{"id":321729,"date":"2026-02-05T14:10:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T14:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/321729\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T14:10:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T14:10:06","slug":"should-the-boss-still-have-a-private-office-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/321729\/","title":{"rendered":"Should the boss still have a private office? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

As perks go, the large corner office no longer tops many chief executives\u2019 wish lists. Once a symbol of corporate success, the spacious private office was in decline before the pandemic<\/a>, and that trend has intensified.<\/p>\n

Chief executives are increasingly expected to be \u201capproachable and available\u2009…\u2009including in the company corridors\u201d, says Sharon Sands, partner at headhunters Heidrick & Struggles\u2019 London office. \u201cExternal and internal visibility is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jon Eaglesham, managing director at architect Barr Gazetas, agrees: \u201cThe hierarchy, the gravitas of a corner office, is far less important than it used to be. Leaders are working more among their people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2015, 12 per cent of white-collar workers had a private office, according to a survey by Leesman, the workplace research group. By 2019 that had dropped to 6 per cent and now is down to 3 per cent. Among senior business<\/a> leaders it is higher, at 7 per cent. Savills<\/a>, the property broker, says small financial boutiques and business consultancies retain the highest number of private office allocations, while tech and insurance companies have the fewest.<\/p>\n

Architects say they are increasingly reserving areas of office buildings with the best views for shared spaces to be enjoyed by the whole workforce, rather than the boss\u2019s office. Some companies are bringing the C-suite down from the top to lower floors.<\/p>\n

In JPMorgan\u2019s new Park Avenue headquarters in Manhattan, for example, the executive team\u2019s private offices, including chief executive Jamie Dimon\u2019s, are not on the top floors. Instead, this space is part of the bank\u2019s client centre for meetings and entertaining. Overall, the Foster + Partners-designed building, which opened in October, has fewer private offices, and they are located away from the windows. HSBC scrapped the executive floor in its Canary Wharf office during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

For hybrid workers, locking yourself away makes no sense, says Peggie Rothe, Leesman\u2019s chief insights and research officer: \u201cCommuting to the office to then sit on your own in a private office, there\u2019s no point because you have that at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katharine Harle, partner at Dentons, does not miss the private office she lost when the law firm shifted to open plan after the pandemic. \u201cI am often working from home or diving in and out of meetings or out seeing clients and so, to be honest, it would be a waste of space [and] cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Open-plan offices are bad for companies, workers, health and morale. So why do we keep creating them?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The US is more hierarchical when it comes to offices than Europeans, observes Jane Clay, strategy director at architect Gensler, and attitudes also depend on sector and scale. \u201cA start-up CEO will often want to be out on the floor, when it\u2019s a larger business like a bank, [the CEO] will want to have an office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where CEOs have a private office, she says the trend is to make it more approachable, like a \u201csitting room, less office and off-putting\u201d.<\/p>\n

Something as prosaic as the location of an office \u2013 or even a desk \u2013 can be emotionally fraught. \u201cPeople can get very het up\u201d about private offices, adds Clay. \u201cStatus and its concomitant anxiety does come into play. That is a tribal aspect of office life.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Anna Wintour handed over the editorship of Vogue to Chloe Malle, she did not pass on the keys to her office. One British estate agent even took his employer to court \u2013 and won \u2013 arguing it was \u201csymbolically significant\u201d that he was sitting among junior staff.<\/p>\n

Rachel Basha-Franklin, vice-chairwoman of the British Council for Offices London committee, says the best office in the building still commands a certain cachet: \u201cIf you\u2019ve had a corner office and are very used to that premium real estate and the status it gives\u2009… it is very difficult to take away. [Bosses] try to be democratic but when it gets to D-Day, they take the corner office\u2009…\u2009They want to be seen [as] a leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eaglesham says he tries to talk to senior leaders about the significance of the corner office. \u201cIs it about status and gravitas, or is it technical, needing it for private work? Is it that they are stuck in the old way?\u201d Rothe underlines the trade-offs: \u201cThere\u2019s so many other ways you can give people recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are good practical reasons for wanting quiet and privacy. <\/p>\n

Simon Fowler, chief executive of Empowering People Group, which provides human resources services, is the only one in his company with a private office. \u201cI would much rather be sitting out with 50 or 60 people. I can sit here and see all my people laughing. It\u2019s not a status thing.\u201d He needs the privacy for calls and meetings, he says. \u201cI\u2019d forever be looking for a meeting room.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proliferation of Zoom meetings and sensitivity to noise after working from home has contributed to \u201ceveryone [being] up in arms about acoustics\u201d, says Basha-Franklin. Greater understanding of neurodiverse needs is also a factor.<\/p>\n

\n

Staff don\u2019t like it. They feel monitored or watched. People feel constrained when they have their senior leaders with them<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Matt Davis<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Caroline Pontifex, head of Savills workplace and design, has observed a number of clients within the C-suite retreating to private offices from open-plan spaces because so many colleagues are in online meetings at their desks. \u201cThe volume level of meetings has increased approximately three times over the last 10 years,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

As a team leader who works on \u201cvery sensitive and confidential investigations [and] client crises\u201d, Harle says \u201cit can be challenging when the office is busy to find a place to do more sensitive calls\u201d.<\/p>\n

Today, seniority is more likely to come with the flexibility to work remotely. In the workplace, alternatives to private offices include bookable rooms and soundproofed booths.<\/p>\n

Office workers might prefer their boss does not sit among them. Basha-Franklin recalls one open-plan office where the CEO was out with staff and there was \u201ca big radius of empty space\u201d around them. \u201cThere can be some particularly unique characters and it\u2019s best they\u2019re in a private office. It can be career-limiting sitting next to the CEO,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0What does the future workspace look like? It depends where you sitOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

When Jack Pringle, managing director of architecture firm, Studio Pringle and chairman of the Riba, started designing open-plan layouts 20 years ago, he says \u201cpeople\u2009…\u2009didn\u2019t want bosses to come out of their office as they were afraid of them seeing [what they were doing]. Bosses were equally afraid\u2009… their staff could see what they were doing, ie, bugger all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt Davis, associate professor of organisational psychology at Leeds University Business School, agrees: \u201cStaff don\u2019t like it. They feel monitored or watched. People feel constrained when they have their senior leaders with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fowler knows that if he were out on the floor, it would alter the dynamic. \u201cI think I\u2019m approachable [but] it changes how people are with you. Maybe if I were out there all the time, it would be different.\u201d<\/p>\n

But James Gilbey, UK chief executive of accountancy firm Forvis Mazars, says he gets \u201cenormous energy\u201d from hot-desking and sitting next to various employees. \u201cI\u2019m sure when I plonk myself down next to a trainee, they realise it\u2019s me, it might not be the best news.\u201d But he says it works \u201cif proactive, as long as you\u2019re inquisitive and [don\u2019t] make them feel they have to entertain the CEO\u201d.<\/p>\n

The seating arrangement is essential, he says, to encourage learning by osmosis. \u201cThat\u2019s a two-way thing. Our senior people will learn from those who have grown up in a digital era.\u201d Proximity will help junior staff appreciate colleagues are \u201chuman beings\u201d. \u2013 Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As perks go, the large corner office no longer tops many chief executives\u2019 wish lists. Once a symbol…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,19,17,76897,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-321729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-office-working","13":"tag-work"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116018428524094637","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}