sibelius7th

You know what I really liked about my time at University? There was a wealth of options to suit your study style. Imagine your University only had open floor plan libraries, where the only place they gave you to study was a loud, visually distracting environment. Or, you could go the other way where the only place to go to study was the quiet floor of the library. Universities are great places to study because they cater to many different personal styles of study. Your goal is to learn and they provide different styles of learning environments in which to study. It baffles my mind that employers, most of whom, one would assume, went to University, then create a single style of work environment, and think their jobs done. Providing many different styles of office spaces for the many different types of people in your employ would seem to be a prudent decision. Allow your employees to find the style that works best for them instead of forcing a one size fits all solution.

Why does it have to be either or? Why not provide a variety of different work environments, encourage employees to find the one that best suits them, and work there? I think back to my days at the University. Sometimes a louder, open space was great so I'd head to the student union or the group floor of the library. Or maybe I needed some isolated quiet time, find a private room in the library so I could think. I've worked in places that had only open spaces, and it was very difficult to find any quiet, more private rooms. There are times that I like a more open environment, and I get work done there, but when there are no quiet places I can retreat to when I need it, then it can become very frustrating to get any work done. And no, don't tell me you provide me headphones to 'block out' the noise. Sometimes its quiet I want, not louder noises to block out the existing noises (not to mention the fact that it doesn't block out visual stimulation which can be equally distracting).