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by alistairSH 956 days ago
My previous office was like that. The individual offices were around the exterior wall. The cubes were in the interior. Only managers got to see daylight. It was fucking depressing.

Wife's previous office was better. Offices were around the interior, so cubes go light from the windows. Those offices had windows, so they too could get some natural light during the day.

Current office is open plan, which is kinda dumb. Seating chart has me and another middle manager next to each other. Of the people who come in regularly (no forced RTO), we're the most frequently there AND the most frequently on calls. Le Sigh.
1 comments
jstarfish 956 days ago
Heh. My previous workplace had a similar setup-- executives got perimeter offices with windows, everyone else got the bullpen.

Thankfully, the executives were rarely there and their doors were left open, so sunlight still got through.

Nothing is as bleak as security offices and SCIFs. Even the Soviets painted bunker interiors. Americans are too cheap.

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Arrath 956 days ago
Executive offices (and the attendant parking spots) that are occupied maybe 15% of the time are a huge peeve for me, a lowly bullpen resident.

Especially if we constantly have little break-off meetings or get togethers in the otherwise unoccupied office for sensitive things that we don't want overheard by the gossip mill. Maybe just give the office to someone who is 1) always here and 2) needs the space?

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alistairSH 956 days ago
That was one thing my employer got right when they built out the current HQ. Lots of small huddle rooms and conference rooms. Anything with <5 seats doesn’t require a reservation. Anything with 5+ needs a reservation, but there are enough that they’re easily found (even pre-COVID).

The CEO and CFO still have real offices. But the other C-suite are open plan (sort of, different walls and a couple of C-only conference rooms).

As far as open office goes, it’s probably as good as it gets. I don’t love it but I don’t hate it. I could stay home, but go in 3x week.

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alistairSH 956 days ago
Oh yeah, thankfully never had a SCIF job. I suppose it could be worse, there's always missile silos in the Midwest. Or a submarine. :)
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