Tag : panel extenders

There are some very solid financial and practical reasons to consider cubicle panel extenders instead of investing in drywall to create actual walled in office space.

Opting for a cubicle office could mean a significant savings even in offices where cubicle walls are extended as high as shoulder height or head height – even though the upfront cost of the panels might be more than dry-walling, you have several benefits that will make themselves known over time.

• The IRS considers cubicle panels and wall extenders to be furniture which can be depreciated at a much faster rate than an actual office build.
• You automatically have a “movable” office that can be reconfigured as needed, and even shifted to an entirely new location if you end up needing more space – eliminating the need for a full remodel every time you relocate.
• They can be readily outfitted with options for easy electrical and internet cabling, something that is much more complex with drywall installation.
• They can be quickly removed if needed to provide a more open area for a group or team effort, and refitted when needed so key workers have a quiet, private area to complete serious tasks.
• Even with cubicles that have panel extenders nearly to the ceiling, there isn’t the completely closed in feeling you get with a traditional drywall office.

Don’t be scared of trying out a cubicle office. With a wide range of used and refurbished cubicle units on the market, it’s simple and cost effective to outfit a new office with cubicles to see if they work well before investing in the costly endeavor of a complete walling in of offices, and also lets you have some time to ensure that your location was the perfect fit before expending funds in customization.

Research the different cubicle heights and sizes available, and find out if your new office space might benefit from the flexible solution that various options and panel extenders supply – from ease of communication to privacy when needed. It’s a simple, efficient way to organize your available space without committing to a “forever” layout.

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!

The ongoing battle between determined open office adopters and cubicle dwellers continues. It’s not that workers don’t like the feel of open space, but the noise level is the most commonly cited problem with this kind of layout. To battle the constant din, many turn to panel extenders to protect their work bubble and also depend on the “evolving law of technology etiquette,” using isolating techniques such as headphones to defend against the onslaught of office sound.

Background noise causes most of the dismay for office workers in an open environment. While some companies experiment with redesigning acoustics or piping in white noise to provide “sound masking”, scientists continue to measure productivity and happiness levels of workers in different environments. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, report that over 50% of office workers are unhappy with the level of “speech privacy,” in their workplace!

The answer? For some, “pink noise” a soft whooshing emitted over loudspeakers that has been formulated to match the frequencies of human voices can help – in one study, the system was run for three months before being switched off – and the complaints on the day the system wasn’t operated reached epic proportions.

For other, ditching the open office plan altogether and returning to a cubicle layout was the only ay to bring back a feeling of satisfaction and security for workers. Some companies experiment with larger cubicles that allow several co-workers to share space and collaborate, while others allow individual cubicle parameters, using panel extenders to shape each cubicle for the occupying worker’s comfort and convenience.

Low cubicles can allow for an open feeling that isn’t quite as intrusive – with each worker depending on their configuration to create a space that allows for communication without distraction. While some may get useful ideas from overheard conversations, they also say it’s hard to have to retreat to a  separate area for private chats or depend on email or chat messaging for privacy even when the party they want to speak with is right next to them.

The open-plan design remains a big selling point for office designers because it is cheaper than cubicles and has been proven to work in certain verticals (such as newsrooms, trading floors and political campaign offices) but the “bullpen” is still not the top choice for those who need more quiet and privacy to remain productive. The cubicle is here to stay!

Is your cubicle boring you to death? Working in a cube doesn’t have to be soul stealing and brain draining. Most offices have policies on how much your employees can change their workstation up, but mounting a campaign for freedom of expression might be a good idea.

The first thing about most cubicle settings is the bleakness of the surroundings. white, grey or beige walls, floors and panel extenders can make even a hardened office drone feel closed in and institutionalized, sapping their will to live, let alone work.

Using color to mask the largest surfaces can instantly change the feel of a cubicle. Allowing workers to customize their wall color can help immensely. Colors like blue, and green are calming while brighter yellows and reds can kick start creativity, and a coat of paint on panels that are made of a paintable surface can work fine. Alternately, try turning one wall into a chalkboard with chalkboard paint.

Panels that are bulletin board like can be covered with cheap fabric instead or inexpensive wall paper. Even wrapping paper could do in a pinch!  Some panels even come with options like the nature one shown above. Floors can be brightened with bamboo mats, or colorful area rugs, and accents like a lamp with a bright shade, personal pictures of family and pets, and even posters of bands or postcards from vacations.

