Some sour on Apple’s ‘open’ floor plan
Construction at Apple Park, the “spaceship” headquarters in Cupertino, is projected to be completed this year. The $5 billion campus is to be a state-of-the-art facility, boasting the latest in energy efficiencies, green technologies, a 100,000square-foot fitness center, an orchard, a meadow and a pond. Some 12,000 employees are moving into the 175-acre campus over the next six months. But unfortunately some of them aren’t as excited as you’d think they’d be.
Why? Blame the new open office floor plan design.
Up until now, Apple employees have been used to having their own office space. But Apple Park will change all that. The programmers, engineers, developers and other employees who work there will be rubbing elbows with each other over long tables that they’ll be sharing in the company’s new open space environment. And some are not thrilled.
Jon Gruber, a podcaster and blogger who follows the company, is reported to have received emails from employees who threatened to leave if the workplaces aren’t suitable. “Judging from the private feedback I’ve gotten from some Apple employees, I’m 100 percent certain there’s going to be some degree of attrition based on the open floor plans,” he said in this MacRumors report.
Open office designs have been popular with many companies in recent years, but they’ve also been controversial. Executives believe that an environment without cubicles fosters collaboration, innovation and creativity. Research has backed up some of these claims. But many workers aren’t so crazy about the lack of privacy — and that guy who noisily eats his lunch just a few feet away. Tuna salad again?
Gruber claims that one vice president had the company build his “very successful” group their own building because he was so dissatisfied with the open floor plan. Business Insider reports that the company’s cloud services team has claimed its former headquarters for its own workspace, voicing concerns that “Apple employees used to privacy and a quiet work environment might be upset by the open floor plans.” Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. He wrote this originally for the Washington Post.