The Privacy Crisis: Do you have enough privacy at work?

Recently, Harvard Business Review published an article on the issue of solitude in the workplace with Steelcase Inc. More than ever before, workers are going public with complaints about their lack of privacy at work. Blogs and online chat rooms are full of soliloquies about what everyday life in an open-plan workplace is like: how easy it is to be distracted, how stressful the environment can be and how hard it is to get any individual work done. Many say they literally can’t hear themselves think.

In organizations all over the world, people are facing brand-new problems that require sharing information and putting knowledge together in new ways. Although workplaces today make it seemingly easy for people to collaborate, most leaders remain dissatisfied with the pace and frequency of breakthroughs.

Without question, successful collaboration requires giving your team easy access to each other. But it also requires giving each individual the time and places to focus and recharge, and too many workplaces today aren’t delivering on privacy as a necessity.
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Five ways to gain control over your privacy:
1. Strategic anonymity: Being unknown / “invisible”
Going to work at a café or other place where you’re unknown or engaging in online discussions using an avatar or handle.

2. Selective exposure: Choosing what others see
Opting for a telephone call instead of a video conference or choosing which personal items to display in a workstation.

3. Entrusted confidence: Confidential sharing
Discussing a personal situation with a colleague or being in a performance review with your manager.

4. Intentional shielding: Self protection
Wearing headphones to block out audio distractions or sitting with your back against a wall.

5. Purposeful solitude: Separating yourself
Finding an enclave, going outside, sitting in the farthest empty corner of a large room.
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Read the full research on The Privacy Crisis by Steelcase here.
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Even in a shared, open workspace like Workspring, there are levels of privacy. As your work needs change throughout the day, Workspring fosters a flexible workspace that matches and supports your needs as well as privacy.