Even before covid there were reasonable arguments that open office concepts were a form of managerial malfeasance. With the reminder that infectious disease is a thing and is often spread via the air, nobody has an excuse to not know that it's inviting illness to spread unchecked through your workforce on top of the other productivity hits.
>> With the reminder that infectious disease is a thing and is often spread via the air
One of the places I worked at in the early 2000's "experimented" with the open office concept they read about and how awesome it was for "collaboration" and "team building" and really improved communication.
It lasted six months. Two waves of the flu that knocked down a bunch of developers like napalm was the final nail in the coffin. They took out all the huge tables they put in place of the cubicles and replaced them with the 3/4 height cubicles. They also reverted back to the standard communication. Don't just walk over to someone and start talking. Use IM, ask if they have a minute, be polite, use proper channels, etc.
Suddenly, the office was like a library again. People got it. People getting sick all the time was pretty much eliminated, it was much easier to concentrate and it really felt harmonious again.
