, my co-workers have headphones on the majority of the time.

oh, and i just wanted to say, i want the posters on the wall in the photo above. All of them, box them up and ship them over please.

I work in an open studio office with 25 people. I wouldn't have it any other way. I definitely don't fine it distracting, and having people near by is nice to chat and take a little break.
The atmosphere in my office (it's an architectural/design firm) is quite relaxed. If we have meetings, they're held in the boardrooms, but we also have pull out drawer pedestals with cushions on them at each station incase someone has come to your desk to help you out and they intend to stay awhile.

After working in a more segregated office before coming here, I like the studio layout better.
But, that's the whole philosophy of the firm. It's integrated and open. The hirearchy isn't apparent at all.

Two things an open office should never feature are plywood surfaces and tall, decorative cacti. Just sayin'.

I would never be able to work with my back to an open hallway/space like that. Just couldn't. I'd be a nervous wreck and have to quit.

Wish I were joking.

It's pretty common in healthcare and human services to not have enough office space for everyone to have their own office, so you might have your personal desk space in an office with several desks, and then perform your direct service in therapy rooms or classrooms or doctor's offices or whatnot that are used by several providers during the day.

At most of the places I've worked, there's an understood rule that if you want to have a lengthy conversation or need to have a private meeting, you grab the person/people and go into a common area or any office that isn't currently occupied, rather than have the conversation in an office where other uninvolved parties are trying to work.

I think the thing that really makes this work well is that people get to choose their own office groupings, and it's not taken personally or considered a big deal if people switch offices. So the chatty people and the people with similar levels of noise preference and cleanliness preference tend to find each other quickly. Letting people choose their officemates is really the key to this. If it's a group of people who aren't particularly self-aware, you can facilitate this. I had a job at a hospital where the clinical director would actually take new hires on a tour and would tell them that this office was really chatty, this one was more serious, these folks are cool with people eating lunch in the office, etc. and let them choose where they wanted to start out.

I sit in a "lobby" with two others, and I often find myself in situations where I have to negotiate a contract with a Federal agency over the phone while students stand two feet behind me gabbing about their weekend pub crawl. I hate open office floor plans -- I find the lack of privacy intensely dehumanizing. I'm at work to work, not to chat with coworkers I might not even like, and I don't need everyone who walks behind me to be a defacto supervisor who knows what I'm doing every second. I really think the objective of these plans is to put all workers under constant surveillance and enforce conformity.