Monthly Archives : September 2012

Jen at Arnolds Office Furniture offers another of her famous “Top 5” lists for your enjoyment. This time, it’s the most common cubicle conflicts. As you can imagine, employees complain about the way coworkers assault their senses. The sounds! The smells! From gross smelling food to an overdose of perfume, some people just don’t get that they are sharing air space with other human beings at work. Or, worse, they don’t care. While we still don’t have a panel product filled with activated charcoal to take out the smell of burning popcorn, we can help a little with the workplace noise problem. With a good sound blocking acoustic panel, the music leaking from your cube neighbor’s ear buds won’t bug you nearly as much!

This week brings yet another Wall Street Journal article about stuff that annoys us in the workplace. The chronic complainer is perhaps one of the most insidious forces in any work environment. He or she has the potential to negatively impact everyone within hearing distance. Exposure to griping (especially if it triggers an emotional response) has been shown to:

• Inhibit learning and memory
• Disrupt focus and shorten attention span
• Impair judgment
• Lower productivity and quality of work for individuals and teams
• Increase absenteeism
• Decrease motivation

How can you protect yourself from this endless stream of negativity? The WSJ article suggests solutions such as simply walking away or moving to a workstation as far from the whiner as possible.

However, these options aren’t available to all employees at all times. Especially in today’s open office environments, people are expected to work in close proximity to each other. The assumption is that they will collaborate or at least learn to get along. Some employees have the social skills to deflect or even gracefully confront the “office mosquito” and create positive, solution-oriented change. But many coworkers simply don’t have the energy to be a little ray of sunshine all the time in the face of constant whinging. They need practical, concrete, immediate relief.

Management should take steps to help create a peaceful work environment. This obviously includes helping the griping employee get an attitude adjustment. It can also mean configuring the workspace to reduce the spread of negativity. For example, it may be possible to use cubicle wall extensions to:

• Cut down on direct interaction with whiners by putting up visual barriers
• Dampen the sound of their complaining, turning it into background noise

Simply having a higher panel in place can limit the amount of griping that takes place under the guise of socializing. It gives employees who want to simply work in peace the option to keep their head down and focus on the task at hand. This won’t necessarily stop a complainer from prattling on. But it may reduce the disruptive cycle of being drawn into negative discussions by eliminating the expectation for coworkers to verbally respond.

This should seem obvious, but far too many businesses fail to take their employees’ perspective fully into account in designing their office space.  A recent CNN article highlights several studies exploring how employees evaluate workplace design. The first judgment starts before they are even hired. About half of applicants take the company’s office space into account when deciding whether to accept a job offer. A Center for Health Design study found that companies get a 6% increase in productivity for having a workplace with a good layout. Speed and accuracy also rise in work environments where employees have some say over their cubicle décor.

Perhaps panel extenders can play a role in boosting positive employee response to a work environment. Imagine a candidate for a job visiting a workspace that has brightly colored or beautifully printed privacy panels protecting each workstation. Wouldn’t that make a better impression than an open office space with too much noise and low, drab cubicle walls? Even an office that doesn’t have the best layout might be improved by upgrading cubicles with panel extenders – especially for employees who want more control over the noise level and visual privacy around their desk.

Software developers are some of the most vocal opponents of noisy workplaces. That’s because they do work that requires a great deal of prolonged concentration. Any interruption can make them lose track of what they were doing. Then, they have to backtrack and pick up the thread of their thoughts to get reenter the programming “zone”. If you have ever used a piece of software that was buggy, you may need to blame the programmer’s work environment rather than the programmer. Employees in this industry suffered more than most when businesses started doing away with private offices for all but the most senior staff. Suddenly, they were expected to work in an open space with little or no protection from the constant distractions around them. Is it any wonder they complain?

