Thriving in Offices with Open Layouts

Open office layouts have been gaining popularity for the last five years or more. What started off as a fad or a low cost design for start ups, has now proven to be a productive and efficient layout for even blue chip conglomerates. Sri Lanka has been no exception when it comes to adopting open office layouts, but the question is, are we culturally ready? Also, do we know and practice enough etiquette to coexist in such offices?

As managers and facilitators of open office layouts, let’s get all the staff to practice the following so that we thrive in them:

• Have Subtle Ring Tones  – No Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Please

In any office but more so in an open office, one must be mindful of others who are working. Keep the volume low and stick to a suitable ring tone for both your mobile and office phone. Those around you should not be falling off their chairs or dancing each time you receive a call. Everyone is a Bathiya and Santhush fan, but that does not give you the rights to get them grooving in office.

• Answer Personal Calls in the Common Room – Anywhere but Next to Your Colleagues

If not a common room, at least get yourself to the fire exit. Take your mobile and walk out without disturbing those around you to sort out your personal matters. Your colleagues don’t want to know how crazy last night was or whether your sick child puked on you in the morning – heyyy…what’s stinking in office?

• Avoid Eating at the Desk – Smells Fishy

Speaking of smells, the last thing you want is to sit through an office that smells of food the whole day. Don’t find excuses such as ‘but….it is only a packet of rice’, or ‘this is my baby’s lunch box, so I can eat with a spoon’. There are a few exceptions such as a piece of cake or a chocolate, which will not bother anyone.  

• Speak Softly – My Aunt in Jamaica Need Not Hear You

If you need to speak to someone who sits two rows away, please move your kind self over to his/ her seat or for goodness sake, use the intercom. The same principle applies, if you need to speak to the person next to you. Go over – don’t shout. It is not professional. It is also NOT fun for the others.

• Take Your Breaks in the Common Room – Not Next to Shehan’s Desk Please

Shehan might be the most popular guy on the floor and he might be the greatest practical joker, but that does not mean you can take your two minute breaks standing around his table. If he is free, ask him to join you in the common room and relax for two minutes. The others are trying to get their work done.

• Keep Your Things to Yourself – Your Wardrobe Looks Better at Home

Open offices grant you a designated area which is limited for a reason; real estate is expensive you see! Don’t make it a habit to bring a little bit of what is excess at home to your office. A picture or two and essential stationery are permitted. Pots, trophies, ornaments, two pairs of shoes, jogging pants, a spare duffle bag and three cushions are really not cool.

• Reprimand Your Staff Elsewhere – This is Not the Boxing Ring

You used to get your staff to your office and pull them up those days, but that era has to be put behind you. Giving feedback and pulling people up are permitted; inside a meetings room or designated area where others do not hear what is going on.

• Stop Moving in Groups – Someone Has to be Working, Surely!

When you take a break, don’t take the entire floor out for coffee and cookies. You must know where the rest room is and you do know how to pour a cup of coffee for yourself, right? If not, please learn! Your colleagues are not there to treat you like royalty.