Interruptions at work in the open planned hell hole

Getting work done at work is an oxymoron.  Which may be related to working in an open plan office which when you look at it is more like a car park with carpet and tables. Tables by the way which are merged single units with little space on them. For the hot both a hot desking and clear desk policy is also in use. The nature of my work is highly knowledge based, but there is also a need to talk to people, except I would prefer not to talk to people if I could help it. There are days when I sit down and am so motivated and geared up to work it is unbelievable.  There's a pile to be dealt with and this pile is higher than mount Everest, but bit by bit the distractions kick in. Across the other side of the office a section of people chat away about their weekend, they laugh and joke. They have no idea how their silly noise is such an irritant while I'm trying my best to clear my head and concentrate on the problem in front of me. I know I can deal with it but I need to focus, I need to concentrate. With a little quiet and a little thought I can deal with it in twenty minutes. Make the correct decision and get an email confirmation off to someone who is waiting for the reply and has been badgering me incessantly the last 5 weeks.  Five hours later I return to the same problem, barely having written a single sentence and find my day has been dictated by everyone else around me. Stuff which is not as important has just been constantly interrupting me. Then it's mid afternoon and all the motivation and will power I had earlier in the day has been sapped away. I can hear a high pitched scream in my ears, it's tinnitus kicking in, now concentration can only be fragmented to a few seconds. I'm at my workstation sitting there doing no more than just wait for the next interruption. All I am is a machine to be interrupted.  Then tomorrow morning I'll be accosted by the boss who will ask why I still haven't done this one piece of work, it will be in an accusatory tone as if I been sitting there making cakes all day and not bothering to earn my wages.

The ringer on my phone is turned to mute, so it doesn't worry me like a crying baby, I can see a flashing red light on top of it and then can make the decision whether to answer it. To this extent I've now learnt how to own my phone. The number of the caller will flash up, I can then ring them back at my own choosing. If only I could do this with people. I know my job inside out, I can work it well and I don't need to really ask anyone any questions. I am capable enough to find my own answers, pick up guidance notes, read manuals, find the right regulations.  Even in ambiguous situations I am able to weight my choice and make a decision. This is the name of the game at times.  Decision making, doing it as quickly as possible and then moving on to the next item. However, some people just vacillate and never get to the decision point. They can't seem to make a decision and then ask questions, but they don't know how to phrase the question so it is asked in the most inefficient way. The question is asked in a way which takes up more time than necessary. Because what I have to do is assure them and put them at ease. Their inabilities makes my job harder. Everyone has done their job for decades but yet they still ask stupid questions, they still don't get it. They are paid to do this and they should just get on with it. Their inabilities are down to personality, not training or knowledge, they rather interrupt someone else than think through the problem. In many respects here it doesn't matter whether the decision is right or wrong. And in all sense if you're not too sure then you'd just err to the most cautious choice, one which isn't going to be expensive to the organization.  This way the customer can query and come back again if they are unhappy.  But while they ask questions they stop another employee from getting on with their job. Usually its me, and it's not like I'm the fount of all knowledge, especially when I hear myself saying repeatedly "I don't know."

Some days it gets so bad I just go to the toilet so I can sit down with my naked arse over the pan. I put my head in my hands and there is very little noise around me. It's sad, even going there when someone has had a full stinky crap can still be a relief. I just hold my nose and breath through my mouth. I know other people use the toilets to sit and look at their smart phones.  It's a place of contemplation or just a place of escape.  There are not custom made silent rooms where individuals can sit and be alone so they can get on with complicated work, where they can concentrate. These are things the employer just doesn't get. It's an employees' mental health and their productivity which is severely affected by hell hole open planned offices. 

