Category : workplace culture

Over the past ten years, open-plan offices have become the norm. For companies, it makes sense since they can put more employees in a smaller amount of space. Open spaces also give ample opportunity for employees to collaborate. Despite these benefits to the organization, employees are not always pleased with them. Their complaints include decreased privacy, increased noise and visual distractions. Employers can mitigate some of these issues by installing office panel extenders. Here are some ways that they’ll make your employees happier and more productive.

Privacy Issues

For employees, one of the biggest issues with an open-plan office is the lack of privacy. Conversations can easily be overheard, making it difficult to focus. It’s not just the people right next door that can be heard either, it’s every worker in the area. It is difficult for introverted people to speak to a client, co-worker or supervisor in these situations. This is important to note because one-half to one-third of the workforce falls within this category of personality types. By minimizing the external noise from co-workers, these employees can focus on their work and are, therefore, more effective.

Productivity Issues

When employees are distracted by those around them, whether it’s because of talking or because of movement, their productivity naturally decreases. Any business owner or manager will easily recognize what that can do to the bottom line. According to researchers, a happy employee is more productive. Small things like giving praise, an occasional sweet treat and, yes, creating more private spaces can increase happiness. It’s a win-win situation for employees and employers.

Problem Solving

Although it may not be possible for most companies to return to the days when private offices were dominant, there are some ways to reduce the issues. Creating private spaces that workers can use for at least part of their work day is one option. These spaces can be shared by employees, giving each a set amount of time to work in privacy before returning to their cubicle. Another option would be to install office panel extenders with sound-deadening fabrics to help minimize the external sounds and other distractions.

If your employees are not happy and productive, it’s in everyone’s best interest for you to find solutions to the problem. We understand how important these issues are to you and your success. Contact us for more information about office panel extenders and how they can help create a quieter, more productive workplace for all.

Walls are the most traditional form of office dividers. But they’re expensive and difficult to move without a full remodel. These days, businesses are looking for simpler, faster, and cheaper ways to create divisions between work areas. Here are a number of unusual ways they can do just that.

#1 Accordion Walls

One of the most flexible and unique ways to divide space is with freestanding accordion partitions. Molo, a NeoCon 2014 Gold winner, is a well-known provider of this type of solution. Their Tyvek honeycomb architectural products are designed to dampen sound and visually separate space. Because this type of privacy screen can be easily reconfigured by one or two people, it’s an attractive option for employees who like to take control of their work environment.

#2 Modular Floor Tiles

Sometimes, space separation is more about visual delineation than physical barriers. It’s possible to use color, texture, and light to divide one space from the next. For example, colored floor tiles laid down in geometric or curving patterns can carve pathways through the workspace and create diverse environments for each department or “zone”.

#3 Decorative Lighting

Extravagant architectural lighting installations from companies like Seeyond can make walls or ceilings completely unique in each work area. Some of these solutions even create alcoves within the workspace by arcing in curving lines from floor to ceiling. These internally lit structures feature different levels of brightness or even different colors to impact mood.

#4 Glass and Acrylic Panels

Installations from companies like 3Form and LOFTWalls take a semi-transparent and entirely artistic approach to office space division. These pieces of a glass or acrylic can be curved or flat, colored or clear, textured or smooth. Many designs contain inclusions of natural or manmade materials to add visual interest. They may be specified as free-standing panels, but many are used as inset decoration in other structural components.

#5 Desktop Dividers

At the individual workstation level, cubicle walls have long been the standard for office dividers. However, the advent of the open office has created demand for a more customizable solution. Our OBEX desktop mounted privacy panels achieve that objective. With a wide variety of textiles, polycarbonate tiles, and even custom-printed panels, these products are another example of how space division has gone beyond the boring, blank wall.

