Category : workplace culture

Sadly, office cubicles don’t always have the best reputation. There are even movies about hassled, unhappy cubicle workers. Surely. however, this is not the fate of all those cubicle dwellers in the world!

Here are some of the reasons the cubicle manages to stay relevant, even with all the negative press – they aren’t just a cheap way for office owners to keep things running, they are actually beneficial for the right kind of workforce. You might be surprised how many workers prefer  the privacy of a cubicle compared to the chaos of an open office layout or the closed off feeling individual glass walls can cause.

Cubicles Actually Benefit Collaboration!

When you are in a glass office, it’s hard to bounce ideas off of coworkers. Low walls between those who work together often can make it easy to converse throughout the day, while cubicle height extenders can help those on another aisle ignore the conversation.

Cubicles Lead to Less Distractions

In an open office layout with no walls, it’s easy for employees to become distracted.  It’s not just the movement of people walking right past; its the music, the crackling of food packages, the phone calls and so on. Cubicles provide a much needed  level of privacy without undue isolation.

Cubicles Lead to Greater Productivity

Office cubicles offer a certain level of accountability, since managers can easily see who is working and who is goofing off. It’s an easy way to stay on top of deadlines, with less chance of people slacking off since they are in close proximity.

Cubicles Make Employees Feel Like They Have Privacy

Even relatively low walls can provide a sense of personal space for employees, and [panel extenders can increase that for those who need an even quieter workplace or who work on sensitive issues.

Cubicles Actually Foster Social Interaction

Employees are much more likely to get to know their co-workers in a cubicle setting, and can also control what interaction happens which contributes to a happier, healthier workplace environment.  People were meant to live and work and play together, and cubicles prevent complete isolation.

If your open office or glass walled office layout isn’t working well, you might consider using cubicles and panel extenders to create a more fluid workplace, where everyone has the space they need and no-one feels overwhelmed OR cramped!

Did you know the state of your cubicle can say a lot about your personality? The way in which you organize – or don’t – can provide clues to your work style.

• If your cubicle is messy, with papers everywhere, inspirational quotes all over the cubicle walls, and cubicle extenders obviously added simply so you have more wall space to pin stuff to, you are probably a spirited personality who is great with the overall view, very positive, but not that detail oriented. Your advantage is that you can get others pumped up and ready to go!

• If your desk is covered with paperwork, but it’s organized in piles, and you have not one but two calendars to track business and personal appointments plus pictures of family as well as recognition of personal accomplishments such as diplomas or awards, you are probably a direct personality.  You know exactly what you are capable of, expect others to measure up, and are great at organizing even though you may come off as a little bossy (you just want everything to be perfect!)

• If your cubicle is cluttered, but you know where everything is, your cubicle is decorated with an eye to comfort and serenity, and your family life is evident in photos and belongings, you are likely a  considerate personality style. You are an excellent mediator, you like things to run without confrontation, and you feel that working relationships should be as important as personal ones.

• If your desk is tidy and clear of papers, with only what you are currently working on in view, you clean your desk every night, all of your files are organized to death and your cubicle walls feature charts and graphs and conversion tables, you are likely a systematic personality. You like specifics, and aren’t that amenable to being told to “go with it”, but given direct instructions you are the best person to make sure it is done precisely right.

For the best productivity, work together with all of the personality types on your office, splitting responsibilities to take advantage of your strengths. Your cubicles can all be a little more friendly with each other if you accept that everyone is different!

Everyone has a pet peeve when it comes to the workplace, and these are usually exacerbated when space is tight and everyone is working in each other’s pockets. A prime peeve is a workstation being left dirty when the next employee arrives for their shift. Smeary, fingerprinted monitor screens, crumb infested keyboards, full trash cans and personal belongings or litter can be triggers for an office meltdown.

Panel extenders can keep some of the annoyance of the worker next door away, but what about when you share the same cubicle space with someone else on a flex shift? Having a clearly defined set of workplace rules that delineate what is expected can help prevent conflict. While it may seem absurd to have to remind fully grown women and men to clean up after themselves, it’s a sad fact of life that not everyone knows how to do so.

