This isn't really new, we known about issues regarding open office plan since the 1980s. I think it's mentioned in Peopleware at least.
So why is it that companies keep building open office spaces? Are people really so focused on short term savings that they do not care that it will cost more in the long run?
Because closed offices are expensive, limit your options, and are less flexible. A company with 10 people now can scale up to 15 or even 20 in the same space with an open plan, but would have to move offices and break leases with a closed plan.
Another way to say the some of same thing is, for the same office budget, you can get a nicer place in open-plan format than closed-plan. When looking at offices, people tend to prefer the nicer offices and nicer locations. Hence: open plan.
What's really weird is that lots of the new, VC funded startups that should be really progressive about coddling employee needs are building these kinds of offices.
If the higher-ups have their own offices, whereas the plebes are amassed in the sweatshop, it gives the former a sense of dominance. It increases testosterone production, which makes them feel better, stronger, more energetic.
It's very hard to change something in a place if it makes the decision-makers feel really good.
"Rational actors" my ass. We are all a bunch of chimpanzees.
Here at Instructure, nobody has offices. And no, the CEO does not just camp out in a conference room all day. He's normally at his desk, out in the open.
We have open desks all around a core of conference rooms and a whole bunch of small 1 and 2-person rooms where you can get peace and quiet if you need it. (And people use them a lot.)
I've been in all sorts of office layouts and they all have their problems. I'm not sure I'd prefer having a private office again, personally speaking.
"Rational actors" my ass. We are all a bunch of chimpanzees.
I think it's a little bit more nuanced than that. My guess is that people are mostly rational in many ways, but far less than totally rational in many ways. Some economists and social-science types refer to the term "bounded rationality".[1] I think that's about right.
Showing a picture of iProduct lined desks with young people staring intently into their screens looks a lot cooler and trendy than a picture of a hallway with closed doors I guess.
People go to great lengths to try to prove that business isn't business.
And yet all of my experience says: business is business.
If they're catering to employee needs, that's a non-financial benefit to the job that they're trading on. They took something else from somewhere else.
Why does management love open-office plans?
It's easier to see who's doing what and to spot anyone not doing anything important.
We talk a lot about privacy here on HN, but it's sort of taboo to mention that most startups work aggressively to deprive you of any sort of privacy.
Gotta make sure they get their full 8-18 hours a day of you.
So why is it that companies keep building open office spaces? Are people really so focused on short term savings that they do not care that it will cost more in the long run?