Re:Workers, Take Off Your Headphones
by omgsean on Monday April 30, 2012 @11:42AM
(#3909679)
Headphones are part of the culture in our open-plan office. It's the equivalent of closing your office door.
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I agree. I see pervasive headphone use as a sign that an office floor plan isn't making it easy for people to concentrate.
Then is it considered counterproductive or rude for an employee to always have his or her headphones on? Or do you have something like an in office chat room that everyone is expected to respond to?
Re:Workers, Take Off Your Headphones
by pavel_lishin on Monday April 30, 2012 @01:02PM
(#3910110)
Not OC, but we have an IRC chatroom, and we're all on AIM. If something is important, it's not considered rude to walk up to someone's desk and get their attention. If we're in the middle of something, we'll sort of wave you off and mutter "gimme a few minutes".
If we're really digging into something and need a few hours of uninterrupted time, we'll announce it in IRC.
We're an agency that does client work so a lot of times we're each lone-wolfing a separate project and there's less need for constant communication. We do have a chat room and we're all on AIM. If you want to talk to someone who has headphones on you generally ping them on IM with "do you have a minute" before walking over to their desk.