Post by cookiemdough on Dec 28, 2015 9:54:04 GMT -5
I thought this was interesting. I have seen a lot of the open floor plans in tech companies where innovation and collaboration is prioritized. I am not sure how this works in a banking setting. I thought that in some areas the mark of "making it" traditionally was having your own office. I guess we will see...
"No hiding place for executives in Citi’s new open-plan headquarters"
Amid a costly company restructuring that is expected to affect at least 2,000 jobs, senior executives at Citi will move into its renovated New York headquarters next month with a notable feature missing – doors.
The 39-floor tower in downtown Manhattan will be open-plan to save on costs, foster interaction among workers, boost energy levels and improve communication, The Wall Street Journal reported. Most employees will not even get their own desks, and will instead move around different workspaces, the paper said.
The financial group’s chief executive Michael Corbat will also not have a private space of his own. “You’re going to be forced to bump into people. I want people interacting around our business and ideas,” Mr Corbat told the newspaper.
A Fortune magazine story this year said that the main advantage of an open-plan office is that they are cheaper, but rather than foster collaboration, the environment is likely to make people more “irritable and aggressive”. Another feature of open-plan offices is that they can “handle rapid changes in personnel numbers”, Fortune said.
Citi had 239,000 employees as of September this year, Bloomberg reported, compared with 374,000 before the financial crisis when it began trimming headcount consistently, in line with the overall banking industry.
Citi will take a charge of about US$300 million in the fourth quarter to help “resize our infrastructure and our capacity to deal with the continuing low-revenue environment”, it said this month when confirming the latest round of job cuts. For the year, restructuring charges will total $458m, the lowest annual amount since 2010, according to Bloomberg.
According to The National’s Workplace Doctor columnist Alex Davda, a business psychologist and client director at Ashridge Executive Education, Hult International Business School, and based in the Middle East, open-plan offices can create the space for collaboration, communication and creativity.
“It sends some good messages across the organisation and to those new joiners; hierarchies and traditions are of secondary importance to working together to make positive change,” he said.
Mr Davda said: “Wall-less workspace also allows senior people to naturally spot talent, observe real-time behaviour and organically get a feel for their organisation.
“On the flip side, it means people can no longer hide behind their office doors and in meeting rooms.”
However, many people both old and young still find comfort in personalising both desk and office space and experience a sense of satisfaction in the routine and structure that it allows for, according to Mr Davda.
“With this in mind, especially among more introverted employees, I would suggest Citi continue to communicate and collaborate effectively when managing this change, and think seriously about ways employees can still make the space their own, even if it is just for one day at a time,” he said.
Post by tacosforlife on Dec 28, 2015 10:05:44 GMT -5
I guess this just really depends on the type of work. My job is not particularly collaborative. I have discrete projects that I have to do by myself, and I have to get a certain number done each month. A completely open floor plan would make this SO HARD.
A cube is NBD to me because I can put on headphones to block out distracting sounds. But the inability to block out visual distractions would be incredibly challenging to me.
This is my nightmare. I need my own space. Even when I work offsite I need a small space that is mine.
The noise factor alone would drive me insane. This is why I work with Bose headphones now.
We all have noise cancelling headphones but the white noise is so effective that when I try to talk to the woman 8' away she can't hear me unless I get up and go closer.
My building is supposed to have white noise, but it isn't effective. Plus the walls in my section are paper thin and I can hear everything on the other side from a different organization. The guy next to the wall watches a lot of youtube.
I feel like the lack of ownership of any space will lead to a high turnover rate of employees. The article even mentioned how people like to personalize their spaces, but without an assigned desk that would be impossible. It also seems like it would lead to more illness because of our low number of sick days people are not going to stay home when "it is just a cold."
Post by LoveTrains on Dec 28, 2015 10:18:21 GMT -5
I presently work in a temporary office structure that is a trailer. Like a construction trailer. It is open floor plan and I supervise two employees. It is impossible to have personal conversations with them about their work and its very frustrating. Like I have to go on a walk with them to provide feedback in an open and honest manner because otherwise everyone will listen to our conversation in the trailer.
Thankfully our new building will be ready in March and I'll go back to my private office.
