Pining for the cubicle? Believe it. - The Boston Globe

A very large-scale experiment to prove that distractions negatively impact productivity...

"“My dream is I can push a button and the cone of the silence just falls on me,” he said.

Between 80 and 90 percent of office spaces renovated in the past two years have some sort of open floor plan, according to the architecture and design firm HOK. The idea behind ditching so-called cubicle farms is to encourage workers to interact, as well as squeeze more people into smaller spaces — a cost-cutting trend exacerbated by the 2008 recession.

Wireless technology gives people the freedom to work from anywhere and millennials are accustomed to sharing everything, the reasoning goes, so some businesses are abandoning assigned desks altogether. Employees put their coats and purses in lockers, store papers in mobile filing cabinets, display family phones on their iPhones — and grab the first empty seat they can find."

Pining for the cubicle? Believe it. - The Boston Globe