Should you turn your office space into an arboretum? It might be a very good idea. According to an article by Dr. Leonard Perry at the University of Vermont, there’s plenty of evidence supporting the use of plants in the office. Benefits include stress relief, better air quality, and a more well-adjusted workforce. Here are a few highlights form the studies cited by Dr. Perry:

• Visual exposure to plants reduces blood pressure in a matter of minutes
• A shield of plants around a workspace can reduce noise by about 5 decibels
• Absenteeism goes down when more plants are introduced
• Plants release moisture into the air, creating the right humidity in the workplace for human comfort
• Attractive plants cost a lot less than pricey artwork, and people enjoy them more
• Contrary to what you might assume, introducing plants and soil is associated with lower mold and bacteria counts

Plants That Clean the Air

Apparently, many plants can remove airborne toxins such as VOCs, potentially relieving symptoms such as sore throat, headache, and fatigue. This reduction of toxins in the air is measurable, and NASA has created a list of plants that seem to be particularly effective. You can see a slideshow on that topic by Mother Nature Network here. A few you of the plants you might recognize include:

• Golden Pothos (this one is incredibly hardy and does very well indoors even with little or no natural light)
• Spider plant (excellent for hanging near exterior windows)
• Elephant ear philodendron (this one’s pretty big and good for shared spaces)
• Snake plant (thrives in humid areas like the restroom and can live with little light)
• Cornstalk dracaena (a resilient shrub that can be used as a space divider)

How to Care for Office Plants

Keeping plants alive in the office can be a bit of a challenge at first. Make it part of the facility management or janitorial routine and ensure workers know how to handle the plants in their space.

• Overwatering is worse than underwatering. If an employee is in charge of watering plants, ensure others know not to do additional watering. Coarse soil dries out faster than dense soil and requires more frequent watering.
• Supply a watering can to avoid drips and spills on the way from the break room or bathroom to the plants.
• Add fertilizer to plant pots on a regular basis to keep plants healthy.
• Have a plan in place to transplant office plants to larger pots as they grow. Some plants can be cloned or divided to create new plants in smaller pots.

Going green in the office is pretty simple once you make it a habit. What steps can you take to create a more plant-friendly office?

Last week, we reviewed a laundry list of opinions about open offices vs. closed offices. This time, let’s get more specific and list some issues that can crop up in the unfettered landscape of the entirely open office. Here are a number of valid complaints that office workers have about personality conflicts in open spaces:

• The lack of privacy in an open office actually restricts honest communication because of all the eavesdropping.
• Coworkers’ manners are a huge obstacle in open environments. They talk too loudly, don’t respect the privacy of others, and have conversations on speaker phone.
• Introverts pay a “social penalty” for not engaging on the same level as their coworkers. It’s unfair to expect all personality types to work in the same way.
• Theft is more likely to occur in an open office. It’s a hassle to have to lock your purse inside the desk if you get up to go to the copier.
• HR ends up with way more work to do in smoothing ruffled feathers when everyone is in everyone else’s business in an open office.

Collaboration and Creativity

What about the perception that open offices are the best bet for keeping people connected and getting all the bright ideas flowing? Not everyone is on board with that viewpoint either. In fact, they point to a number of alternatives:

• Small shared areas work better than completely open offices. People working on the same project can be clustered together in small teams to promote collaboration.
• Closed floor plans make teamwork more productive because meetings have to be scheduled for a real purpose.
• People who work inside their heads need private space. They don’t want to be pulled into conversations or make everything a “team project” in an open office.
• Open spaces are OK for “creatives” working together on the same project, but people in operations roles need less distraction.
• The workstation isn’t the place for socialization. It should be a place to concentrate get work done. Meetings are the right environment for communication and collaboration.

Can We All Just Get Along?

There is room for common ground in this ongoing debate. Most people do agree that the right solution is industry and job dependent. Confidentiality, privacy, and ethics are important considerations. There’s also widespread agreement that an ideal workspace makes room for both private areas and collaborative areas. OBEX panel extenders and desk panels offer a solution that’s easy to retrofit into any space to achieve just the right ratio.

Do you have opinions about open offices to share? Let loose in the comments!

