[socalgop]

I’d say by like 2015 or 2016 people in tech realized open officers were awful and a productivity sink, but management has kept pushing them because: (1) it’s cheaper and it’s a way of visibly improving the bottom line while productivity costs aren’t captured as easily and (2) as you point out, this change came from the top. for a company to reverse course on open offices their existing management would have to admit they made a mistake. unlikely to happen.

[spacejunkie2001]

a big driver to the open plan is the cost of construction, which has skyrocketed. The cost of furniture is high too, though.

It used to be that the buildout cost $25/SF and the landlord gave you $25/SF (this obviously varies between cities and buildings), and it became a wash. Now, buildout is $60 and the LL gives you $25 so there’s a huge delta the tenant absorbs. In theory, they can’t take their buildout with them but they can take the furniture with them so it makes more sense to go open plan with alot of furniture than hard wall offices that remains.

[NobleFree]

management has kept pushing them because: (1) it’s cheaper and it’s a way of visibly improving the bottom line while productivity costs aren’t captured as easily and (2) as you point out, this change came from the top. for a company to reverse course on open offices their existing management would have to admit they made a mistake. unlikely to happen.

Ditto.