According to recent data, the number of office jobs in New York City is at all-time high, since approximately 1.5 million of the city’s 4.5 million employees are office based. Working in an office has its advantages: you’re in a familiar environment and you have a fixed place of work (a time saver in a metropolis like New York City), but office work also comes with its drawbacks. After gathering data from many surveys, here’s a list of the top 8 grumbles of office employees.
1. Lack of Privacy
Office trends shows we’re moving away from cubicles towards open space, and this has brought some positive changes, but not everyone appreciates open plan layouts. Many office workers who spend their day in this type of setting complain about lack of privacy and about not having the right space for certain decision making or problem solving tasks. Open plan offices are not bad per se, but it’s always wise to have private spaces and design office layouts taking into account different roles and tasks.
2. Chain Emails & Co.
Email is the primary form of communication in office settings, and although it has been around for years, many office workers still don’t seem to get the hang of it. A survey found that more than 60 percent of office workers cite too many emails among the top 4 sources of inefficiency at work. The most common and frustrating culprit is the overuse of the Reply-All feature, which usually ends up sending dozens of emails to everyone in the office and cluttering their inbox. Other email-related grumbles are messages typed in capitals, excessive / unnecessary exclamation marks, emails as long as an essay, and marking every email as “Urgent” (or worse, capitalizing it too).
3. The Hour-Long Meeting, 62 Times Per Month
Meetings are listed as the number one time waster in the workplace. Their length and frequency often go beyond what’s necessary, and it’s estimated that the average US worker attends 62 meetings every month. Excessive meetings interfere with the workflow and slow down decision making, when in theory they exist to achieve the exact opposite.
4. IT Woes
Slow computers, computers crashing, software updates, missing files … IT troubles rank among the most common source of frustration in office employees, and not only in the US – this seems to be a worldwide phenomenon. Some reports show that 4 out of the top 10 most common complaints are somehow IT related, and of course, that also includes printers, which often decide to run out of toner or act up when you are in a rush.
5. The Endlessly Ringing Phone
Why is it that the phone always seems to ring when your colleague has left the cubicle? It’s worse if the voicemail has not been activated, or perhaps that is not the worse it could happen, seeing that many office workers complain about their colleagues listening to their voicemail messages on loudspeaker. This is not only a breach of phone use etiquette, but also makes it hard for others to stay focused on the job due to the constant noise and interruptions.
6. What’s That Smell?
That unpleasant smell that lingers in the office microwave or hits you as you open the fridge door, or (even worse) that drifts through the air as you sit in your desk … that smell is your coworker’s lunch. The worst offenders are foods like fish, seafood, cabbage, eggs, and fermented foods. This seems to be a very common problem in the city’s offices, as highlighted in a recent article published by The New York Post.
7. Too Hot, Too Cold
OSHA recommends to keep workplace temperature between 68 and 76F, but “the battle of the thermostat” is a common feature in many offices. Overuse of heating and cooling systems has been linked to lower productivity in office environments, and it’s not understand the connection between feeling uncomfortable and being able to concentrate on the job.
8. Meeting Rooms That Are Always Booked
Office employees don’t only have too many meetings that last for too long, but they also face problems with meeting or conferencing rooms themselves, as they seem to be booked all the time or every time you need them. Also common are errors in meeting room booking system (duplicates, bookings not registering) or even worse, meeting rooms that appear as booked but end up not being used.
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New York Offices 