Enter the Workplace Manifesto

In response to these challenges, Jeff Atwood created a “Programmer’s Bill of Rights”. It lists the bare minimum requirements that employers should provide for software developers to be successful at their jobs. The demands aren’t really outrageous. It’s basics like a decent office chair and a fast internet connection for research that programmers really want. “Right” number 6 is about workplace quality:

“Every programmer shall have quiet working conditions. Programming requires focused mental concentration. Programmers cannot work effectively in an interrupt-driven environment. Make sure your working environment protects your programmers’ flow state, otherwise they’ll waste most of their time bouncing back and forth between distractions. “

The original post was written back in 2006. The trend toward open office designs has only become more prevalent since then, so this blog post is actually more timely than ever. These may not be inalienable rights, but they are good things to provide if you want employees to be able to do their jobs “right”.

Employers Can Do Something About All This

In another of Jeff’s posts, he describes a company that hired a fancy consulting firm to uncover the top complaints a cadre of more than 1000 programmers had about their job. When the results came in, the noisy and distracting environment was at the top of the list. The company shrugged its shoulders and said there was nothing they could do about that. Fortunately, they are wrong. There are steps virtually every employer can take to minimize noise and distractions. Our privacy panels and cubicle extenders are a good example of where to start.

Here at OBEX, we point out the problems with open offices pretty frequently. But we actually do get what office space designers are trying to achieve. We think collaboration is great and that many workplaces could benefit from encouraging more of it. We just think there are ways to accomplish this objective without sacrificing privacy and noise control. For example, today’s web and mobile based collaboration applications can help bring employees together without forcing them into such close, unshielded proximity.

These days, many people really do feel connected as long as they can interact via social media. In the workplace, that can be a dedicated intranet platform like SharePoint. There are even project collaboration platforms designed for specific industries (for example, Atlassian’s Confluence is ideal for software development firms). When you take collaboration online, you get all the buzz with none of the noise. Even better, your employees can work together any time, in the office or on the go.

Commercial real estate and architectural design firms are all buzzing about the latest article from Steelcase. The office furniture manufacturer is making some bold predictions about upcoming trends that will affect everything from space management to furniture purchases. Many of these trends will mesh well with the use of cubicle extenders, desktop mounted privacy panels, and other cube accessories. For example:

1. The trend toward moving cubicles into a “wagon train” circle around a central conference area will mean employees are breathing down each other’s necks more than ever. They’ll need a higher panel in back or in front to feel like they have some visual privacy. Steelcase suggests that workstations will need to have a door as well. There are several sliding and rolling cubicle screen accessories on the market that fit the bill from manufacturers such as Quartet and Teknion.
2. Shared private enclaves (created out of space saved with smaller and more efficiently spaced cubicles) will also need to be shielded from surrounding areas. High acoustic panels can help bring the noise down a little in these areas. Since they can be mounted to any standard table, desk, workstation, or bench surface with our universal mounting hardware, creating an impromptu privacy pod will be simple.
3. Employees who are in the office more might get more perks such as bigger cubicles. Since these non-mobile workers are stuck in the middle of the buzzing office all day, some will probably also crave cubicle panel extenders. These can be added based on job type, location, and employee preference.
4. Finally, as more and more high-level workers with traditional offices are moved out in the open to conserve space, they won’t want to give up all the privacy they once enjoyed. Our panel products can help ease the transition for these employees. The culture shock of moving from a private office into a cubicle can be mitigated by creating a more secluded atmosphere within the workstation.

Did you see the recent Motley Fool article about Red Hat CEO, Jim Whitehurst? Much is being made of the fact that this leader toils in a cubicle alongside his employees. The author of the piece states that “It’s clear that lavish excess isn’t written in the cards for this down-to-earth corporate leader.” Just a few sentences earlier in the same paragraph, Whitehurst’s $7.4 million dollar 2011 compensation is mentioned without a trace of irony.

We’re guessing that going home to relax in a heated, Olympic sized swimming pool in the 5 acre backyard of your mansion helps take the edge off at the end of a hard work day.* For the average cubicle worker, the surroundings at their office are a little more than window dressing to create the appearance of equality. People who don’t get a choice to forego a corner office may appreciate the perks of privacy a little more. We think everyone deserves to have a little space to call their own at work. That’s why we make cubicle panel extenders affordable enough for the whole office – not just the CEO in the cubicle next door.

