Category : desk-mounted panels

Adding privacy to your office doesn’t have to be an ordeal.

In many cases, companies default to cubicle overhauls that require a lot of moving parts: rewiring cables, moving employees to temporary workstations and an install crew that comes in after hours to do the installation.

Our desk and table mount privacy panels give you a seamless solution that reduces work interruptions and, in many cases, can be installed by your team with only minor inconveniences.

In theory, this sounds great, but you should take a moment to think about all the aspects of an installation, no matter how easy it may seem.

Are the new mounts adjustable and will they damage existing furniture? How easy are adjustments? What size options are there? Are there color options? What’s the warranty?

We’ll cover each of these topics in the next few minutes.

Simple, Fluid Privacy Panel Installation

Our mounts work with desks between ¾-of-an-inch thick to 2.5 inches thick, which means there’s a good chance we can find a solution for your existing furniture.

The clamps we use to secure our privacy panels are designed well and don’t damage your furniture. It takes about five minutes to install them with an Allen wrench we provide.

Our mounts also feature channels that can work side-to-side or front-to-back.

Versatile Panel Sizes and Colors

Our panels for desks and tables come in three different heights and eight different widths. We can also create custom sizes for you.

We also offer 12 different frame colors so you can stick with the office color-palate or add variation.

If you want to cut down on sound transfer between workspaces, acoustical panels are a good choice. They come in 20 different types of fabrics. And, just like our ability to customize panel sizes, we can also customize panel colors.

Sound Transmission Class

This last concept is an indication of how effective our panels are. A product’s STC rating is a measurement of how much sound is lost when it passes through a wall or a panel.

A reduction of 10 decibels is actually heard as a 50% reduction in noise levels.

Our acoustical tile panels have an STC rating of 26, which means your employees will note a significant reduction in ambient noise as soon as your panels are installed.

A First-Hand Look at a Panel Installation

As we mentioned earlier, our panels are a simple, elegant solution for increasing the privacy of your office’s workspaces.

Our website includes a series of videos that show just how easy installation is. Here is one of those videos:

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This video highlights the greatest advantage to using OBEX to increase your office’s audio and visual privacy. It’s a fantastic alternative to tearing down and rebuilding a cubicle, which costs hundreds of dollars in labor costs.

And that cost doesn’t factor in the down time for rerouting cables and moving computers, cables and keyboards.

All of this creates stress and reduced productivity. It’s labor-intensive, it’s disruptive and there aren’t many companies who can do installations during normal working hours.

Some Final Thoughts About Table and Desk Privacy Panels

If you’re new to privacy panels, the solutions may seem unbelievably simple – and they are.

We’ve put a lot of time into finding solutions for our clients that help them keep the ship running smoothly as we install their panels.

The result is a line of desk and table privacy panels with a wide range of sizes, colors and customizable options that easily integrate our products into your office’s existing design themes.

If you have any questions about our panels, customizations or the installation process contact us by email or give us a call at (888)323-6986.

A few months ago we talked about the differences between a more traditional office environment and the open spaces emphasized in today’s startup world.

At the end of that post, we made this observation:

“Different things work for different people. This is why the debate about whether Open Office Plans Vs. Cubicles, Which is Better?, will continue to rage on in the office world and studies will continue to show conflicting data on the subject.”

As you can see, we don’t really take sides in this debate; it’s all about what works best for your team and your vision. This is one reason why our Gallery is full of different styles of dividers, extenders and partitions that provide the stylistic and functional touches to work in just about any office.

We want to take a closer look at some of those items today to help you understand what’s possible in the space you’re designing. Choosing the right combination of products can complement the environment you want to create in your workspace and meeting rooms.

Our Gallery features four different types of panels: cubicle panel extenders, desk-mounted privacy panels, split-screen panels and desk-mounted modest panels. Today we’re going to tackle two of these categories.

Cubicle Panel Extenders

One of the things we like to emphasize is that panels reduce noise and distractions, giving employees added privacy. The end result is employees are more productive. And we all know productivity boosts morale.

Our panel extenders are a good option for offices looking to add a little extra privacy to their cubicles without the hassle of having to redo the walls on every single desk. As the name indicates, these panels are extensions to existing partitions between desks.