If you have a mature office culture, a simply reminder: “Leave your workspace as clean as you would like it to be when you return!” will suffice. If this isn’t sufficient, you may have to get specific: “Empty trash can, throw away litter, wipe down all surfaces, remove personal items”.

What is your workplace peeve? Tell us about it!

Thankfully, this guy stayed home.

We’re still talking about workplace peeves. When in a cubicle environment, there can always be that one employee who prides themselves on never missing a day of work – even if that means spreading whatever ghastly illness they have throughout the office. Even the highest cubicle wall extender won’t save you from their germy presence!

You grit your teeth every time they get recognition for their 5, 10, 20 years or more of service with never calling in sick even once, remembering when they gave half the office the flu and how you in particular spent two weeks trying to hack up a lung – and four more weeks nursemaiding everyone in your family back to health.

Of course, it’s hard to skip work when you fear for your job or can’t afford to lose the paycheck. What do you think about your company’s calling in sick policy? Does it encourage people to come to work no matter what?

On this blog, we’ve written a lot about how to deal with noisy coworkers. But dealing with nosy coworkers can be even more challenging. We found one tale of nosiness posted on Yahoo Answers that made us shake our heads. The questioner asked what to do about her mom’s coworker who is always in her business. This coworker crossed the line way past giving unsolicited advice in some pretty disturbing ways. However, most of us just deal with the occasional coworker who apparently just doesn’t have enough going on in their own life.

The answer posted includes some very good tips for dealing with a run-of-the-mill busybody. Here’s an excerpt: “Sometimes a nice way to begin the confrontation process is to just thank the person for being a caring person. If their goal is to feel like a caring person, and you satisfy that, they may not feel the need to be so nosy. If it increases the nosiness, a specific thank you for their advice/observation can be given, so they know that the specific advice they gave “got through.” Then they might feel like their obligation to get their point across has been satisfied.”

How do you deal with nosy coworkers? Is the answer none of our business? Let us know in the comments.

We’ve seen a lot of good (and some very, very naughty) cubicle pranks in our time. But they tend to lack sophistication. There are only so many substances you can use to fill or cover a cubicle with. After you run through the ping pong balls, post-it notes and aluminum foil, you need to find something more inventive to catch your coworkers off guard. You probably know the prank that involves turning a computer screen into the “blue screen of death”. However, the folks at EQA Office Furniture have taken this one a lot further. They show you step by step how to replace the screen background with a fake screenshot. The instructions don’t stop there. You also learn how to get rid of all the real icons and hide the start menu. It’s a pretty nefarious and very funny plot. Just be sure you’re willing to take the consequences when your coworker (and a frustrated IT tech) find out what you’ve done.

You can view instructions to the prank here.

At OBEX, we like to encourage employers to give workers some leeway to “make their cube their own”. But not all employees are actually interested in personalizing their cubicle. If you’ve ever wondered why, you may find the conversation happening over at LifeHacker enlightening. The comments are in response to an article about how to make a cube more comfy and less boring. Here’s  a rundown of some of the perspectives from those who feel no urge to decorate:

• Work is a place to work and not a place to be “comfortable”. Being a little uncomfortable at work helps you maintain work/life balance by ensuring you want to go home at the end of the day. Decorating at work would blur the lines too much.
• There is no need to be reminded of home while at work. Either it’s simply distracting or it makes you wish you were home instead of at the workplace. Focus on work and not escapism!
• Having no decorations is a sign of ambition. The cube dweller is ready to move up the ladder (or out the door to greener pastures) at a moment’s notice. Having a cubicle full of personal stuff means you’ve been there for years and are “stuck”.
• If the desk is in an open area, people might steal stuff that has sentimental value. It’s safer to only have things at work that you don’t care about.
• Getting relocated over and over means having to move your stuff every time. It’s easier to travel light.

Of course, there’s something to be said for “undecorating” a previously personalized cube. One commenter revealed that it was fun to strip down all decorations. Her boss freaked out, thinking she was quitting (three months later, she did).