The open office debate will never be settled as long as there are dog people and cat people, coffee drinkers and tea sippers in the world. There are just too many variables that go into what makes some person feel alive in a bustling workspace while others feel overwhelmed. We’ve been collecting conversations on this topic for quite some time, so here’s an overview of some of the common opinions—both for and against.

In Favor of Walls:

• Desk dividers or cubicles are the minimum requirement for privacy and personal space.
• Open offices invite interruption. The sound from phone conversations is too distracting.
• Open offices provide too much information about peers. You don’t really need to know how often someone visits the restroom or the break room.
• Work takes longer in an open environment.
• Phone work should never be done in an open setting. Cubicle walls or small offices work best.
• Receiving a phone call from someone in an open office environment is unpleasant. There’s too much background noise.
• An open environment is like an ad hoc meeting that has no point, is constantly interrupted, and never ends.

In Favor of Open Design:

• An open office with lots of activity (but no rudeness) is creatively stimulating.
• Open workspaces are nicest when they feature plenty of natural light to offset the downsides of lost privacy.
• Coworkers use a lower voice when there are no cubicle walls (this was in an office that trained employees with etiquette videos when they switched to an open layout).
• People are more likely to work hard when they are in an open office environment and can see others working.
• High cubicle walls or offices create barriers to open communication and collaboration.
• Teamwork is better and the flow of communication is improved when everyone is in close proximity.

As you probably noticed, these opinions can vary greatly based on perceptions, personal experience, and personality. Next week, we’ll look at opinions about how open spaces affect interpersonal relationships and whether open or closed is really the best option for communication and collaboration. Stay tuned!

It’s the end of the month, and that’s a good excuse to enjoy some fun office furniture blogs. Here are a few favorites that should be on your list to read or watch before we say goodbye to August.

Sit or Stand, You’re Still Doomed to Work!

Nikil Saval at n+1 magazine offers no mercy in this satirical review of the current sit-to-stand trend. He touts the well-known statistics about the harm of prolonged sitting and comes to a grim conclusion. “Over months or years spent in a chair, robust human substance dissipates into muck, and the longer you sit, the sooner you die.” At the same time, he ridicules the cult of the standing desk, poking fun at the tendency to glamorize it. “…people regularly invoke the examples of Hemingway, Churchill, Nabokov: figures who famously tended to stand while they wrote or read. None of them was an especially healthy individual; more to the point, none was an office worker.”

Don’t Put in a Work Order to Fix That Chair…

Enjoy the Darwin Awards of office furniture repair at “thereifixedit”. These DIY jobs are proof that anything can be put back together with duct tape and a little wishful thinking. Castors seem to be a favorite fixer upper, but one inventive worker actually repurposed the bucket seat from a car as a task chair. Sadly, the cup holder wasn’t left intact.

The Virtual Conference Room

This popular YouTube video reposted at neousa.com is a reenactment of what a tele-conference call would be like if it took place in an actual conference room with everyone present. Perhaps you’ve learned to tune out all these annoyances in the past. Be warned, now you will start noticing all the things you hate about conference calls again. On the plus side, you may get some ideas for how to get out of the next call without anyone being the wiser.

Office Furniture Motivational Speaker

Jack McCracken gives a crackerjack presentation about how office furniture can change your life. Watch him mesmerize a room full of first graders with his flow charts and graphs. He inspires with words of wisdom about how “office chairs raise you up to a higher plane.” If you don’t think this is the kind of motivational speech that kids need to hear, think again. In the immortal words of Jack, “If a kid doesn’t care about a credenza now, what happens when she’s 35 and stuck in a soul-sucking middle management job?” What indeed.

Coworking is a burgeoning trend among entrepreneurs, freelancers, and remote workers who can’t commute to a corporate office on a regular basis. Today, we’re seeing more and more spaces being created to meet the demands for flexible, occasional office space. Facilities that offer coworking space do have a number of benefits:

• Helping people be more productive by offering a work-like atmosphere
• Facilitating networking and creative brainstorming across industries
• Granting access to infrastructure and technology that would be cost-prohibitive for small business owners or startups
• Keeping costs low with flexibility in short term or pay-as-you-go pricing

But not everyone is sold on the benefits of surrounding oneself with other people in a setting that’s meant to mimic a regular office. In fact, the best work often gets done in a solitary setting–without interruptions from office mates.

