Potentially Going to a new gig, have had my own office for 6.5 years…new company is an open floor plan… am I wrong for freaking out a bit?

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Normal to freak out a bit, it’s very very different. Hopefully you can wfh a lot

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You’re not “wrong” but you’ll get used to it. It’s kind of fun, forces you to socialize more and be part of the office more. I mostly missed taking calls on speaker (in pre covid times).

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Just wanted to say sorry. My company pushed for the open floor plan but our GC fought back and we still have offices.

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This is pretty normal, so either you get over it or stick with a place that gives you an office.

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I would not work somewhere with an open floor plan unless I absolutely had to. The thought of it causes me way too much anxiety, and I’m so easily distracted.

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Yeah, IMO, I think it’s better for the attorneys to have offices or at least private areas. The whole company doesn’t need to hear what’s going on from a legal perspective

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Open floor plans are terrible...some genius consultant at some point 10-15 years ago convinced some progressive companies that it makes people happier/more efficient/etc. Almost universally everyone I talk to about it hates it.

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Agreed with all, the job is great and this is the only downside, may have to bite the bullet. There are private break out rooms and call rooms, and legal is apparently in their own area away from the business team, but at least all of legal including GC/DGC are sitting in the open, so it’s not like seniority gets offices.

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Yeah, this is just the norm now. Same at my company. You'll adjust.

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Not going to sugarcoat it, the open floorplan is rough for lawyers and at first it's gunna feel awful. To ease the transition, I highly recommend investing in high quality noise cancelling headphones. If it's overwhelming, try to WFH as much as possible and ease into it.

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Just to provide a counter-experience to most of the responses here, I moved to an open floor plan at my first in house job after 6 years of having an office in biglaw, and I personally found the transition to be really easy and not a big deal. It’s simple enough to grab a conference or phone room for calls, and I do think that the open plan fosters a spirit of collegiality. Just my 2 cents.

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