Concerns open-plan offices detrimental to adults with attention deficit disorders
Posted June 4, 2017 12:32 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Local employers wanting to set up open work spaces are being asked to consider their impact on adults with attention deficit disorders.
Pete Quily, a Vancouver-based coach for adults with ADD, says the spaces can make it difficult for many people to concentrate.
“It’s a big problem. I would argue that open offices are horrible ideas thought up by cruel, sadistic people who can’t view the longterm and as a business owner, you’re wasting your money.”
Pete Quily says some of his clients have been forced to quit, but there are ways to alleviate this type of stress.
“Try wearing noise-cancelling headphones, earplugs, find some place in the office where you can escape to, where you can actually focus to get things done. Work more from home. If they don’t let you do that, you should really start looking for another job.
“Regular exercise, reasonably healthy food and reasonably healthy sleep. The danger of being, you know, trapped in these open office hell-holes is that you’re going to have generally more stress.”
A Google search for people with ADD coping with open office spaces returns more than a million results.