Adding them to each workstation is a simple task and the end result is well worth it.

But the idea of adding extra privacy to each workspace in your office may seem a little draconian to some workers who prefer a more relational and open work environment. We get that, because we’ve learned companies are living organisms that change and adapt as time and generations come and go.

So, part of our product line includes clear extenders that do an effective job of creating privacy and sound reduction while at the same time maintaining an open workplace. We think this is a great choice for companies that want to create a sense of open space while simultaneously protecting the privacy and production of their employees.

If your workforce tends to be more old-school, we’ve got plenty of solid extenders that augment the autonomy of individual workspaces. If you want a middle ground between clear and solid, our opaque extenders are an excellent choice, too.

Desk Mounted Extenders

The purpose of extenders remains the same here – to reduce sound and increase privacy. But what you’ll notice in our Gallery is that our desk extenders provide all kinds of options for open and closed office areas.

What you’ll notice is that these extenders attach directly to your desks rather than to existing partitions. This is a key distinction, because as the photos in our Gallery show, desk extenders give you a lot more open space under the desk.

This setup creates a sense of unity and interconnectedness in your office, factors that are important to employees who value an open workspace.

Desk-mounted extenders also give you two options for your desks: side mounts and rear mounts. Take a look at the photos on the left to get a sense of what we mean.

On the one hand, you’ve got desks lined up front to back, so rear-mounted extenders provide the privacy you’re looking for.

On the other hand, you can choose side-mounted extenders for desks that are lined up side-by-side. As you can see, our extenders aren’t meant to isolate but to integrate a series of side-by-side desks.

In our own research of burgeoning office trends, we’ve found that this type of setup is great for companies who have small, tight-knit departments. Employees have their own defined space, but the extenders are low enough to where they can easily collaborate with team members next to them.

Deciding Which Option is Best for Your Office

Which extender is right for you depends on your particular situation. Head over to our Contact Us page and let us know what your plans are for the future and how your furniture and extenders play a role in that. In the meantime, stop by our Gallery to get a sense of what your office could look like with our help!

It’s a well-known fact that different colors influence mood, behavior and feelings. All colors have a psychological affect on everyone, whether you’re aware of it or not. People also make different decisions and choices based on the color of their immediate environment. The colors you choose for your business help with the behavior of your employees and clients alike.

Color choice should play an important role in decorating an office space in particular, because of the impact it has on employee’s productivity rate, interaction with other co-workers and on the general mood of everyone in the work place. There are different ways to play with color tones and accents to get the effect desired, but there is one steadfast rule to remember when decorating; over-use of any one color has a negative, and sometimes, an opposite effect than what was originally desired. That being said, here are some tips on choosing a color for an office to bring about the most positive working environment for your business:

• Strong, bright colors of any shade will energize, whereas the softer shades of pastel will calm and soothe.
• Blue’s and green’s aid in decision-making, and it’s also good for keeping a calm atmosphere.
• Subdued orange and peach create a warm, welcome feeling; a great choice for lobbies and reception areas, but it can create a chatty feeling in a workplace.
• Too much yellow can cause more anxiety in a stressful workplace, but small amounts can increase productivity.
• Using too much red can cause aggressive type feelings.
• Turquoise creates a creative, communicative atmosphere.
• To balance out the effect of any color, use a color that compliments it, i.e., blue with yellow, red with green, etc.

If you place to upgrade your work place with privacy panels or custom extenders, Obex Panel can help you with any color scheme you choose. From custom panels to the many fabrics and colors that are already in stock, Obex will be happy assist you with choosing the right product to satisfy your needs.

To see how Obex can save you time and money with easy-to-install extenders and panels, please feel free to contact us.

This would be a perfect reason to consider installing a table mount in your office space, or several table mounts, if the area calls for it. Some office spaces are certainly larger than others. There are many benefits to adding table mounts, some of which have already been mentioned. In addition, it is a known fact that when people are working in close quarters, they are going to either become very close friends; or they are going to clash. Either way, it doesn’t make for a good office situation, and in turn, decreases overall productivity. If you become friends with the person you are confined with, there will typically be random conversations that have no business entering the office. It may be talk of what happened last night or what shows are all the rage this season. On the other hand, if you clash; then every little detail that’s overheard could be a cause for scrutiny. What’s worse, this could end up costing one or both of your jobs.

