Stupid Ridiculous Open Plan Offices

Try a grievance under the grievance policy - that you can't get your work done in such a noisy office and with management failure to produce a workable solution. That way you'll have something in writing so if they try to tell you off you can tell them to go hang.

Fizz, its' clear that your gaffer has some issues, mainly to do with ego and being a control freak. He stops you wearing phones simply because he can. In that position I'd consider voting with my feet and be off either to another company or another area in the same company. Its a hard decision to make and one that you should not have to but it will right the situation. Put up with it till another opportunity is secured, don't go or even threaten to go until you have another job in the bag. Sticking with it is not doing you any good at all.

Fizz.

It's quite clear to me that you and your team mates have tried to reason with the manager in question, but with no joy. It's also clear that although company policy, the use of headphones has become "custom & practice" across other departments. The provision of low dividers by other managers also identifies either a problem, or a willingness to encourage and support teams. Your guy doesn't give a .

GO OVER HIS HEAD - tell the next manager up (in a team if you can) what's going on and point out the inconsistency. If nothing is done, follow the grievance procedure then. Once that fails - get the union in.

Good luck. I have a cordless phone and have been asked how many offices I have purely because I seek sanctuary for privacy and concentration. I still hate it though. Much better to have a door you can close.

Garry

[Richie]

I've always hated Offices.. never could stand em. now that I've got one ....... I hate them more.... I've got a phone where people can ring me.. and people always ring and want to know stuff that doesn't even remotley have anything to do with myside of life...
The light is on, But you won't find me there.... ( the office that is..)

[Viney]

That was one of the things i hated in Reuters, is that out team where always noisy. I dont like coming down on anyone within reason, but i did have to tell them all to naff off round the breakout area when they wherent needed.

However, we get told, as in, me, my team and the guys that work on the desks behind me, to stop laughing so much!!

I would say to your boss, that as he is not prepared to do anything about it, then you are going to go above his head. Its not professioal to do it without letting him know 1st, but you are within your rights to do it.

Hey fizz, does it say anything about ear plugs?

[timwilky]

Thinking about it, we in the UK tend to organise open plan on the cheap. I.e cramm as many backsides into a space a possible without regard for what people need of a work environment.

I was thinking of one of the French offices I visit, mainly open plan. there the ground floor central area is a coffee lounge, complete with comfy chairs in quiet areas , fecking big (30ft) palm trees, tables to lean against with tall chairs and a kiosk where they coffee comes free, but you have to pay for snacks.

The idea being you want to talk, you leave the office go downstairs for a coffee and chat and come back ready to work. seems to work very well. Discussion in the open office is generally 1 to 1 work related but again more than a few minutes do it over a coffee

I work in a similar environment, an open plan office and they used to have regular meetings around me.

To be honest, Haxsaw's suggestion to become obnoxious isn't such a bad idea. They used to have meetings around my desk until I turned around to them and told them not to. Repeatly. Being sarcastic about problems also stopped them from talking complete drivel around me too.

I do use earphones and if I still get bugged by the lusers around me, then I often work from home.

If these two options weren't available as in your case then I would have to take things further. Your new manager obviously has issues, he probably wants to make his presence felt as he is new (or new to the role). I would suggest going further up the chain and perhaps having a quiet chat with HR. I've taken something to HR before now and it was swiftly dealt with in my favour. If nothing works then perhaps its time to find a different job.

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by thor

Hey fizz, does it say anything about ear plugs?

No it doesnt say anything about earplugs

This new manager is also a contractor, his contract doesnt have long to run and you guys are right he's chucking his weight around. I'm going to wait until his contract is ended and then when his replacement starts I'm going to speak to him and ask if he has a problem with us wearing earphones when we need to concentrate and then take it from there I think.

I have thought about going over his head to our head of department, but I want to try and sort it out myself first.

I worked in a open plan office for years, loved it, much better atmosphere. But I to got distracted sometimes, not on my normal day to day work as I can zone out when doing that. But when i was working on docs and I had to think about gamma. So I used headphones as you mentioned, or simply went and did my work in the canteen. The best was just to go to my manager and tell him I'll be finishing it at home, always got it done then, and I could also get Jax to point out my mistakes.