My itty bitty company has one room with multiple desks. I like it a lot of the time because I'm never alone and I can always discuss things as they come up. I rarely have to hunt someone down to ask them a quick question. However, it's really difficult to concentrate when I have to write reports or I have a project that requires my undivided attention. I also wish I could close a door to make a private phone call. Now, I have to go out to my car to make doctor's appointments or call my mom.
Post by EllieArroway on Dec 28, 2015 10:22:27 GMT -5
No one has offices in my building (tech company). Our floor plan is totally open. We do have some huddle rooms designed for 2-4 people that we use to hide out when we need quiet time.
It took me a while to get used to working like this but I love it now. I recently spent some time in a different location where everyone had their own cubicles and I felt like I couldn't ever find anyone I needed. It really made me appreciate my desk where I can see everyone on my team from my seat.
I work in a corporate office for a bank. It's a giant cube farm and only 2 people out of about 1300 have an actual office. When I need to talk to someone privately, I go into the conference room. What's tough is my boss is out of state and he's in a cube right next to some of my analysts so in order for him to have any type of "management" calls, he has to find an office. I'm a leval 2 manager, he's a level 4 and even his boss, who is considered 'senior management' works out of a cube. I don't know how they get anything done.
If everyone is wearing headphones doesn't it defeat the purpose of having an open floor plan?
I think many of my employees would be less likely to tell me things if they had to say it in front of everyone or pull me into a side room. I also think much of the work I do doesn't need to be left out for anyone to see in a shared space. Also, people bothered me 100x more when I worked in a cube.
Post by penguingrrl on Dec 28, 2015 10:27:11 GMT -5
Hs company is open plan. Nobody has an office with doors, no cubicles. Right now, since he's newer and still has a lot of questions, it has been nice because if he has a question he can ask whoever is around. But he knows it's going to get old fast because there are a ton of distractions.
His friend who helped get him in the door is looking to leave and the open concept is a huge factor in that. She's naturally very introverted and it's too much for her. She works from home as much as she can get away with because of it.
I wonder if this whole notion that it promotes collaboration and is better for the company is a cover for "we just don't want to spend the money" lol.
I think for a lot of companies, it probably is. I don't doubt that some jobs need a lot of collaboration. But I am suspicious that there are that many jobs that need that much collaboration all day long. At some point, the numbers have to be entered into the spreadsheet, and that can't really be done by committee. I still think cubes probably provide a sufficient middle ground. But then, I'm old and crotchety.
I work in an office like this. Only c-level execs and those reporting directly to them have offices. I am neutral on the whole thing. I previously had an office and I miss it but not as much as I thought I would. I leave headphones in all day and I report to someone with an office so I can close a door for private conversations with my boss. The people who report to me do not have the same luxury so there is a lot of instant messaging and conversations as we walk to fill up our waters.
And I once had a client who adopted the philosophy of the OP- no offices at all. That was too far. The c-level employees just had huddle rooms permanently reserved for them, which basically made them their own offices and then there weren't enough for everyone else.
Post by CallingAllAngels on Dec 28, 2015 11:03:39 GMT -5
H's former company was like this. No one had an office. Then they remodeled and only C-level and the finance director had an office. He took a lot more sick days than he would have otherwise. He gets bad seasonal allergies, and sometimes he is sneezing and blowing his nose nonstop. If he had an office he could hole up and get work done, but he would stay home sick so no one had to listen to that all day.
There is no collaboration going on here with everyone in headphones!!! Also, this is why last month I blocked out an hour on my calendar for 12:50 p.m. to 1:50 p.m. every day and I leave and go somewhere quiet to have lunch, surf the net, read a book -- it's too much talking and distraction and shit. Today no one is here and I have gotten more done in the hour and 45 mins I have been here than I could ever get done on a regular day.
This is me. I get so much work done when either no one is in OR I put in ear plugs. I am supposed to be able to work from home a day or two a week ...that will help immensely.
Post by earlgreyhot on Dec 28, 2015 11:28:39 GMT -5
My DH's company is like this, no offices. Lots of conference spaces in various sizes and, in their larger offices, some really nice lounges.
