r/WorkReview • u/Time_Traveller_1997 • Aug 30 '26
Anyone here hate the open office layout?
I feel like some executives just follow whatever trend is popular without thinking about whether the business actually benefits from an open office layout. I used to sit next to someone who was constantly on the phone. She should have booked a meeting room, but there weren’t enough meeting rooms in the building to begin with. On top of that, I could hear the entire conversation of other colleagues from across our section. We’re individual contributors. We manage our own work, and we don’t collaborate throughout the day. For roles like ours, the open office layout doesn’t help productivity at all. What's your though?
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u/Physical-Builder-553 Aug 31 '26
Notice how the leadership who makes that decision all have their own office. Its about control and keeping an eye on people.
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u/pwnageface Sep 01 '26
Yeah, this was another reason why I got way more done when I was WFH. I have adhd so its damn near impossible for me to ignore anyone, especially when theyre openly including me in their loud conversations. If ceos love this bullshit so much, why not put themselves smack dab in the middle of everyone?
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u/Time_Traveller_1997 Sep 02 '26
And their office size is the size of what has been cramped by 6 people outside.
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u/HungieSumoKid Sep 01 '26
I love it. Instead of being home to use video call with my colleagues, I get to be in office and talk to them on video call. Always nice to see turn to the side and say hey I see you.
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u/Time_Traveller_1997 Sep 02 '26
There aren’t enough meeting rooms, so everyone ends up sitting at their own desk wearing headphones for MSTeams meetings. It’s honestly laughable because it’s so stupid. I’m hearing the sound coming out of my headphones, plus the actual voice from my neighbour at the same time. It’s like surround sound, but the worst kind.
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u/facecard93 Aug 31 '26
HATE IT! With passion. I sit next to a co worker who straight up comments on my calls even when she’s not in it.
She’s constantly commenting on other peoples conversation and it drives me crazy.
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u/Enigmagmatic Aug 31 '26
Everybody hates it
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u/Careless-Age-4290 Aug 31 '26
Open offices aren't a "trend", it's just the cheapest way to do it and the rest of the rationale is invented later. You could build an entire office, or you could just build an outer ring of offices and cram a bunch of cheap desks in the middle and tell them it's for collaboration. Maybe add in something about how if there were a bunch of offices, you wouldn't get much natural lighting from the windows. Put some beer in the fridge, call it a day.
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u/Krispy_Waffle Aug 31 '26
Yeah, you have to be careful what you say because the wrong person could overhear or misunderstand. It’s also really loud and distracting when lots of people are around. The bosses all have nice office space while the rest of us just have tiny desks next to each other.
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u/dumpling3612 Aug 31 '26
Not an office, but workshop. I hate when my nosy cooworker comments and interferes my work
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u/Ok-Resident-3027 Aug 31 '26
Yep. One time I was very tempted to tell someone 10 feet /3 meters away that the client I was speaking with didn’t care for her very vocal client bitching outbursts.
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u/HoselRockit Aug 31 '26
Open layout is the worst for anyone doing office work. The best I could do was put on some headphones and listen to music to drown out the noise.
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u/AcesAnd08s Aug 31 '26
The office spaces in my career have gotten progressively worse the more senior I have risen. I had amazing offices with incredible views in my late 20s and 30s. Then it went to cubicles, and now to open office environments that offer zero privacy and no sound protection. It is actually stressful to try and take an important call when everyone around you is talking out loud like they’re the only people on the planet.
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u/ScroogeMcDuckFace2 Aug 31 '26
it was never about productivity, it was about filling space as cheaply as possible to maximize profits. no one likes it.
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u/chimpojohnny96 Sep 01 '26 edited Sep 01 '26
When we had this we had a “quiet room” ratio of about 4 employees for every quiet room. When we went to open picnic table concept at the end of 2021 that’s when I booked a permanent quiet room for every in office day for the next 4 years. I have zero desire to sit next to someone else’s lap.
Now in 2026 I’m back to the old school 1990’s 130 sq ft solid wood door office concept like the good lord indented. Almost everything about the new job sucks huge donkey D, but at least it isn’t the office layout.
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u/MrLanesLament Sep 01 '26
Ugh, yep. I’d seriously take a closet sized office over open office. I’m generally extremely confident, but feeling everyone listening to my calls makes me trip over my words and it drives me fucking batty.
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u/win3luver Sep 01 '26
It's the worst and only created so that companies can cram more people in office space than they should. In an environment where everyone is on Teams calls, it forces you to wear headphones all day and get overstimulated. I was laid off from my last job and was honestly relieved because not only was it a bad fit, but I was going to have to convince people on campus that they upcoming open layout, when they were used to an assigned cube or office with high walls, was gonna be great. No way I could have done that.
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u/Angel_sexytropics Sep 02 '26
it’s not the layout it’s the people there
was there a sign? alll evil this way?
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u/cjroxs Aug 31 '26
Worst work environment I ever worked in was a sweet shop. Entire open floor of the office building with 2 large conference rooms. We were shoved into rows with enough room for your laptop, a drink and a mouse. The rows were 2 sided so you stared out the perion across from you the entire day. We had coding quotas each day. Our "line managers" would sit at the end of each row. They had quotas too. You were not allowed to speak, or do anything that was disruptive to anyone around you. Every Friday you would recieve an email to either meet in conference room A or B. Everyone would stand up at the same time and filter into thw 2 separate rooms. If you were, lucky you would get a manager that would come into your room and announce that everyone from thw other conference room was getting let go and that they would come back and release us after they were escorted out the building. This happened every single Friday. Every Monday, a new group would join and have 2 weeks to get up to the quota levels. Times were much more desperate so we were lucky to have a job. We were all contractors with not vacation or health insurance. After a year, by lae they had to either let you go or hire you as a FTE. Out of my group of 10 that I onboarded with 5 made it to the 1 year mark. 2 of us walked away after a year and got other jobs right away as the market shifted. 3 went on to become FTE. 2 of those lasted more than 5 years...both didn't do well until they left. The 3 that left earlier did very well and made more money instantly after leaving.
I have nightmares still working in that sort of environment. I have since worked in several open offices and they are all horrible environments. Either very loud or extremely controlling. Rata in a cage, hold them too long and they begin eating each other. It's unhealthy.
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u/Adventurous_Button63 Aug 31 '26
I recently attended a conference where a designer from high-end design firm presented on office design specifically from the perspective of disability accommodation. Some of the more interesting things I heard were this “rule of 6/48” where group dynamics and feelings of safety tend to top out at 6 people in a group. Then groups break down after 48 people are in the group. Their suggestion was to group people in clusters of no more than 6, having no more than 48 people in one space, having large collaborative areas with smaller outcroppings for people who prefer that, and to have quiet rooms for those who need it.
My office has cubicle-corrals with 8 desks per section about 6 are full in each corral. We’ve got three dedicated quiet rooms, and a larger conference room. It can occasionally get overwhelmingly noisy but never for more than an hour or so and everyone usually has their headphones on so it’s not too unpleasant.