Noise Levels Range from Busy to Bothersome

Eli at Become Nomad bills himself as a fan of coworking (since he never stays in one place long). But even he takes issue with some of the less pleasant aspects of the faux office. “Coworking places can be noisy, and this is hard if you’re easily distracted. Noise is part and parcel of coworking places. People will make calls, talk to each other, move around and sometimes distract you, although most coworkers are quite aware and respectful in the working environment.”

Rebekah Campbell at “You’re the Boss” was less tolerant of the buzz during her startup’s experiment with coworking environments. She bemoaned lost productivity from poor focus. Even though there were designated quiet areas, most coworkers ignored the rules. There was certainly no safe haven from obnoxious behavior. “Some people appeared to show off their important phone conversations by speaking as loudly as possible. Even those who thought they were sharing an idea with their small teams managed to broadcast across the whole room.”

Some Coworking Spaces Seek to Provide More Privacy

As the problems that can arise with shared workspaces become more evident, some purveyors of coworking space are finding new ways to cope. For example, the Regus chain of business centers has installed “Thinkpods” that are like tiny round cubicles with space for a chair and a worksurface to hold a laptop. Kimberly Lilley, General Manager at a DFW area Regus, says people can choose to pop into a pod to focus on preparing a presentation. Others might choose to spend most of a workday in these cocoons of quiet.

In contrast, the formal coworking spaces at a Regus feature little privacy, with desks positioned in an open layout with no desktop divider screens. However, in this instance shared space doesn’t mean shared schedules. According to Kimberly, the sales people who lease her site’s coworking offices don’t rub elbows that often. “It’s not really an issue. They aren’t all in the office at the same time.” Sometimes, the answer to the noise question really is about timing. The flexibility of the coworking culture allows workers to come and go as their need for privacy changes.

The long-awaited day has arrived, and Steelcase Quiet Spaces have been unveiled. This collection of office architectural components was conceived in collaboration with Susan Cain, noted introvert, TED talker, and bestselling author of “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking”. She stands as a calm, firm voice representing employees everywhere who would rather be left alone to do their work. That’s not a small minority. More than 1/3 of workers fall into the introvert category—and their needs aren’t being met in the overly open, hyper-social workspaces of today.

When Susan was talking, Steelcase was listening.

Now, the office furniture giant has made great strides toward creating a more inclusive yet less overwhelming work environment for their shy employees. Quiet Spaces are designed to fill this need even in today’s high-density offices. These spaces meet four basic needs of introverted personalities at work.

Pursuing Excellence

Introverts are consistently the source of some of the best ideas in business—but only when their need to be alone is respected. Employers who provide quiet spaces show that they value what introverted employees bring to the table.

Dialing It Down

Overstimulation is one of the curses of a modern office. Introverts need to have more control over sound levels and lighting to promote comfort and improve their ability to focus.

Enjoying the Setting

Some stimulation is actually desirable for introverts. Organic materials and wood veneers with warm tones and attractive textures help create a safe haven.

Avoiding Prying Eyes

For an introvert, a normal day at the office can trigger stage fright. They feel like everyone is looking at them. Having visual privacy, even for short periods of time, provides a chance to relax. (The glass walls in the photo are used to show the interior of the space, the real walls are more opaque.)

The Concept Starts with Architecture and Technology

These small work rooms are built with V.I.A. (Vertical Intelligent Architecture) for real sound privacy. All frames, skins, and junctions are manufactured with full acoustical seals to keep outside noise out—and inside noise in. The intelligent walls can be equipped with built-in monitors to amplify digital content. Lighting is also part of the package, giving users control over the brightness of their refuge.