If you feel like us here at OBEX, and you know what great things could come from installing table mounts in your office; contact us for more information. We will be happy to assist you with making your office more productive.

While the definition of poor work performance changes, the causes of the performance gap seem to be universal no matter the industry, company, job description, or typical group of people. Some causal factors of low or high performance are employee – centric issues and others are organization issues. These tend to overlap. Most issues are influenced by both the employee and the organization. For example, if Employee A’s manager asks him why he has only been averaging seventy – five phone calls per hour, he could hear one or both of the following reasons:

Example #1: “I am distracted because my wife is due to have a baby. Every time I hear a phone ring I think it is her calling to tell me that she is going to the hospital.”

Example #2: “My coworkers are bothering me. The one on my left keeps laughing really loud and the one on my right asks me a question every few minutes. I can’t concentrate on my own calls with all of these interruptions.”

The first example is an employee issue. His life at home is leaking into his life at work. In other words his work / life balance is off. The organization can do little to help him. He is in control of how distracted he is or is not. Example #2 is an organization issue. Because of the way the office set up its employees right next to each other, and because of the managers’ ineffectiveness to keep his coworkers quiet and train the rookies, he is distracted by factors he can’t control. Because companies have little to no influence on what is happening in the employees’ life that might cause disruptions, they have to focus on the organization’s factors. Below are the top five causes of poor work performance, specifically ones that companies can cause or allow to happen, and therefore they are the ones that can be fixed.

1. Lack of sound privacy. Every worker is unique. Employee A might be productive when there is loud music in the background. That same music might be distracting and annoying to Employee B. Employee A could train himself to hear his coworkers conversations as simple white noise in the background while Employee B can’t help but listen intently to whatever is being said. Additional noises such as tapping on computer keyboards and squeaking chairs are also big distractions. This cause can be fixed with additional partitions and noise-cancelling headphones.

2. Lack of visual privacy. No employees have reported that they like it when someone is looking over their shoulder. Those who have their desks set up right in their manager’s line of sight say that adds additional, unnecessary stress. Managers typically think that their presence makes employees more productive but the result is the exact opposite. Workers are less likely to play online games and surf social media sites when someone can easily see them, but studies show that does not improve work performance.

3. Lack of personal space / Overcrowding. Open office models typically put four to ten people around one table. They each have their own chair, their own computer, and their own basic office supplies like pens, but nothing else belongs to them. They are literally bumping elbows and they do not have the opportunity to make the space their own. No pictures of their kids and their pets, no calendar with quotes from their favorite comedian or politicians, and no jar of their favorite candy. When an employee feels “at home” at work, he works better. Companies need to give employees the opportunity to personalize their space.

4. Inability to control the environment. An employee who is shivering because he is cold, or sweating because he is hot, is an ineffective worker. The same employees need to be able to adjust the curtains or shades on the windows when the sun is getting in their eyes. He needs a chair that can be adjusted up and down, left and right, and is not different the next day because someone else sat in it after he did.

5. Second – guessing, or excessive mistakes due to poor training. A company’s first priority should be making sure that their employees are well trained. That way they will not be interrupting each other with questions, or doing their own work slowly because they are struggling to remember what to do next or how to do it.

In order to get ideal work from their employees, businesses must create the ideal work environments. This goes beyond ensuring occupational health and safety. It goes beyond making sure that the workplace is clean, beyond having water fountains and bathrooms that work, and beyond managerial accountability. With so little influence over an employee’s ability to balance work and life, work must be the focus. Recently big name companies like Google, Facebook, and Square have been praising the open office model. In order to improve managerial accessibility, transparency, and employees’ opportunities to collaborate, their workspaces have done away with enclosed offices and individual cubicles. They have literally taken the walls down between their employees.

Those same employees agree across the board that the open office model does get them more face – time with their coworkers. However, they also report the following negative consequences of it: lack of sound privacy, lack of visual privacy, overcrowded workspaces and an inability to control their personal space / environment. Only twenty five percent, that is one in four workers in the United States, say that they work in the ideal environment for peak job performance. The causes of poor work performance are not a problem for that twenty percent because they have sound privacy, visual privacy, and their workspaces are not overcrowded. Companies must prioritize and invest in creating these ideal environments not only for their employees but for the business at large.

