Tag : workplace design

Friday fun means a joke with a hidden message – What? Yes, of course there’s a hidden message. We’re a company trying to sell stuff!

In case you’ve been looking at your current office space and trying to decide about your newest layout, panel extenders may be on your list of options. Will they work for your space? Let’s look at a few kinds of offices and how the work station walls affect productivity.

For many offices, the work process has become much more collaborative which has translated into more low-wall cubicles and even benching systems in the workplace. Many industry experts believe the taller wall cubicles or “Dilbert cubes” are on their way out. However, low walls or no walls isn’t feasible for all workers.

Benching systems are popular in Europe;  the absence of panels allows you to cram more people into one area, which can foster creativity and collaboration but be bad for employee comfort and productivity in some cases.

Cubicles with low walls (42″ high)  allow employees to see and talk to each other while seated or standing, allowing for a lot of collaboration, team work and creativity. However, they still don’t give workers privacy (although workers do have a more clearly defined “owned” space) and acoustically offer no help at all.

Medium height cubicle walls (53″ high) is the fall back option for many offices. Employees have more privacy and can be more productive. All they have to do to reach out to a co-worker is stand up. here is still not very much acoustical privacy, however.

This brings us back to high walls, with panels 65” tall and greater. This offers the most acoustical and visual privacy. This is ideal for some workers and jobs that require some privacy, and extreme focus, but is no longer considered ideal. They can make many employees feel isolated and cut off.

A blended solution is usually the best option. Panel extenders can help you customize each cubicle or group of cubicles to provide just the right amount of privacy while still fostering teamwork and collaborative creativity.

You can even create pods of sorts, with each team having higher walls around the perimeter of their section to provide them with a sense of privacy, and lower walls between team members for ease of communication.

Panel extenders can be the answer to your new work layout. Call us and ask for advice!

About 40 million working North Americans work in cubicles. Some like it, some don’t – and the correlation between those who feel positive about their workplace and those who don’t is directly related to how their workplace is managed, more than it is the mere fact of being a cubicle worker.

The modern-day cubicle has been formally denounced by the man who actually came up with the idea – Robert Propst. Cubicles were put forth by Propst in 1968 as a way to increase office productivity by providing personal work-spaces with plenty of shelving and increased work-surface areas. He hoped that this would help out office drones who were having difficulty with more open work-spaces that gave little storage or utility space and were so open distractions were common.

With cubicles, he felt, employees would have more room to work; partitions could be used to pin up projects and to provide the privacy that the earlier open offices lacked. Surprise – the original plan also called for adjustable desk levels, similar to today’s “newfangled fad”, with the idea that workers could benefit from the chance to spend some time standing up.

Overall, cubicles were supposed to be beneficial to the worker. After all, health can be largely dependent on your environmental comfort, which is determined by whether your immediate space meets basic physical, functional and psychological needs. A well appointed cubicle with panel extenders of appropriate height would give each employee space and privacy to work, without completely cutting them off form their fellows.

Sadly, economics completely screwed up Propst’s dream. Office space costs climbed, and instead of being focused on worker benefits, cubicles were used to maximize real estate. They became tiny and cramped, and designed to cram a lot of people into a limited area. Instead of being the flexible units that Propst intended them to be, cubicles became rows of cages, and the term “death by cubicle” emerged. TV shows, comic strips and movies made sharp commentary about cubicle life, pointing out that people were being trapped in boxes while being encouraged to think outside them.  Productivity fell, as did worker health, satisfaction, and stability.

But death by cubicle doesn’t have to be a thing. Cubicle panel extenders and a larger footprint can make cubicles worker friendly again!

Higher cubicle walls or cubicle height extenders may well be a mandate instead of an option in certain situations. While many offices have shifted to an open office layout, cubicles are still the mode of choice for quite a few industries, and amongst these are several with ties to medicine.

HIPPA constraints changed the way medical companies, providers, vendors and more conduct their offices. The need for privacy under ethical grounds meant that the shift towards open office design had to be scaled down, as records went digital and computers took over.

Today, a space being repurposed for use in the medical industry – such as billing or coding companies involved with medical insurance and so on – needs some modicum of security and privacy to ensure patient’s rights are not being compromised.

Cubicle height extenders can help. They provide a barrier of sorts that requires more effort to circumvent, prevent passersby from seeing monitor screens or paperwork on the desk, and also keep telephone conversations from being as public – especially if sound absorbing material is used in the cubicles.

In addition to the positives for keeping patient information confidential, cubicle height extenders can improve employee relations by keeping chatterboxes from ruining the workdays of the more focused.