A live plant can lend a homey feeling to a cubicle (make sure no-one is allergic to it.) If live foliage isn’t allowed, try high quality fakes to add a sense of relaxation. A small fish tank is also one way to bring a creative mood into a cubicle setting, or consider a hermit crab as another way to liven up the place.

Go to bat for your employees, and find ways to let them decorate their cubicles and panel extenders as well as the rest of their workspace. While you don’t want anything that is insanely distracting, most employees will embrace the ability to decorate to their own taste, and will have pride and a better attitude about their cubicle.  A happy employee works harder!

If you are in market for office cubicles, you’ve probably noticed a wide disparity in cubicle height and size. For some office managers, the design of a cubicle shows the level of the person sitting in it – much like the coveted corner office, a large, high walled cubicle could be considered the pinnacle of success.

However, the smart office designer will look at the individual tasks meant to be performed by cubicle dwellers, and create a workspace where cubicle wall height is determined by efficiency, not hierarchy.

Low cubicle walls are typically 42 inches high, which allows co-workers to see and talk to each-other while seated. Rather than seeing this setup as one that is cheap and therefore appropriate for employees who are low on the corporate ladder, look at this type layout as particularly valuable for teams who need open collaboration and a free flow of information and ideas. Spontaneous brainstorming sessions or informal meetings are a snap, and don’t require removal of the team to a conference room.

Medium height cubicles (53 inches high) are standard fare for offices where worker bees sit on the phone all day providing customer service or working sales calls. Employees can still see and communicate with co-workers by simply stand up. The greater modicum of privacy afforded can be attractive if workplace distractions are hindering the quality of customer care. An added benefit of medium height cubicle walls is that it encourages employees to stand up occasionally and stretch their legs while seeking out social interaction.

High walled cubicles (66 inches high) used to be considered a stand in for that corner office – the “luxury suite” reserved for the head honcho. However, not all executives thrive in the more secluded workspace.This type of cubicle might be more suited to the worker who truly needs the isolation and privacy to be productive – the programmer sequencing code, the writer on a deadline, or the sales executive closing the biggest deal in company history.

Stop looking at cubicle height as a way to separate low level employees from executives, and instead focus on productivity. Using cubicle extenders can allow you to alter cubicle height at will, so a changing office demographic can always be best served no matter what kind of work the occupants may be involved in.

It’s Friday again, and that means it’s time to talk about workstation privacy.

When workspace is shared, how do you keep your private life private? Do you simply refrain from having items like personal photos of family vacations displayed? Do you lose the freedom to express your individuality? Or do you find yourself in a battle for dominance with a co-worker whose personality spills over and stamps the rest of the office?

Managers, how do you deal with disputes over decorating workstations? Is it anything goes, or work related stuff only? Have you discussed with your onsite employees how their workstations could be made more inviting? You can use a variety of tools, including panel extenders and privacy screens, to divide areas in the office and create a unique user-space for each employee.

Have you ever had an unhappy incident at work that hinged on your personal life being ion display at your workstation? Tell us about it in the comments.

Are you an office furniture or office supply dealer? Have you considered adding panel extenders and desk-mounted privacy panels to your catalogue? Here are the top 4 reasons to contact your regional distributor today and become an OBEX dealer:

Everyone Can Use Our Products

Whether your customers have traditional cubicles or a benching system with no panels at all, we have a solution that will suit their workplace. Our universal mounting brackets fit all standard panel widths and desk thicknesses. The range of sizes and materials gives them plenty of choices for an off-the-shelf solution that we can get to them with a short delivery time of just three weeks.

Businesses Know They Need Privacy Panels

There’s a wealth of information available about how distractions, noise, and lack of privacy reduce productivity. The move toward low or no cubicle walls and a completely open office has started to look like less than a brilliant idea. Employers know they need to do something about this problem. If you ask any of your customers if their employees would appreciate a work environment that increases focus and reduces stress, what do you think they will say?

We Make It Easy For You to Say “Yes!”