It is important to note, however, that even those who are against decoration still enjoy adding functionality. If there’s something they can do to make their cubicle support their job more effectively, they see no problem with adjusting their workspace. So, they may not care about what color or pretty pattern their cubicle panel extender is. But if it helps them focus more on work, they’re likely to love it anyway!

A research paper called “Noise and Perceived Privacy – Flexible Office Space Matters” published at acoustics.org by Christina Danielsson reveals some very helpful information about how employees respond to different types of office layouts. A study of about 470 employees in various Swedish companies gathered data about the satisfaction level for seven different office types including:

• All private offices (fully enclosed)
• Open plan offices (with assigned workstations and few or no dividers)
• Flex offices that had no assigned workstations but lots of options for where employees could work within the layout – including “backup spaces” featuring varying levels of enclosure

Not surprisingly, private offices were most prized for acoustic and visual privacy. However, those in flex offices reported just as much visual privacy as those in private offices. They also reported better acoustic privacy than employees in open plan offices. Open plan spaces that housed a lot of employees were at the bottom of the list for both types of privacy. Interestingly, satisfaction with privacy was better in flex offices even if they did not specifically offer truly private spaces. Apparently, having the freedom to move around instead of being pinned down to just one place to work makes a big difference. In other words, the perception of autonomy is linked to the perception of privacy.

The paper concludes with this statement: “It is highly important to recognize the relation between perception of privacy and noise, since it is known that privacy has a mediating effect on negative stimuli such as noise. With knowledge of the architectural and functional features importance for these issues costly mistakes for organizations such as a decreased environmental satisfaction and job satisfaction among employees can be avoided for organizations in the design process of offices.”

Whatever type of space you create, be sure there is some built in privacy for all employees. This can be provided in terms of:

• The layout itself (architecture and floor plan)
• How each space is furnished (perhaps a mix of individual workstations, collaborative and lounge furnishings)
• The inclusion of enclosed spaces for individuals or groups (private or semi-private areas)
• A work culture that permits greater freedom of movement within the office environment

How are you ensuring the perception of privacy at your office? Share your ideas in the comments.

Etiquette Daily is the go-to source for opinions on how to behave (and how to get other people to behave) in any number of common situations. As you can imagine, one place where people often demonstrate poor manners is at work. After all, if you hang out somewhere for 40+ hours a week, it’s easy to get sloppy in your interactions. When you work next door to a bunch of other cubicle dwellers with very little privacy, you start to feel like you know each other well – perhaps a little too well.

In March of last year, “epi” asked about how to reduce interruptions. She has a cubicle (which means no door) and doesn’t want to be rude and simply tell people to leave. However, she knows that the constant disruption is impacting her productivity.

The response generated quite a discussion. The etiquette experts recommended putting up a small “Do Not Disturb” flag that can be raised whenever an employee wants to work with no interruptions. It could become part of the workplace culture. Kind of like the “Bat Signal” but in reverse (don’t come crashing in to save the day).

Flags Down, Everyone!

Some responders in the pursuing discussion thought this was a poor idea. Implementing yet one more set of workplace rules might simply make it more difficult for everyone to get things done. Why not ask everyone to correspond with you via email instead? Oops, then your inbox fills up and everyone thinks you are anti-social. You could set up an “Office Hours” sign, but that just makes you look pompous.

Some of the commenters did have excellent ideas. Anne says she simply stands up whenever someone enters her cubicle. It keeps conversations very short and lets her suggest a “walk and talk” if the discussion starts stretching too long. Read the full list of responses to get ideas for how to encourage coworkers to respect your time without seeming unfriendly or stuck up.

What’s Our Take?

Since we are specialists in creating more workplace privacy with our panel extenders and desk mounted dividers, you know we have an opinion! It’s not really about the specific mechanism you use (flags, signs, etc.) The important thing is to have a company-wide conversation about the impact of interruptions on work efficiency to brainstorm options and raise awareness of this problem. There are so many different ways to cut down on disruption, it’s just a matter of finding the right fit for your organization’s culture.