[NamTaf]

My current office has 475mm high dividers. Next year they plan to relocate us to the 'workplace of the future' with barriers that in some instances are sub-300mm. They have 3 setups - a 4x desk each getting a 90 degree partition, a 3x each getting 120 and a 6x flat rectangular thing with no dividers. We will all be expected to hotdesk (what happens to my desktop workstation is anyone's guess?) and will get a single ultra-widescreen attached to a laptop dock (bye productivity gains from 2 monitors). Each of the configurations has less overall desk real estate which is going to be fun when we have to roll out A0 drawings.

I already get constantly distracted and find it hard to work. I'm placed next to a corridor just near where one of 3 entryways from the foyer into the office area is. Previously, I was next to 1 of 2 printers, at a junction to a hallway holding the toilets, which doubled as a spot for people to strike up conversation. I rarely get any extended periods of focus here which is infurating when my job is structural analysis, maths, etc. We are currently given a grand total of 8 meeting rooms per floor (200+ people), most of which are permanently tied up with meetings so you can't even use them for private workspaces. This is something they claim they'll fix in the new office but in reality you will be lucky to get one.

The new place sounds and looks (when I checked out their examples of the desks) like it's going to be a nightmare even worse than this. At least here I can sort of sink into my seat and fall below the dividers, and at least I also get my own space as a desk that I can customise to suit my own needs/ergonomics/etc. and have it feel like it's my own space where I have some miniscule hope of focusing.

I'm already polishing my CV in anticipation of bailing because of it.

[Arizhel]

>My current office has 475mm high dividers. Next year they plan to relocate us to the 'workplace of the future' with barriers that in some instances are sub-300mm.

>I'm already polishing my CV in anticipation of bailing because of it.

Crap, it looks like this infection has spread to Europe too. :-(

I really wish Europe would stop copying all the stupidest ideas and trends from America.

[NamTaf]

Don't worry, I'm in Australia.

Also not sure how my original post got downvoted since it's just recollecting my opinions on open-plan offices. Maybe the Open Plan Cabal hates me speaking ill of their utopia. Go figure.

[Arizhel]

Oh, I saw the millimeters and CV and assumed you were European; sorry!

Anyone from Europe care to comment on whether this plague has spread over there too? From what little I've read, it has.

I think, unfortunately, open-plan offices are just now the reality world-wide. Some cultures always had them (Asia), and now the cultures that had closed offices have moved that way. The US has led the world for a long time with software development, which does coincide with closed offices and then cubicles, so I think we can look forward to being a has-been and other countries becoming the leaders in software due to us adopting open-plan offices. In a couple of decades it'll probably cause a complete economic collapse and probably breakup of the US.