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Working in an open-plan office environment - experiences, pros & cons, coping mechanism suggestions, etc...

zone_tripper

In my current job, between October 2004 to January 2007, I shared an office with another colleague.  Since her retirement in January 2007, I have largely been working on my own in my own office.  

Due to moving offices, I am temporarily in an open-plan office, which is a bit of a culture shock!  One way of coping is that I am listening to my MP3 player, so that I can block out other conversations and noise.  

Out of curiosity, may I please ask others of your experiences, pros and cons, and coping mechanisms for working in open-plan offices?  

Parents

  • I've worked in open plan a lot in the past, as well as sharing offices, and in my last 18 months before I retired my employers stuck us all in open plan. I was intrigued by colleagues' opposition and defence, as I thought they would enjoy it. Instead they acquired extra cupboards and put up ridiculous fences, and bought earphones that blanked surrounding noise. 

    The worst thing about open plan is that there are always office pyschologists and bullies who get overly interested and spend too much of their time analysing colleagues suspected of "not being all there". So I got interviewed a lot by people trying to "fathom out" who I was. The amount of pointless conversation trying to lead me into saying things they wanted.

    Phones are a nuisance especially when they go unanswered, and people walking past. Strangely, though I find complex noise and movement disturbing, I tended to settle in to open plan. The noise is predictable after a while. Other humans aren't unfortunately, and I've had some rotten company in open plan.

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  • I've worked in open plan a lot in the past, as well as sharing offices, and in my last 18 months before I retired my employers stuck us all in open plan. I was intrigued by colleagues' opposition and defence, as I thought they would enjoy it. Instead they acquired extra cupboards and put up ridiculous fences, and bought earphones that blanked surrounding noise. 

    The worst thing about open plan is that there are always office pyschologists and bullies who get overly interested and spend too much of their time analysing colleagues suspected of "not being all there". So I got interviewed a lot by people trying to "fathom out" who I was. The amount of pointless conversation trying to lead me into saying things they wanted.

    Phones are a nuisance especially when they go unanswered, and people walking past. Strangely, though I find complex noise and movement disturbing, I tended to settle in to open plan. The noise is predictable after a while. Other humans aren't unfortunately, and I've had some rotten company in open plan.

Children
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