Worth Reading – It’s Not Just the Tech: The Hidden Cognitive Load of the Physical Workplace
When I used to travel for training at a software company, people would want to know about the cool places I got to visit. Some of them were very cool; not all, but most. But I also talked about the cognitive cost of that kind of work, and I explained it using this idea of cognitive load.
I’d ask people to imagine all the things they have to think about every weekday: their commute, how they would eat lunch, what time they needed to be awake and leave the house, etc. Then, imagine the cognitive load involved if the location of your workplace changed weekly.
That part was exhausting: the cognitive load of not just airports, but once you arrived in the city, finding the building, navigating how you would get there, how you would get back to your hotel, where to eat lunch, and meeting a whole new group of people each trip.
That’s an extreme example, but this article makes the more obvious one: working in an office comes with its own cognitive load, especially if it’s an open floor plan, because you are forced to navigate noise and other people all day long. I’ve been trying to tell people for years that when I do visit one of our offices as a remote worker, those days are exhausting for me, because it’s the extra cognitive load of getting there, navigating the space and the other people, the noise, etc.
It adds up, and it can contribute to burnout.
It’s Not Just the Tech: The Hidden Cognitive Load of the Physical Workplace
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