Remote workers can be a pain as well, those who are permanently based at their homes. They don't know what is going on and lose touch with the workplace. When a finger on the pulse is necessary they just don't have it.  Keeping in touch with them time consuming and trying to talk them through how to work a computer program without being able to show them feels like the blind leading the blind. It is remarkable how many people are not computer literate or rather computer competent on the simplest of things. When a little knowledge can be so easily learnt by physically showing by example it doesn't work this way with home workers.  A normal two minute demonstration can become a twenty minute discussion on the phone. Time wasted, time lost and that important bit of work I wanted to do again is left on the back burner.

There are three moments when work can be actually achieved, the first is in a place, but that place may well not be the office, it could be at home or on the toilet seat. The seat where a few minutes can give you time to think on how you are going to phrase an email which needs some diplomatic response. The second is a time.  Some people get into work early while others get into work late and work late. When there are fewer employees around there are fewer interruptions. The third is while moving. I used to do a lot of study while riding a bus, I knew by direction and the feel of each turn on the bus exactly where I was and at the same time put in extra study time. 

Open plan offices are hell holes, if you don't want employees to do work, make their office as open as possible before long the business will go downhill, and if it doesn't you can bet your bottom dollar they will be supremely inefficient.

McLeod Russel's estates and tea workers at the Behora Tea estate

In a short documentary film for the BBC aired on 15.09.15. reporter Justin Rowlatt described in detail what is happening with the tea industry in India and the conditions of tea workers. In the region of West Bengal, in Doomur Dullung tea is grown by a company called McLeod Russel, this company supplies tea to PG Tips, Typhoo, Fornum and Masons to name a few. it is a big company and has been providing tea for many years.  Tea is indeed big business and certainly in the UK has been a national drink for centuries. However, after watching this documentary I am now in the process of weaning myself off tea because I refused to buy a product  from a company who's workers are essentially in life servitude to a company which does not look after them. Alas the last bags of my PG Tips have been used, while I search for an alternative. I found PG Tips is owned by the multinational company called Unilever who are ultimately responsible.


Tea workers in this area of Assam should be protected in law, they have rights and conditions set in law but in India law and rights can't mean much at all. The tea companies provide housing for their staff, but this housing is atrocious. Rowlatt showed one worker who lived in a hovel like hut, it had only two rooms and six adults lived there.  The floor was mud. The outside toilet had long decayed and was of no use.  If they needed to piss or shit they now go into the tea fields and do it. I guess human excrement must also add to the flavour in some way.  A worker receives about £1 per day for their time, but they are expected to do long full days.  They have no facilities to wash and the water supply is a shared outside source in an area which is mosquito ridden. 

At the Behora Tea estate where Justin Rowlatt went he was accosted by the plantation manager. A pot bellied man who hostilely told Justin he should not of been interviewing workers or filming at the workers living areas. stating they were private areas. Even though Justine read out to him the right he had under the Indian Tea Act.  It was with arrogance the manager imposed himself. For here was one of the rich men, someone who did not have to piss or shit in his own back garden. The manager had a dozen men around him and invited Justin to his office. This was an error as they found themselves illegal held there and were not allowed out when asked. Eventually they were able to leave, but the arrogance of the McLeod Russel operative showed a company who bullied and ruled over their employees with a rod. 

Employees who had to spray plantations were not wearing protective clothing, yet the chemicals they used could be be fatal with long term use. In plantations even children were working. The utter poverty of India comes out in this instance. People do what the have to in order to get from one day to the next. When the children of these employees are taken to hospital the first thing the hospital must do is treat them for malnutrition because they just do not have enough food to eat. In a losing battle after initial treatment they go back home to the same poverty ran tea estate they slave away for. 

As for us the consumers, well, we read labels on boxes, things which indicate the tea companies are ethical, or rainforest compliant and words such as sustainable growth are used, but we never know and understand the full story behind what has been purchased. The green credential we get to read and see are there to make our conscience feel better and to hoodwink us into believing we are not just buying a wonderful product we are being good to the environment. Oh how marketing plays so much on our own ignorance and as it does so the marketing wins out. 

As I've said here, my tea consumption will now be radically changed, I am not going to add to the profits of companies who see their employees as slave labour and have no regard for their rights.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-34173532