Your work place is trying to kill you

Regular readers of this blog know that I work from home after many grueling years of corporate whoring. I simply cannot imagine squeezing back into another pair of too-tight heels and prancing around a corporate ant farm day after day. I have put that life behind me.

And now I have a new reason to be glad:

They’ve been with us for decades. But now it seems open plan offices may be bad for us.

Excessive noise and lack of privacy, as well as constant distraction, cause workers to suffer problems such as stress, say researchers.

Perhaps even more worrying for employers is a 20 per cent drop in productivity blamed on poorly planned office space.

Only 20%? That actually surprises me. I’ve spoken to enough telecommuters to understand that the days they work from home are the days they are most productive. Heck, I can get more work done at Starbucks than I can in an office.

To me, working in cubicle hell is akin to trying to work on a plane. Crowded, cramped, recycled air, little light… the list goes on. I suffer from anxiety (crowds) and depression (everything else) anyway, so being in that kind of environment inevitably leads to burnout.

Now? I work at home. I shun pants whenever possible. My Chihuahua sits with me as my muse. Life is good. And the coffee is way better.