\t\t\t\tYou may not have realized it, but open office workspaces comprise 70% of all formal workplaces in the United States.\u00a0 While the open office setup was first pioneered in Germany in the 1950s, it didn’t really catch on in America until the 2000s, but since then it’s adoption has seemed unstoppable.\u00a0 As we move towards the 2020s, there’s a significant pushback on the open office plan, but it’s a bit more complicated than just how we set up where and how we work.<\/p>\n
We are in a period in which the office is being disrupted in countless ways.\u00a0 There are no longer big, heavy desktop computers with giant monitors, but now giant flatscreen desktop computers are the norm, unless your company and team use laptops, in which case not even those desktops are there.\u00a0 Cubicles have been banished by the generation that grew up with the movie Office Space.<\/em>\u00a0 The internet and the software that runs on it have made remote work no longer something that you hear “one guy somewhere” gets to do, but perhaps something you yourself already do 1 or 2 days per week.\u00a0 Add to that a vibrant new coworking scene in which people who used to work from home or in coffee shops now do so in hubs of creativity and collaboration, and you’ve got a lot of changes to assimilate.<\/p>\n With all these disruptions happening simultaneously, it is no wonder that we’re feeling a bit of whiplash (cue articles and studies damning the open office).\u00a0 But the question isn’t really about the open office.\u00a0 It’s about the future of work.<\/p>\n People will cite studies showing decreases in productivity, concentration, and comfort by employees in open workspaces, as well as increases in sickness and anxiety.\u00a0 To be clear, those studies do have their merits.\u00a0 But companies are more free than ever to build a workplace (virtual and actual) that best fits their missions.\u00a0 If you’re a SAaS company with team members all around the world, your workers determine the best way to remote work for themselves.\u00a0 If you’re a traditional bricks-and-mortar business, it’s on you to find a way that creates an environment for success.\u00a0 What’s clear is that all the disruptions above have to be addressed in your vision.\u00a0 Do you want employees to be in house or remote?\u00a0 Why or why not?\u00a0 Do you want an open office plan, a traditional one, or a mixture?\u00a0 Why or why not?\u00a0 Is productivity or camaraderie more important?\u00a0 Do you have to choose?\u00a0 Why or why not?<\/p>\n What’s clear from observing these trends and asking these questions is that there are no easy answers, but there is a simple way to begin the conversation: ask, then listen.\u00a0 Find a way that works from your company’s mission outward:\u00a0 to how your team works best, and finally, to how satisfied your customers are with the results.\u00a0 The disruptions are far from over – but the clearer you and your team are on the why<\/em> and how<\/em> of your work, the better equipped you will be to deal with the ongoing changes to the workplace…and our society as we know it.<\/p>\n Do you and\/or your team have a preferred way\/mode to work?\u00a0 Share it with us (and why!) in the comments below to get a coupon for 25% off any Rascal products in our clubs.<\/em>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You may not have realized it, but open office workspaces comprise 70% of all formal workplaces in the United States.\u00a0 While the open office setup was first pioneered in Germany…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,57],"tags":[468,469,470],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat’s so bad about the open office?<\/h4>\n
The future of work<\/h4>\n