One major challenge of having a cluster of offices and amenities is how noise travels easily. Closed doors do not stop me from clearly hearing RAs chatting in the duty room, and any conversations had in the grad office can clearly be heard in the hallway and the RA Duty Room, which is not ideal because RAs often confide in me during their 1-1s, and even with the door closed there is a concern of being overheard, so we have to be mindful and lower our voices or whisper. This presents a barrier to privacy for the RAs in our 1-1s. 

Similarly, sharing an office with another Graduate Supervisor has its pros and cons. I enjoy the social aspect but we have to navigate sharing the space for meetings such as conduct meetings and 1-1s with our staff, and though we have a very good working relationship it can lead to interruptions and difficulty in focusing on our work. For this reason, I often take my work home to my apartment to maximize efficiency. Another factor is that the staff often comes in to print things, since this printer is the only one that does color printing. Inevitably, whenever the desk staff, my co-grad, the RLC-SD, or someone else stops in to print something, a conversation breaks out. And even if it’s brief, it affects my focus and productivity and thus the amount of time I physically spend in the office. If I had my own office I would be able to focus on my work more but it could possibly affect how familiar residents are with me.