The Open Office Floor Plan is Dead

“We have to take the fear away from people.” — Carol Bartz, former Yahoo CEO

A few years ago, I walked into the high-rise office of a major national accounting firm, still redolent of fresh paint and solder. They’d put millions of dollars into the renovation, ripping out walls and enlarging common areas.

The corner offices that generations of associates had longed for were now gone. Instead, rows of tables faced floor-to-ceiling windows, an electrical outlet spaced every few feet.

“Professionals today don’t want to be holed up,” the office president told me.

Of course, the Big Four firm was far from an innovator in this concept. Over the last decade, the open office floor plan became a hallmark of corporate design. It became a symbol of collaboration, a way to manufacture the graven image of a scrappy start-up where nobody has a title and everybody works together to move fast and break things.

Now, in the age of coronavirus: Long live the cubicle. Blame the elephant.

As a global pandemic triggers our base human instincts, the pendulum has swung.

CEOs across Corporate America report that they are breaking apart their open-office floor plans in preparation for their workforce to…