There’s another advantage to cubicle height extenders. Undesirable employee behaviors that appear to spread in open office environments can be quelled in cubicle areas by raising the height of the walls, creating less opportunities for the bad apples to spoil the rest of the bunch. Gossip is harder when you have to get up and go round a corner and approach someone from behind to share it.

You don’t have lose visual and auditory channels, however – the great thing about cubicle height extenders is that they can be used judiciously, allowing you to fashion partitions that allow collaboration where appropriate and privacy when needed.

Consider how cubicle height extenders could benefit your office workers by giving them privacy and space when dealing with sensitive subjects and material, and allowing more freedom when indicated for those who need a more open layout to function well.

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.

A cubicle that isn’t sufficiently sheltered from the bustle and roar of a busy office can lead to increased inefficiency and worker frustration. Using cubicle wall extenders to help dampen the sound of the printer on the other side of the wall or the foot traffic from the corridor can improve employee concentration and decrease the  annoyance levels significantly.

However, cubicles that are too tall and closed in can lead to severe feelings of isolation and even depression. The best route is to carefully analyze the needs of each worker as well as those of their adjoining cubicle dwellers, and create spaces that work for all concerned instead of depending on cookie cutter sameness.  Fortunately, you can make cubicle walls taller in a variety of increments, expanding the possibilities for custom workplace design.

Stair stepping cubicle wall extenders placed as shown above increase quiet and privacy directly in front of the worker, while allowing her to not feel boxed in. The stepped down height of the cubicle wall as it extends behind her and off to her right creates a feeling of open space while still providing privacy and a secluded work station.

Allowing each employee to help “create” their own workplace is simple when using cubicle wall extenders. Does the six foot five employee in the next cubicle keep laughing at someone in the other end of the phone? A taller height extension can help block him out. Do two employees seated opposite each other have to keep running around the corner to consult? Choose a lower cubicle wall add on so they still have privacy but can see each-other over the top of the cubicle wall.

Developing a high efficiency cubicle environment takes a keen sense of what is working and what isn’t and the ability to balance the needs and preferences of co-workers. Creating a workplace design that promotes employee satisfaction and contentment is just as important as increasing productivity. Cubicle wall extenders can be an important part of the office layout process, but must be combined with a good hard look at inter-office dynamics and traffic flow within workplace to be truly effective.

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.

From Vodafone via Visual.ly, here’s an infographic that will make you think about whether the way your company does business needs to change to attract the newest crop of college grads. Much of this information comes as no surprise. For example, the Y generation expects your IT department to provide support and security for their smartphone, tablet or other mobile device as part of the BYOD trend. But the built and furnished environment is going to be just as important as the technology. If you scroll down to the bottom of the graphic, you’ll see that the Gen Y employees expect their office environment to provide different types of space for different types of work. We’re betting one of those spaces will be for highly concentrated work – and it will need some nice privacy panels.

Gen Y: Expectations of the Workplace infographic

 

The Facility Management Journal covers every conceivable aspect of office design from air conditioning and ergonomics to sustainability and lighting. It’s not surprising that you’ll find great information on how to arrange office furniture at FMlink.com as well. The case study for GlaxoSmithKline is particularly interesting. This employer was looking for ways to increase productivity and profitability while reducing overhead.

GSK used a very simple method to assess how their current office space was being used. They did a walk through 10 times per day for 2 weeks and recorded the types of activity taking place and where these areas were located. Based on this information, they found that employee workstations were only occupied an average of 41% of the time. This was actually pretty consistent across 7 different work sites (the numbers ranged from 36-45%). The rest of the time, the workstations were temporarily unoccupied or just sitting empty.

The Missing Pieces

Where were these employees when they weren’t at their stations? Some of the time, they were trying to get work done in groups. However, they didn’t have the right facilities for this kind of team effort. GSK chose to address this problem by adding multiple conference rooms to accommodate group work throughout the day. They reduced the number of workstations and increased the number of chairs available – moving to a hot-desking system.

This is actually a configuration that can benefit greatly from the addition of panel extenders. When individuals don’t know where they will be sitting from one day to the next, they need additional protection from audible and visible interruptions. When a person works at the same station every day, they may learn to ignore things in their peripheral vision or sounds they are used to hearing. With a hoteling system where everyone is playing musical desks, that doesn’t happen. Any change or novelty in a worker’s surroundings is a distraction in itself. Having some extra height on the cubicle walls or adding privacy panels to desks in open areas is a quick, affordable way to help reduce the disruption caused by switching to a different office configuration.

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.