Took him a awhile to get used to it, but he doesn't mind it now. He likes the collaborative atmosphere it promotes, but says there are challenges as well.
I wonder if this whole notion that it promotes collaboration and is better for the company is a cover for "we just don't want to spend the money" lol.
Ding ding ding!
Study after study has shown that open offices lower productivity and morale and the vast majority of workers hate them. But companies do it because it's cheap.
My office is getting redone and moving to only directors and above having offices. Right now our building is really old and most of us have an office with 1 roommate. Anyone with direct reports gets their own.
I don't know how I'm going to handle private meetings when I lose my office. I meet face to face with everyone on my team at least every other week to make sure that they're ok. That's 10 hours of time that I'm sitting in my office with just one other person. So... now that's 10 hours of a conference room? I guess? What happens at review time?
One of my clients when I was consulting had an open floor plan and it was terrible. The C-level people all sat at one end of the big open room and then the rest of us just sort of huddled around other tables. I was coding at the time and I was the only one working on their databases. I had no reason to talk to anyone 99% of the time so I spent 2 years with headphones in.
Post by sparrowsong on Dec 28, 2015 11:42:53 GMT -5
I read an article somewhere once about how these open office concepts and shared workspaces are so detrimental to introverts and really hurt their productivity.
Post by 2curlydogs on Dec 28, 2015 11:45:23 GMT -5
I have lots of thoughts on this.
1) Tech companies - especially when you're dealing with your devs - are generally peopled by introverts. Unless this is a bottom-up movement (like at Valve) it generally makes folks miserable. I've never understood why higher ups do this shit because turnover at tech companies is also really bad for creating solid products.
2) That said, I actually like Valve's approach because it's not just "no offices". It's "no hierarchy". The company is flat. Desks are movable, groups can be created (or not). You work on what projects sound interesting to you. Etc. (for the curious, google "Valve Software Handbook" to read)
3) In our office it's a mix. In our creative area it's completely open floor plan - you sit at a long table with 3 other people. You can personalize your space, but there's not much of it. They actually seem to like it, as it does what it's designed to do - foster collaboration. We have people working on massive, massive projects (like the "look" of the Super Bowl), so it requires a lot of constant team work to pull off.
Most of our Digital and IT people, however, would burn shit down if our area went open floor plan. We have half cubes and, even then, 90% of people have headphones on all day. What we do requires a fair amount of concentration and significant focus. You generally don't have 3 people working on the same bit of code, so there's no need for that sort of collaboration.
Our Account Services team is somewhere in between the two, I think.
We're going to be re-designing the building over the coming years to try and increase space for employees and also maximize collaborative areas (we are woefully short on conference rooms). I'm really curious to see where they go with it.
Did these people ever read a Room of One's Own? For serious! This would make me crazy. I do not want to work in a fish bowl.
Cubes are bad enough, but people need a quiet space to work sometimes. Collaboration is for conference rooms.
When I was first pregnant my little department of 3 had to move to a shared conference room for a short period of time. I wasn't "out" yet and it was such a pain that every call I made I had to leave the building or take a weird hour for lunch bc the dr was closed during normal business hours. If I couldn't catch someone on the phone I would have to dash from the room if they returned my call. Ugh. Misery.
We are in a mixed cubicle and closed door office environment right now but they are renovating our space next year and all offices except the top brass are going. The cubicles are getting smaller and the walls are getting shorter. There are a limited number of breakout rooms in the plan, which have already been designated by the staff as the crying rooms (tongue in cheek).
The setup really doesn't make sense for what we do, which is quite individual in nature, but the entire Canadian federal government is mandated to make this change. They call it 'Workplace 2.0'. It's supposed to also promote flexibility and WFH but WFH is not supported in my dept so I doubt that will be part of it. It's definitely about saving money and cramming more people into the space. We joke that Workplace 3.0 will be bunk desks.
My building is talking about a remodel in the coming years, I swear if my office does an open plan people will burn shit down. Right now I have a cube with 6' walls and it's tolerable (save for the previously mentioned noise issues). At the rate people are quitting and retiring here, I could have a door of my own in 3-5 years. DO NOT DEPRIVE ME OF MY DOOR!!