“Open offices were supposed to usher in a new era of collaborative working. Instead, they’ve eroded any semblance of office privacy, forcing office-dwellers to listen to every word of their co-workers’ calls and conversations.” 4 Management types love to extol the benefits of the open office. “What you don’t hear so much in the breathless descriptions of 21st century workspaces: the grumbling from employees who can’t focus on their jobs because of all the distractions. Or the