Why Does Business Have Open Cubicle
Spaces?
I have been working in open cubicle
spaces on and off for most of my working career. From a working perspective I can say that
they suck. I know it is cost effective
for the business, at that is what they believe from a dollar cost standpoint. I have heard many times it is to encourage
interaction amongst the employees.
However, there is plenty of research
to suggest that people need quiet uninterrupted time to be really productive. The book “Deep Work” by Cal Newport makes a
great case for this. I can hear the
critics of this, “people will just waste more time if by themselves, they will
surf the internet.” If that is true it
is more of a negative reflection of bad management. You either hired the wrong employees or you have
not provided enough work. People want
to be engaged and busy at work. If they
are bored, they will eventually leave and until that time they will be unproductive
and surf the internet.
When people do have challenging work
with deadlines the last thing they need is an open cubicle with many distractions.
The idea of having the open space for
collaboration is a false narrative. People
engage in the same amount of non-work interaction as the do for work related
when placed in an open environment. For
example, I have a person who sits near me and he repeats the same story about
something personal in his life 4-5 times over the course of the day as people
walk by. Now would he have done the same
if people came by his office, yes, but everyone around him would have not had
to hear it over and over again.
Businesses really need to evaluate
the cost benefit of open cubicle farms.
They should experiment to see if there is a productivity change when
individual offices are available. At
least maybe provide certain offices that people can go to for quiet deep work
time. There is much truth in the Dilbert
cartoon on open cubicles for a reason. They suck.
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