Re:Why Open Offices?
by deanCommie on Wednesday July 29, 2015 @12:31PM
(#9969754)
Everything is a tradeoff. Cognitive load decreases productivity. Open communication and easy collaboration increases it. The argument is that it makes up for it. The current popular opinion on HN is it doesn't.
I'm sorry I don't have empathy for bullshit rare disorders like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia
Re:Why Open Offices?
by TheOtherHobbes on Wednesday July 29, 2015 @07:13PM
(#9972257)
Rationally, it doesn't matter whether you have empathy or not. But you need to demonstrate rational understanding of the issues, and I don't think you've done that here.
There's a lot of evidence that open offices destroy productivity, and almost no evidence that they increase it.
So whatever your reasoning hiring people, paying them a lot of money, and then making it harder for them to do their jobs is an irrational position.
No, most people don't need to work in an anechoic chamber.
But any distracting noise adds to cognitive load, and since you're being paid to use your cognitive abilities, productivity suffers.
If you're paying people to do something and then making it harder for them to do it, the problem is not with the people.