Disturbing Office Trend

[dragonwolf]

I came across this at the following link:
http://notalwaysworking.com/if-it-aint-broke-renovate-it/40173

(Not written by me)
(For a couple years, I have worked full time at a radio station as a graphic designer, with a web developer, and a manager (Boss #1) who oversees all of our projects. It is a really good arrangement: we each have our own offices next to each other in the same hallway. All of our projects exceed expectations, we always finish them all ahead of schedule, and we all work so well together that we consider each other friends more than co-workers. One day, one of our higher-ups (Boss #2) calls Boss #1 into his office. He tells us about the conversation afterwards

Boss #2: “So, we just got the manager reviews back from everyone, and it turns out you got the highest score in the entire building!”

Boss #1: “Yeah, we all work really well together as a team. We’re really lucky to have found a way to collaborate that works well for everyone.”

Boss #2: “It’s so good, actually, that we’re a little worried.”

Boss #1: “Really? Why?”

Boss #2: “We think you’re being overprotective of your employees – they don’t really mingle with any other departments and we want everyone to have relationships with each other.”

Boss #1: “Okay, I can see where you’re coming from. I’ll try to see what I can do to make our department a little more open to others in the building.”

(Our boss tells us about the situation and we all agree to try and start socializing with our other co-workers a little more. We do a great job for a couple of weeks until one day Boss #2 calls us all into Boss #1’s office.)

Boss #2: “So, I have an idea I want to throw past you guys. What if we moved all of you out of your offices and put you into one large shared space, like they have at Google?”

Me: “That sounds like it could be a cool environment, but we already work really well just by having our own offices.”

Boss #1: “Not to mention, didn’t you just pay a lot of money for those personality evaluations? Each one of ours said that we work better if we have our own space to retreat to.”

Coworker: “Can we have some time to think about it?”

Boss #2: “…ctually, I was talking about it to [Owner of the Company], and he wants to make it happen. Construction starts in two weeks.”

(All of us were shocked. True to his word, a construction crew came in to start renovating for our new office… a week earlier than we were told. I came back from vacation to find my office completely empty: my personal items, desk, and even the photos on the wall had all been taken down and moved without my knowledge. In a few days they had moved all of us to opposite corners of the building, isolating us from each other, without any prior notification or really caring about our feedback. It turned out that Boss #2 didn’t like how tight-knit we all were. Within two weeks our morale nosedived, the construction took twice as long as was promised, my coworker quit and found a better job, and eventually Boss #1 was replaced by someone who didn’t know the first thing about what we were supposed to be doing. Our department fell apart. To this day Boss #2 still scratches his head and wonders “what went wrong.”)

That would be funnier if I hadn't seen that happen time and time and time again, complete with lack of feedback from the people actually having that environment inflicted upon them. (If it weren't so true, it'd read more like a bad joke.)

That "why don't we be like Google" line is exactly why I've turned down multiple leads for West Coast companies over culture and the open office floor plan. Even if it does work for them (which it arguably only works for them because they can afford the luxury of being able to deal with a high turnover rate that weeds out the people that can't; though their high and fast turnover rate suggests that it doesn't actually work), it's not going to work for most companies, but they're going to try to emulate it, anyway (and probably poorly).

 

[Ste11aeres]

That would be funnier if I hadn't seen that happen time and time and time again, complete with lack of feedback from the people actually having that environment inflicted upon them. (If it weren't so true, it'd read more like a bad joke.)

That "why don't we be like Google" line is exactly why I've turned down multiple leads for West Coast companies over culture and the open office floor plan. Even if it does work for them (which it arguably only works for them because they can afford the luxury of being able to deal with a high turnover rate that weeds out the people that can't; though their high and fast turnover rate suggests that it doesn't actually work), it's not going to work for most companies, but they're going to try to emulate it, anyway (and probably poorly).

My sister works part time for Google as a consultant. She's perfect for it, and it's perfect for her. But I would hate it. That type of work environment is great for certain types of people-the mistake is in thinking that everybody is like that.

 

[Andrew206]

I work for Microsoft's food service contractor-Eurest Dining Services. The environment is fast-paced. I've worked in various cafes in the 7 years I've been there. There's a lot of interaction between people there. I'm looking for a better job-one where I won't have to interact with a lot of people.

