Why do you think working conditions are good at Facebook. Facebook’s style of open-plan office & surveillance culture is one of the unhealthiest, anti-human work environments around. Even if the company had ethical self-awareness, I’d stillstay away just due to the physical health degradation that results from that type of open-plan office, and to help reduce the cargo-cult copying that leads other companies to mistakenly adopt that type of open-plan layout just because Facebook does.
Came here to mention the Open Plan Hell that being a FB dev would mean, which is just a layer on top of the primary evil they create with product.
Or do the kids just think that's how it is/has to be these days?
The data against open plans is abundant and solid, but firms just won't abandon a clearly failed design experiment <beats head against desk ... in our new open office>.
> Or do the kids just think that's how it is/has to be these days?
I just don't think that's the defining feature of a job for most people, and most people don't care so much. All of my schooling happened in "open office" plans, like studying at the uni library. I also learned to cope with an eight hour workday. Why are more people not demanding four hour workdays?
Open plans are less stifling/depressing to me than cubicles, and I don't watch enough Mad Men to be fixated on having my own office.
To me, it's like being fixated on any office perk. You could die on the hill of demanding catered food. And that may be worthwhile to you. But I think I'd be at a worse position in life if I suddenly needed catered food to tolerate my job.
If we're ranking job perks, floor plan just isn't in my top 5, and I reckon it's the same for most people. Pay, how interesting the day-to-day, how cool are my coworkers, how long is my commute, is it slave labor, is there a culture of people interrupting me regardless of floor plan, etc.
Finding a good job just isn't Build-a-Bear workshop, so you have to pick your battles. Keep that in mind when you look around and assume "I guess other people aren't up in arms over $thing because they know no better."
You’re just using anecdotes to argue against evidence here. Nobody cares who has mere preferences for what. No part of the open plan office debate is about that. It’s just about demonstrable losses of productivity, morale and workplace health.
