I just recently went from a personal office to an open plan and find the new situation devoid of merit. Noise-canceling over-the-ear headphones are a must, and phone calls are impossible. Since meeting rooms are minimal, that's an issue too. I've done a handful of meetings in my car.
And woe to those who need to take a conference call with multiple of their desk neighbors but no conference rooms are available. Nothing like a bunch of people all sitting next to each other talking on the same phone call.
Why companies would implement an open office without a plethora of private meeting spaces is beyond me.
3/3 of my last companies have moved to new offices while I was there, proudly touting the open floor plan and increased number of meeting rooms.
3/3 found that the meeting rooms were inadequate before they even filled the open floor plan seating.
Open floor plans mean meeting rooms become mandatory for just about every interaction. The promised ease of interaction doesnt happen when everyone is in headphones and the polite people dont want to talk while in close quarters with others NOT in the conversation.
I can't tell you how many times I walked past the 12 person conference room with just two people sitting in there, because, where else are they going to have a private discussion when every other room is booked?
As you said, when everyone has an office, only meetings of more than a handful of people need a separate conference room.
I suspect that, as people have been discussing upthread, open offices and a lack of meeting rooms are both symptoms of the underlying problem that a company just doesn't have enough space. I worked in an open office once where the company wasn't under space pressure, and it wasn't nearly as bad.
Don't know, don't care. If they have a problem with it, they should talk to management. I'd personally be fine with a private office, but I have my doubts about getting one.
Even if he was, it’s a waste of time - even if the company started out with sane working conditions, they’ll eventually switch over to an open office because it saves 2% of the operating budget (on paper).
