At the start of the pandemic, my employers sent us all home. WFH actually went very well. As a design engineer I needed a few things… Once I got all my big reference binders, boxes of samples, my Machinery's Handbook, my calipers, & a better chair, I was all set. My monitors at home are better than the monitors at work. I didn't miss my office in the least.
So since we were all gone they upper management decided to renovate. I thought this meant clean, paint, maybe some new furniture here & there, oh & CLEAN some more. But no, they decided to totally remodel most of the building. Eliminating all the cubical walls & turning it all into the “open office” floorplan. They created different 2 different “zones”, the Collaborative Zone & the Focus Zone.
Only director level or higher gets an office. I asked if I should use a cart to haul my stuff around (extra monitor, binders, etc…) & was told that I didn't need all that, everything was online, & it was time for me to get on board with the modern company, or something along those lines.
My question: does anyone actually like working in the open office format?
So far I am still working from home. My boss makes noises about me coming in & forces the issue with in person meetings. One of which I attended in November, 15 people in a room for 10 at most & I got sick for the first time in 2.5 years. When I do go in (5 or so times in 2.5 years), I just go back to my old office because whomever is supposed to be there never is. I am seriously hoping they just get rid of me, because I am not going back. Not to that fucking Focus Zone. & I'll do my collaboration on fucking MS Teams.