Tag : workplace privacy

OK, folks – it’s our last holiday pet peeve of the year. Since it’s almost that special day, let’s talk about New Year’s Eve parties for a minute. We all know about the drinking, the desperate pairing up to watch the ball drop, and so on – but what about the company mandated New Year’s resolutions?

We’re not joking – some companies are mandating wellness checks with monetary penalties or incentives for how healthy they think you are. Blood tests, waist measurements, weigh ins and so on are just the start – what if your boss decides a “pedometer” contest is the next “fun” thing to do and people get embarrassed when they don’t rack up the required steps – whether due to job parameters, health conditions or otherwise?

This article talks about the new age of information and your health in the workplace – read it and tell us what you think. Should your employer be able to set your New Year’s resolution? Or is it a gross invasion of privacy?

Advocates of open office plans say high cubicle walls restrict workplace socialization. As a result, many office managers don’t like to see walls that come up higher than a seated employees eyebrows, on the premise that workers who can’t see and hear the person near them feel isolated and alienated. However, that’s not the case at all for many workers, who find that they simply can’t concentrate without a place of their own.

Could it be that higher cubicle panels actually improve connection and communication in the workplace, rather than preventing friendly and amiable interaction at work? When surveying groups of office workers, it turns out that the pet peeve of many is constant interruptions when they are trying to finish a task before deadline or day’s end – or worse. Interruptions is actually often used as a polite term for unwanted socialization, with the workers who want to do the job and go home resenting those who treat the office like a ninth grade school hallway.

Cubicle height extenders can help alleviate some of the aggravation, by making it just a little harder to invade someone else’s space. When a co-worker has to literally walk into the other person’s private workspace in order to speak to them, generally having to get their attention from behind their back, the amount of unnecessary interruptions goes way down. In contrast, when someone can simply stand up and holler at a coworker on either side or across from them, the temptation to gossip, chat and socialize when not appropriate is encouraged.

Even the simple act of rolling a chair around the corner to talk to another cube worker has the potential to make employees more mindful. It’s kind of like having candy stored on the top shelf in the pantry instead of in a candy dish at your desk. You appreciate it more (and are less likely to overindulge) when the candy is not staring you right in the face all day.

With low cubicles installed as the standard and panel extenders used to customize work-spaces, all employees can have the level of privacy and comfort  they need to be happy and productive.

Do you have a pet peeve when it comes to the workplace? Living in the cubicle world can be difficult at times, with certain co-workers pushing all of your buttons until you feel like screaming. From people popping up in their cubicles when something happens (despite cubicle height extensions) to the guy who insists on dropping by but spends half an hour on his phone in YOUR cubicle, there’s a wide range of annoyances and workplace distractions.

While workplace privacy is one big issue, some of the more common office peeves have more to do with immaturity or thoughtlessness on the part of bosses or co-workers. It could be that they grew up with wolves and never had anyone teach them common courtesy, or it could be a misunderstanding. Whatever the cause, the way to deal with a workplace peeve is to figure out how to approach the person who is making you nuts, address the behavior in a constructive way, and hope you can arrive at a happy outcome.

What’s your office peeve? Let us know what it is and how you dealt with it.

An important thing to remember about workstation privacy is that sometimes you can sacrifice too much for a feeling of protected solitude. Using privacy screens and panel extenders can help increase employee focus, but other factors can decrease efficiency if the concept is taken overboard.

For example, in offices with solid cubicle walls and a fixed height, artificial lighting may be the only option. If your building offers opportunities for natural daylight, a revamp of workspaces may be needed to boost employee morale and let them take advantage of real light.

Cubicle height extension panels should be no higher than 42 inches. The maximum amount of daylight can then reach internal areas of the space, and occupants can have a more natural view.

If the loss of privacy that comes with lower wall heights is an issue, consider using   removable cubicle wall extensions that can be used when more privacy is needed. You can also alter the direction in which each worker faces, to create a further feeling of privacy.

How do you incorporate new ideas into your workspace? Share your secrets to a more welcoming cubicle environment in the comments.

It’s Friday, which means we are open for discussion once again on the topic of workstation privacy. Today, let’s talk about the infamous at work personal phone call.

Short of banning personal phones from the workplace (difficult when so many employees use their phones for work AND play), keeping a lid on the abuse of workplace phone privileges can be tough. In the cubicle environment, it can be even harder to maintain professionalism and privacy, even with cubicle wall extenders and privacy screens.

Allowing a quiet space for workers to make personal calls (a cubicle with extra privacy panels set up in the corner away from the main grouping) can help. It makes it fairly obvious to the manager who is spending too much time on non-work-related phone calls, but gives workers better privacy when they do have to deal with sensitive situations while at work.

Have you ever had an issue with a co-worker intruding into your life as the result of an overheard phone call? Tell us about it!

Sometimes, the mechanics of workstation privacy aren’t as important as the social aspects. That’s the point Chris at the LockerGnome makes in his response to a question about cubicle etiquette. Loretta asks what she can do (other than screaming at or killing her coworkers) to gain some respect for her personal space at work. When everyone works together to create a polite and considerate atmosphere, even thin or low cubicle walls can be bearable. The basics are simple. Don’t barge in to someone else’s cube, keep your voice down, stay tidy, avoid smelly foods.

