Open floor plans and “flexible” office seating are common in today’s modern, meticulously designed workplaces. While designers and managers hope that they’ll improve communication by encouraging people to talk to one another, more than a few studies have pointed out that they may actually do the opposite, and instead are simply designed to be cost-effective. And there is widespread agreement that they make workers miserable.
If you’re stuck with an open floor plan, there are a few things you can do to block out the noise, focus and make your work space a bit more inviting every day.
Make Yourself at Home
A few personal effects, like a photo, a desk toy that expresses your personality or a sweater you can wear if it gets too cold (and we all know how chilly it gets in open offices) will make your desk — flexible seating or not — feel like a place you can settle in and get work done. Add a water bottle, hand sanitizer and lotion, and it’ll really feel like home. I like to keep an umbrella and a blazer in my desk storage, depending on the season.
Roy Mann, chief executive and co-founder of monday.com, a company that helps teams collaborate better, said he likes to keep a few clocks visible — not just the ones on your laptop or phone.
“We do this so that people can measure their time,” Mr. Mann said, “understand how long meetings take, and assess how much time they’re spending on projects.”