*This description of the Whitehurst residence is purely speculative – just like most of the investment advice on the Motley Fool site.

The evidence that open plan offices are bad for you keeps piling up. Anne Murphy Paul put together a great roundup of current research at Time.com. Her article is titled “Why the Open Office Is a Hotbed of Stress.” As you can imagine, she doesn’t paint a favorable picture of what it’s like to work in an environment where noise is at a maximum and privacy is at a minimum. She points out that every benefit employers thought they would reap by doing away with private offices or taking down the cubicle walls has actually backfired.

• Social interaction frequency increased…but conversations became shallower
• People could reach out to coworkers for help…but those being asked for help got less done
• Everyone could hear and see everyone else…but everyone could hear and see everyone else

According to Anne’s article, not only are open office designs associated with more stress, they can even sap your will to live – or at least the will to keep on trying to find solutions for problems. We hope that doesn’t mean that people will stop looking for solutions to the open office problem. We’re doing our part with desktop mounted privacy panels. They can close the “door” a little bit on all these problems.

Other structural and process changes that can make a difference include:

• Setting aside some enclosed areas for private conversations. This gives people a space to really communicate instead of just chatting about the weather and sports.
• Making sure the coverings on ceiling and walls are designed to absorb sound. This may involve some retrofitting, but it will be worth it.
• Have all workers turn off sound-generating devices. Have desktop phones light up instead of ringing. Put cell phones on vibrate. Turn off “pinging” email notification sounds on computers.
• Institute a two hour “period of silence” at the beginning or end of each work day. During this time, employees are to work by themselves with minimal interaction.
• Install privacy screens, doors or other barriers that can be rolled or pulled across the cube opening. This can be as simple as adding CubeGuard Cubicle Message Barriers that let frequent helpers notify “helpees” when they need to be left alone.

Coworking spaces represent what urban studies theorist Richard Florida calls the “fourth place” for today’s workers. These locations serve a population that isn’t fully supported in a traditional office setting, at a home office, or in an informal “coffee shop” work setting. In a coworking environment, there is an even finer line than normal between the need for socialization and a desire for privacy. Patrons of these establishments are looking for a place to be “alone together” with other people while working. They aren’t collaborating on the same work in any sense, so the need for completely open access to each other isn’t a factor. On the other hand, providing a high level of privacy to the point of isolation isn’t necessary either. If people wanted to be completely alone while they worked, the home office is usually a better option. In fact, the coworking space is specifically designed to offer a little bit of a “buzz” for those who feel uninspired when they aren’t around other people.

There’s Such a Thing as Too Much Chatter

At the same time, high noise levels aren’t appreciated by coworkers. In the “NetWork” white paper sponsored by Allsteel, the authors observe, “In general, clients for coworking spaces seem to prefer a dedicated work environment without the distractions of a café or the hush of a library. Both acoustic dampening and office etiquette tend to lower ambient noise compared to cafés, while encouraging conversations and social interactions.” Acoustic ceiling tile and wall coverings do provide a level of noise control; but desk-mounted panels could also be useful. For example, desks with privacy panels might designate a section of the coworking space as the “heads down” area. This is where patrons would retreat to make the most of a sudden burst of creativity and concentration to complete a specific task.

Panels Add Function Without Fuss

From a visual design perspective, there’s certainly a place for our bold range of polycarbonate privacy panels in the coworking interior. Here’s another excerpt from the NetWork paper, “Coworking spaces are often more minimalist in décor with an emphasis on simple, clean, uncluttered space. Design is pragmatic and focused on a straightforward approach to getting work done. Nonetheless, these spaces are not stark, but attractive, well lit and well furnished.” We like to think that the simple, elegant design of our panel products help make a space more functional without adding clutter. If you are a facilities manager, architect, or commercial interior designer tasked with outfitting a coworking space, we hope you’ll consider our products as a way to enhance your project!