Does your client want custom sizes? We can do that. How about custom fabrics or paints? We can do that. Maybe the client would like some graphics that create a vibrant work environment or highlight their corporate brand? We do that too. Because we have the facilities and equipment right here to make each OBEX panel, we can help you say ‘yes’ to almost any customer request.

You Get More Satisfied Customers

If you need just a little more incentive to start offering our products, here’s a typical response we get for our products:

“I would like to take a moment to thank the staff of OBEX and let you know what a great product the OBEX panel extenders are. We are very pleased with the product and with the customer focus we received from OBEX. The entire process of order to installation was seamless. The OBEX panel extenders are versatile and extremely cost effective and will be used for a multitude of applications in our work environment. I would highly recommend this product to anyone that needs a quick and affordable means of adding privacy, sound reduction or even aesthetics to existing panel systems furniture without the hassle of having to purchase and install new panels. Thanks again OBEX!” Howard O’Kelly – LPL Financial, AVP Real Estate & Facilities

When you become an OBEX dealer, these satisfied clients could be yours…

You know a product is a winner when the person who invented it can explain all of the following in less than 60 seconds:

• What the product is
• How it works
• The benefits to the customer
• What makes the product unique
• The standard and custom options available

Watch Mark Canavarro, the owner of OBEX Panel Extenders give his “elevator speech” in a short, 46 second clip on YouTube. This really is a product whose time has come. It fixes a problem that employers know they have. They just may not it is so easy to correct for such an affordable price.

In KI’s archives of Business Operating Management magazine, we found an article about how facility managers can find furniture that is the best fit for their company. The author, Karen Kroll, interviewed all the big names in the office furniture industry for this piece. So we thought we’d see what they have to say that’s relevant to our products. Here are some of the points we found particularly insightful:

• Jan Johnson, vice president of market development with Allsteel, notes that “furniture should be able to serve more than one function”. Our desktop mounted privacy panels can be fitted to desks, benches, conference tables, and many other surfaces making them extraordinarily versatile.
• John Lubbinge, director of product marketing for systems with Herman Miller, advises “evaluating a furniture system’s flexibility. You should review just how complicated it is to assemble and disassemble the pieces when an employee moves” (since this increases costs). Our products install in 5 minutes or less with no disassembly of the workstation required.
• Jonathan Webb, vice president of business markets with KI, says this about environmentally conscious choices, “As we go down the road of green furniture, the more they get used, the narrower the price gap.” That day is already here with our products. We use recycled and recyclable materials without a steep price tag.
• Jim Cahill, vice president of systems, storage and education with HON Company, says most office furniture is used (by its first owners) for 10-15 years. We aim to increase that useful lifespan by giving workstations a facelift with our panels.
• Mona Hoffman of Kimball Office has a knack for stating the obvious, “When you give people the right tools, they’re more productive.” She recommends auditing how employees actually work and providing tools they will really use. Hoffman also suggests letting workers try new office furniture and offer feedback. We love that idea! Why not buy a few panel extenders and let your employees give them a test drive?

Is it possible to turn an office into a work of art? David Choe, the graffiti artist who decorated the walls at FaceBook headquarters, shows that it is indeed doable. But what if you don’t own the building where you do business? Could you still create a vivid montage in a less costly way? We imagine a talented artist taking their spray cans and airbrushes to our polycarbonate panels. The panels themselves are available in an array of vivid colors to provide a nice backdrop. Or you can choose the plain translucent ones for a blank canvas. The corrugated effect would be reminiscent of the art you see tagged on the side of railroad boxcars.

Who Should Tag Your Panels?

If your company has an edgy feel and some disposable cash, you might hire someone to do a high end job with panel extender art. It could add a trendy cachet to have a famous artist paint your panels. But hiring a local artist might give you a deeper connection with your community.

You could let each employee decorate their own panels (at least the side facing inward toward their cubicle). Give them a general theme such as the company’s logo or mission statement so they don’t get too wild. This would be a fun art project for your company picnic or a team building exercise to welcome in new employees. The ritual of tagging over the artwork of a previous employee to claim their territory could be part of your new hire orientation.

Finally, there’s the option of having us create a custom printed panel extender that just looks like it’s got graffiti on it – there are a lot less fumes involved that way! You can supply your own artwork and we can apply it professionally.

What do you think? Would you paint a panel extender and turn it into a work of art?