 

[ezcare]

I caught this on CNN.com and it absolutely pissed me off: http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/07/living/cnn10-better-by-design/index.html?frame=1&hpt=hp_c2. Apparently, workplaces are moving more towards "open, collaborative" work environments. Whoever came up with this idea is a moron! If I had to work in this open environment, I would probably and absolutely meltdown. This is neither aspie friendly nor disability friendly. At least, you have some VERY small amount of private space in a cube. This takes any privacy retreat and shreds it - I thought workplaces were supposedly moving towards more disability friendly policies. Who even says collaboration produces better results? In my opinion, too much of it stymies the whole process and slows it down. Ever try to force consensus on disagreeing people?

Not to worry. The same forces driving workplaces to be "open, collaborative" are also pushing work-from-home strategies. While most NTs prefer the gabfest environment, just as many Aspies and our associates with OCD, Dyslexia etc would love to work from their own home. Best of all, we love the privacy and solitude working from our own space. Thanks to technology we can contribute as much working from home (especially on tasks that require deep concentration and attention to details) as working in an office environment. And the bonus for our employer is that it takes a lot less overhead to outfit your home office than to lease a building. So for us it will be a win-win situation. ;-))

 

[ASD_Geek]

This is true! I hope that a lot of businesses take advantage of it. My job lets me work from home two days a week. What an awesome break!

 

[ezcare]

This is true! I hope that a lot of businesses take advantage of it. My job lets me work from home two days a week. What an awesome break!

Recommend you start keeping a journal about the ways working from home helps you be more productive. There are still many backward companies and managers who believe that working from home without "supervision" encourages cheating and lower productivity. This may be true for some NTs but the Aspie personality IMO precludes this.

 

[nowwhat]

I have to work collaboratively in my new-ish job. We are working on "things" though, so we need only exchange specific, quantitative information to succeed. I can manage with most of my co workers, and can get a lot done with a couple of them, but there are one or two idiots that I must team with from time to time. Fortunately, these individuals have had difficulties with others, so It's not entirely blamed on me if the teamwork doesn't quite gel. Fortunately for me, we are making things at work, and I can usually manage to produce some good results, rather quickly, no matter whom they have strung around my neck for the shift.

 

[Bella Pines]

I do work in this kind of environment. The bad news is that it is horrible. The good news is that with a few tricks it is survivable.

My desk is in a London tower block and is about 1 metre wide. I am surrounded by people and can lean over an touch my 3 nearest neighbours.

Unfortunately there are about 3 aspies to about 15 NTs in the office and so the consensus is that it is fabulous. They use words like "brainstorm" and "collaborate" and "team". Then they get carried away and organize socials and hang around with each other at lunchtime. It's so weird. I feel like I'm in a zoo and someone is going to try and pick fleas out of my hair at any minute.

I don't think I will be able to change the culture, but I have found a balance whereby I work from home and hide away in "breakout" areas with a laptop. I also have fake colleagues that I regularly network with (me). I wear huge headphones and am looking for a hairband that says "GO AWAY". I'm also slowly training the new aspie graduate to survive in the new sharing, caring, far cooler modern version of hell.

 

[Thursday]

Open office spaces are said to increase productivity...well, whose productivity are they referring to? I imagine that those who are already self-motivated and focused usually need more privacy, not less. Perhaps, they need to look at the work ethics of the company and its employees.

In Michael Moore's "Where to Invade Next", it was shown that Italians have a more relaxed work environment. They allow their employees a 2-hour lunch breaks so they can spend time with their families. The bosses are respectful to even those lowest in the company ladder, and they do not believe in over time and employees are given long vacations (and money to spend for that as well).

When interviewed, the bosses simply said "what are we going to do with all that money? It is better that everyone is happy." -- I'm paraphrasing, but that's the gist of it.

And yet, Italy is one of the most productive countries. these "revolutionary, open work spaces" are simply a band-aid for the real problem: employee disatisfaction (pay, hours, respect and job security).

Now back to these open-design work spaces...

Short-term goal: potentially more money for the company

With no walls up, it will be easier to supervise slackers. Conformists would feel the pressure to perform all the time, after all, the boss might be watching.

Long term effect: people still get sick because they're still worked to exhaustion. Most families will still live paycheck to paycheck and brilliant minds who crave privacy are left out.

They're forcing change for monetary gains, not employee satisfaction.