What Chris doesn’t address is how to help your coworkers follow these guidelines. Setting an example is a good start. But you may also find it necessary to have a few awkward but frank discussions with top offenders as well. Yes, that’s one key to workstation privacy. Simply say, “Hey, Fred. I like to make sure I keep in touch with my coworkers. But I’ve been having trouble staying focused on work lately when people drop by my cubicle to talk. Maybe we can catch up around the water cooler instead?”

How do you set good boundaries or teach coworkers good manners? Let us know in the comments.

Our new feature on the OBEX cubicle panel extender blog is the “Friday Fan Club”. Each week, we’ll post a tidbit from around the web about how to increase privacy in your cubicle. These tips will range from silly to sensible and everything in between. We want to start this series off with a bang, so click on over to I Am Bored to see one innovative way to screen yourself off from the rest of your coworkers.

Does hanging cardboard saloon doors in front of your cube let everyone know you’re a straight shooter? Or do they think you’re secretly hiding in your cubicle doing shots? Would an opera stage curtain be more appropriate and dramatic? Would your boss like it better if you created a movable wall with a lovely mural on it painted in dry erase markers? What would you use to craft your own makeshift cubicle doors? Let us know in the comments.

According to a “Science Tech” article on the DailyMail site, there are two major threats to productivity in the workplace:

• Open plan offices
• Uniformity in workstations

The article cites a number of studies demonstrating the effect of constant interruptions, high noise levels, and lack of privacy endemic in open offices. We’ve covered a lot of these studies before, but it never hurts to get a refresher course. A neuroscientist who helped conduct one study that actually measured a subject’s brainwaves in an open plan office said employees may not realize the disruption to their thought processes. “Even though you are not aware at the time, the brain responds to distractions.” He believes that these open offices don’t actually improve either creativity or problem solving. Having 50 people in a room doesn’t increase the available brain power if no one is actually able to think.

A psychologist interviewed for the same article revealed another finding from the study. Employee productivity goes up by 15% when workers are allowed to decorate their space with their own belongings. Instead of being a distraction, these familiar objects actually make workers feel more relaxed and focused. So, giving employees the option to have private workspaces with more personalization could really pay off.

Last week, we looked at some sofa-style lounge offerings that incorporate privacy panels. But the Coalesse collection takes things even further with the new “Work-Lounge” that can be equipped with a felt canopy. This design looks like something you might see in a beauty salon. Only, instead of drying and setting your hair, the giant cone over your head works to block out noise and other distractions. You can see a 2 minute animated video showing all the cool features of this chair right here.

Users can sit back, relax, and pull the canopy down to give them privacy even in a noisy, open workspace. There’s a light inside the felt dome to provide enough illumination to work by. It also features a bracket to hold mobile devices for hands-free conferencing. When it’s time to rejoin the “meat world” and collaborate in person, the canopy can be pushed back out of the way. Although this revolutionary concept made quite a splash at NeoCon 2013, it won’t be available for purchase through Steelcase’s Coalesse division until 2014.

One Chair, Many Options

The design is by Jean-Marie Moussad who envisions the chair bridging the gap between work and life, comfort and industry, privacy and teamwork. The lounge chair can be used alone for relaxation. However, it turns into a comfortable workstation with the addition of a height adjustable swivel table affixed to one arm. This small worksurface can be brought in close to support a relaxed work posture (much like the flexibility provided by the Gesture task chair). A storage ottoman completes the set by offering a space to store documents or devices and providing a place to prop up your feet.

The swivel base of the chair has auto-return for ease of movement, the headrest has a removable pillow insert for ergonomic customization, and the base has a cord pass-through to charge devices. All in all, this piece of lounge furniture appears to be a one-stop experience for work and play. If you pull the canopy down and turn off the light, you could probably even catch a few z’s there too.

At consumerprivacy.us, there’s a good blog post that tracks privacy concerns from the early days of office computer work through today. It points out that the 3M study we posted about a few months ago isn’t telling us something new. Employers have always been concerned about leakage of sensitive information and office workers have always been less productive when they feel too closely observed. According to the consumer privacy blog article, “As early as 1987, a US government report found that monitoring the quantity or speed of work contributes to stress and stress-related illness.” It’s just a fact that if part of your brain is worrying about being watched, you have less attention to devote to the task at hand.

Is Protecting the Computer Screen Enough?

Not really. The blogger recommends doing more than adding a privacy screen to the computer monitor. There need to be areas even within the workplace that boost the sense of personal privacy while muting sounds. Here’s his proposed solution: “You can create the same environment by creating small, closed offices with doors that have a work counter and sound-absorbing, acoustical wall surfaces that can be used for heads down work or sensitive phone calls.” On the surface, that sounds like a good idea.

Sadly, this would probably lead to some groups hogging these little private offices all the time. Introverts might crave this refuge from the noise of the open office. Or, corporate climbers might think staking claim to even a tiny, temporary office is a way to increase their prestige. Simply having a door that will close has replaced the corner office as the marker of rank in many workplaces. Scheduling time slots for this space would probably start some really vicious interdepartmental wars.

What Other Alternatives Are Available?

There are many “pods” and “touchdown” stations being promoted by office furniture manufacturers these days that avoid this issue. They offer a space enclosed on three sides, but no door. That way, there’s a certain amount of privacy, but not the ability to completely shut oneself away from the rest of the workforce from nine to five. A less expensive and more egalitarian option would be to make desk mounted privacy panels available to all employees who want them. That way, they can choose their own level of privacy instead of vying for a turn in the pod.