What about scheduling? The RoomWizard II gives introverts the option to reserve a Steelcase Quiet Space at a moment’s notice or well in advance. That’s handy for workers who know they need to recharge at a specific time each day, such as after a busy, noisy meeting.

Stay tuned next week for more details about Quiet Spaces…

How is it possible that some IT workers are ten times more productive than others? Is it because they are more highly educated? Does higher performance correlate to more years of experience? Are top performers simply born smarter? Is a person’s ability to turn in great work linked to a generous salary? According to office productivity research from PdK Consulting, none of these factors are as critical as you might suppose. The day-to-day work environment has a huge impact on software developers’ ability to churn out error free, high quality code.

What Makes the Best So Much Better Than the Worst?

If you haven’t read about the famous “Coding war games”, this study measured the productivity of 600 programmers in over 90 different companies. Then, the participants in the top 25% were surveyed and their answers compared to those in the bottom 25% to detect any relevant variables. Having an acceptably quiet and private workspace were very significant factors, as was the ability to avoid taking phone calls or being interrupted by coworkers. In other words, being left alone to do the job they were hired to do was the ideal working situation. The same likely holds true outside the software development arena for other jobs that require dedicated focus.

Achieving Better Working Conditions Shouldn’t Be a Fight

The best and fastest programmers outworked the least productive by 10:1. However, even the average performers were more than twice as productive as those who were least productive. It isn’t difficult to imagine that even incremental improvements in noise control and privacy could have a substantial effect on helping knowledge workers be more efficient.

Are You Creating or Attracting Highly Productive Workers?

There are obvious limitations to this study given its subjective nature. For example, actual noise levels were not measured—participants simply reported whether they felt distracted by workplace noise. However, others studies that have objectively measured office noise confirm that certain types of sound (particularly human conversation) are highly disruptive and make it difficult for workers to concentrate.

In any event, the conclusion provided by the research team is worthy of contemplation: “The data presented above does not exactly prove that a better workplace will help people to perform better. It may only indicate that people who perform better tend to gravitate toward organizations that provide a better workplace. Does that really matter to you? In the long run, what difference does it make whether quiet, space, and privacy help your current people to do better work or help you to attract and keep better people?”

Susan Cain, a self-professed introvert, is not exactly the person you’d expect to see giving a TED talk. But her book “QUIET: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” brought Cain into the public eye in unexpected ways. She gave a voice to everyone who has ever wished for more peace and quiet at work. While collaboration and socialization at the office can be wonderful, at least 30% of the population wishes for a workplace where these activities weren’t given so much importance.

Introverts Are Stymied in Their Efforts to Be Effective

Many of the greatest ideas arise and most workplace productivity occurs when people are given space and time to really concentrate. For introverts, being required to perform “on demand” in a group setting can lead to anxiety over excessive scrutiny or criticism. But given a few hours alone, they can come up with amazing solutions or work at lightning speed to get critical tasks done on time. It’s not that they hate their coworkers. Introverts simply want to be able to choose their interactions with care to avoid depleting themselves. When they are part of a culture that overemphasizes what Susan calls “The New Groupthink”, their work suffers.

What Type of Workspace Do Introverts Crave?

A private office at work would probably be a dream come true—and working remotely from a quiet location like a home office is another favorite option. The worst possible workspace is an open office plan with no walls and no privacy. That’s not surprising since even extroverts can feel overwhelmed and stressed when there is constant noise. Introverts would usually prefer to have a cubicle rather than the type of open desk with low or no dividers that is prevalent in today’s office environments.

Introverts Need Oases

Cain recognizes that the economics of the open office design make it too tempting for most companies to forego. But she believes there is a way to find some middle ground. Jim Hackett, recent Steelcase CEO and fellow introvert, agrees that it’s time to make a change. Cain is now collaborating with this leading office furniture company on solutions. “We’ve formed a partnership with Steelcase to create quiet oases of focus and respite for open plan offices, so that workers can move freely between social and private spaces.” Design ideas are due to be released sometime in 2014.