That's probably not affordable for a majority of companies.

For tech companies and engineers in the Bay Area:

1) $100-200k/yr salary 2) $200-300k/yr fully loaded cost 3) $500k-$5mm/yr value created per employee (rev or market cap or whatever) -- this is actually more like -$huge to +$huge)

Offices cost $7/ft2/mo in Palo Alto, or $2-4/ft2/mo in SF.

A private office is probably 50-100 ft2 more than open plan.

So, we're talking about $100 to $700/mo difference.

I'd personally be willing to pay $500/mo pre-tax to have a private office, vs. a desk in an shared office. Productivity benefits to company are on the order of $10-50k/mo.

Next time I do a startup, I'm doing 3-4 person sized offices for each person (i.e. you have a guest desk, workspace, etc., normally empty), and project areas shared per team, after there are more than just founders.

Have your developers work from home then. I work for a fully funded startup where the entire team is remote. I would never go back to an office (I have insane levels of productivity compared to my last gig that had an open office plan, not to mention 0 commute time).

Bravo! My productivity (and motivation) is orders of magnitude higher when I can work in my house in the South of France or at my mother in law's house on the Mexican Riviera.) I will give you 10 hours a day of full productivity if you can save me from my old Jersey City-NYC commute. I don't need to play ping pong with you to build great software for you.

Thank you! Part of my motivation for taking the job was my wife wanted the ability for us to live in Nice, France for a bit. I've noticed you mention in your HN posts that you live in the South of France; congrats on the ability to do that!

There are very few companies that enjoy outsized success with such a setup. So I think the retort to your final sentence is likely "Yes, you do".

Perhaps those companies should learn how to manage better?

How many have actually tried it?

Developer salaries are probably not affordable for a majority of companies either. But they pay them, otherwise they couldn't get people to come to work for them.

So at some level of developer pay, N companies are profitable. At N+P, fewer companies are profitable, and at N-P, more. All else being equal.

If we cared as much about our desks as we do about our pay, we'd have more offices, and companies would either make less profit, or there would be fewer companies.

But we don't have offices, because we don't insist on it.

Next time you interview, make that as important as salary.

At least some open plans, are ultra low walled cubicles. Simply install taller cubicle walls.

The cost is approximately zero compared to the costs of sick days and ruined productivity.

Fire extinguishers are expensive. However, they're pretty cheap compared to getting cited by the fire dept/OSHA for not having a fire extinguisher. And they're really cheap compared to the result of a fire that can't be put out.

A tiny office with a door is cheaper than two days of the typical programmers salary.

I had my own office when I was an undergrad sysadmin.

It is almost certainly affordable for the vast majority of them. And as the article points out, evidence suggests that they are losing money by not investing in proper office space. Walls are a hell of a lot cheaper than lost employee productivity.