What kind of office space do you prefer?

[EmilieT]

Hey guys, 

Cubicles, open plan, hot desking, private offices, home office, no office at all ... there are a lot of different office setups possible, and environments to work in.

I imagine that more often than not, the job requirements, title, as well as the company culture plays a big role in the type of office space a company chooses and designs for their employees - but I'd like to hear your thoughts on it 

What kind of office space do you/did you work in? Is there a setup you personally prefer or don't find motivating at all? Any reason behind that?

[EmilieT]

Oh I see! A lot of responsibilities @Cleoriff, but a very well-oiled machine by the sound of it

[Cleoriff]

@EmilieT 

The problem was it was too much work for one person.

So I insisted on a team of 6 senior nurses with an interest in education and development to be added to the team. They had expertise in Medicine, Surgery, Care Of The Elderly, Paediatrics, Coronary Care and Orthopaedics. They spent 2 days with me and 3 days on the wards.

Even then they had their own office.

[EmilieT]

@Cleoriff It does sound like a huge amount of work, possibly even too much for a team of 6! It must have been a fantastic opportunity for those senior nurses as well to be involved in this, under your knowledgeable wing 

[jonsie]

The Bury call centre was the same @Chris_K, spacious and without feeling claustrophobic at all.

We didn't get time to chat with colleagues but it was great listening in on mates dealing with angry customers 

[gmarkj]

To be honest, being in an open office is much better - you have interaction with others, but can shut yourself away either by booking a room or putting some headphones on.
The only way hotdesking would work for me is if every desk would be set up the same (monitors, keyboard, etc) which obviously would incur some start up cost as they would have to match the minimum spec across all desks - for me that would either be wireless keyboards/mice with dual separate monitors, or replace the wireless with a docking station and then you can have wired.
I realise that I am at the upper end of the user spectrum though and this would not represent the normal user.

[jonsie]

Hot desks a definite no no, I like my own. I clean it myself and its just the same when I come in each morning albeit things slightly out of alignment due to the designated duster /cleaner moving them. 

[Glory1]

@EmilieT personally I have never heard of an office where secretaries and administrators were expected to hot desk. I can't see how they could do their jobs, especially the admin part, without having a dedicated work space. There are files you need to hand on a daily basis which you need to keep for a start that you would keep in your desk, normally locked away I suppose you could have a cabinet where they could be locked away but it would make life very difficult to have to come in every day and find a different desk to sit at and do her, or his as there are male secretaries too, work for a group of people.

Very few secretaries, in particular, work for just one person these days. Only the most senior, ie working for CEO, CFO etc just work for one man. I had one main boss who did my reviews, was responsible for my rises and so on but my work also included his team of analysts or consultants. 

Only once did I work exclusively for one man as his administrator, also providing secretarial support for him when required, ie the odd letter or memo needed but primarily my role was purely admin. It wasn't as busy as looking after a group of people and I missed the interaction with others in a group.

And to be honest I enjoyed looking after a team of men. I had more than one person to chat to and different types of interesting work supplied by each consultant/analyst gave me different views of the business. I learned a lot more about their areas of expertise too. I think working for just one man boring. But that is just my view. 

Working for a group of people as opposed to just one also meant I was never without something to do. They always kept me very busy.

But the main point is I never heard of an administrator or secretary hot desking. And I think if that was the case she, or he, would have a very difficult job made even more difficult having to find a desk to work at each day. I imagine there are offices where secretaries are also expected to hot desk now but am very glad I never had to experience that.

Also I suppose, being retired for nearly 15 years plus a further 5 years working in Waitrose, all sorts of changes took place in the secretarial/admin working environment. So glad I missed out on hot desking, if that was one of them.

[Glory1]

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@jonsie wrote:

Hot desks a definite no no, I like my own. I clean it myself and its just the same when I come in each morning albeit things slightly out of alignment due to the designated duster /cleaner moving them. 

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I'm with you @jonsie I would hate having to deal with a hot desk scenario. Like you I liked having a dedicated work space I could set up to my liking. Things on my desk the way I used them and preferred. And I also cleaned my desk as I found the cleaning staff a bit hit and miss.

At Waitrose the cashiers have to clean their tills and the belts as the cleaning staff aren't allowed to touch them for fear of damaging them. I had no problem with that as I cleaned better than them.

[Glory1]

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@gmarkj wrote:
The only times I have had my own office were if I had booked a room to work in for a project with a deadline.
The rest of the time I worked in a shared office with other people.
I have never had to hot desk either - I have had my own workspace at each role I have filled.
Being able to set things up as I want is a massive bonus - as with @Chris_K I use multiple monitors to make it easier to flick between files and/or perform analysis on data while updating what data I am pulling out.

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@gmarkj when I worked in an open plan office, I could also book a room if I was working to a deadline and needed peace and quiet to complete a specific task. But the problem was, on the odd occasions there was no room available. Having my own office meant I never had that problem

[gmarkj]

To make life easier @Glory1, the companies that I have worked for run a number of offices - so if a room is not available at one I try another local office.