In 1967, two designers, Robert Propst and Herman Miller ventured to improve the privacy and lower the buzzing level of confusing distraction that office workers had been living with. They invented what they called, the “action office.” Recognizing that people are more productive working within their own territorial enclave that they can personalize, the inventers found a way of making walls around desks to provide flexible mini-office spaces.

Propst’s concept was to structure desk space with two or three-sided vertical divisions that defined a territory and provided walls for privacy and without hindering the ability of workers to view and participate with others. These walls were are also entirely flexible and adaptable allowing for multipurpose use. The idea of the “action office” was nearly universally adopted by 2005.

The desk mount allows offices to construct privacy spaces around the structure of individual desks flexibly and without damaging the furniture itself. Desk mounted privacy panels easily attach to the desks themselves using special mounts. They come in a variety of custom colors, frames and fabrics to enhance and match any office décor. The desk mount system quickly transforms open office designs into mini-office space which a person can call their own.

The carrel structure afforded by these desk-mounted panels also provides privacy for study in libraries or special classrooms or test-taking environments. Recent studies have shown that students with certain forms of learning disability function much better within structures defined by carrel spaces that cut off peripheral distraction.

This year marks 45 years since the invention of the “action office.” The concept has revolutionized the work environment of millions of busy offices. OBEX desk mounted panels can improve any open office environment. Please contact us to explore the options we offer.

When Robert Propst developed the concept of the cubicle, he had specific ideas for the perfect office space:

“Conceived as an alternative to open workrooms that lacked privacy or personality, its modular elements could be customized to accommodate employees’ changing needs. “Action Office,” as the cubicle and its components were officially called, was the invention of Robert Propst, a brilliant artist/inventor.”

You can reclaim the freedom and productivity dreamed by the inventor of the cubicle with all the benefits of 21st century style with the help of OBEX. Redesigning and customizing your office does not have to be a costly endeavor with tons of new furniture. Here are ways to keep your office looking professional and functioning well for each employee:

1. Desk and table mounts: Turn any desk or table into a cubicle easily and efficiently with pieces that mount directly on your existing furniture. We offer different sizes, so you can create the space you need, whether you need the extra height to clip a lamp to increase desktop space or need an extra sound barrier to reduce noise levels for phone calls.
2. Cubicle panel mounts: If you already have some cubicle dividers, you can customize your office space with panel mounts. You can get the extra height you need, as well as add to the decor. We offer a variety of styles and colors, so you will be able to create the perfect functional and fashionable office space.

If you are ready to reinvent your office space, please contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.

As companies grow and work forces expand, there is a growing need for partitioning space.  However, creating private work areas for increasing staff can be a challenge, especially in offices with limited square footage and preexisting furniture.

Here are five reasons this can be achieved using desk mounts:

1. Budget – Using desk mounts is a solution that is very cost effective. Designer fees, new furniture prices, moving expenses, real estate fees and other costs associated with more drastic solutions are extremely high.  However with desk mounts, the price is limited to the product.
2. Ease of Installation – Desk mounts come with simple hardware, including the frame, the tile and a clamp, as well as the tools necessary for installation, which is usually just and allen wrench.  Most desk mounts are easily installed by the customer themselves in a matter of minutes.
3. Compatibility – With various sizes and adjustable clamps and rotating channels, desk mounts are compatible with almost any existing desk and work space configuration.  They range in from 12″ to 24″ inches in height and 24″ to 72″ in widths  Plus, custom sizes can also be ordered.
4. Variation – In order to fit into any office style, desk mounts are available in multiple colors, styles and materials.  You can choose from many colors or select a custom color.  Tiles come framed or unframed as well as clear, translucent or opaque.
5. Privacy – Desk mounts create privacy in a communal workplace by blocking views as well as sound.  There are tiles that are both acoustical and polycarbonate.  Each of which comes in many fabrics and styles.

Purchasing new furniture, moving to a large space or re-positioning entire walls to create separate offices are not only costly endeavors but are not usually desirable.  The ideal situation is one in which people are close enough to work together effectively but also have the benefit of privacy when they need it.  Desk mounts are the perfect way to achieve this balance.

For more information, please contact us.