Open office layouts are absolutely terrible. Why more places haven’t figured that out, I’ll never know.
The research has been available since at least 2008 that open office floor plans are detrimental to productivity
Those who make the decision still have a full blown office with real walls and a door so won’t be negatively affected. It’s mostly pushed because the open office idea is cheaper and allows managers to see butts in seats. Studies show it’s a bad idea but people talk about collaboration and whatnot as an excuse.
In my experience “collaboration” means talking about basically anything except work. How some idiot on the executive floor got the idea that we all just walk around spontaneously gabbing about ways to make them more money is beyond me. Much of the corporate world is dedicated to mindless churn and professional time wasting.
The more an organization pushes the whole “in office”, “collaboration”, “water cooler conversations” narrative, the more professional time wasters they have on their payroll. When the only metrics you have are butts in seats, you can’t see how little work you’re actually getting for your money.
