Office Personal Space Is Crowded Out

[question everything]

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Office Personal Space Is Crowded Out
Workstations Become Smaller to Save Costs, Taking a Toll on Employee Privacy

By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN
WSJ

The office cubicle is shrinking, along with workers' sense of privacy. Many employers are trimming the space allotted for each worker. The trend has accelerated during the recession as employers seek to cut costs and boost productivity.. new workstations designed by HOK average 48 square feet, down from 64 square feet about five years ago. Partitions between cubicles also are shrinking, to 4 feet high or less, from 5 feet high.. Some companies are removing cubicle walls to create open floor plans. Others are eliminating assigned workspaces for employees who primarily work off campus or spend most of their time in meetings. At any given time, Gensler estimates that 60% of employees are away from their desks.

In September 2008, MetLife Inc. moved roughly 1,200 employees to a 300,000-square-foot office in Manhattan, 25% smaller than their previous 400,000-square-foot building in Long Island City, N.Y. Cubicles are 40 square feet, down from 64; offices are 100 square feet, down from 150. Common areas such as conference rooms and lounges increased by about 20%, and roughly 300 employees no longer have assigned desks. "We'll find them a place to work and get connected," says John Vazquez, the insurer's vice president of corporate services. With help from Gensler, MetLife sought to make the smaller workspaces more useful. Mehmet Ozpay, a MetLife assistant vice president, says his new 100-square-foot office feels roomier than his old space because it offers more storage and has glass walls.

(snip)

Many companies are shrinking workspaces to save money, but some are also trying to promote collaboration. Two years ago, Steinreich Communications LLC relocated its 15 employees to a 3,000-square-foot space from a 5,000-square-foot office in the same Hackensack, N.J., building. The change reduced the public-relations firm's rent by about 25%. The company also installed 6-foot-tall partitions, instead of its previous 8-foot ones. "We found that a significant amount of mentoring was going on as a result," says Stan Steinreich, president and chief executive officer. He says junior employees began adopting techniques they heard more senior employees use.

(snip)

Tighter quarters and open floor plans also can present challenges. David Lewis, president of OperationsInc LLC, a Stamford, Conn., provider of human-resources services to more than 300 U.S. companies, says open floor plans and low cubicle walls can create discord and lead to increased turnover. "Now everybody knows everybody else's business," he says. "It actually starts to create a level of tension in an office that never existed before. People can't focus on work because they're on top of each other." In May 2008, Minneapolis advertising firm Fallon Worldwide abandoned the open floor plan it created in 2000 and re-installed cubicles that give workers roughly 21 square feet less personal space than the open plan. The open layout was "disruptive" to creativity, says Carrie Donovan, director of office administration.

(snip)

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page B7

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703735004574576510304934876.html (subscription)

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Will we next hear promoting the idea of "free range humans?"

[HipChick]

1. I think more companies should allow employees to work from home

problem solved

[question everything]

10. Depends on the work that you are doing

Often, brain storming with others is an important part of the work. And sometimes, just over hearing what others are discussing can give you, or them, some fresh ideas.

[donheld]

12. I find it very hard to drive a bus from home

:D

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

13. if you can telecommute so can Samir Nagheenanajar

Telecommuting seems like setting up a proof of concept for outsourcing your job.

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. "cut costs *and* boost productivity"

Let us know how this works out for morale, Corporate America.

[Initech]

3. They ought to just start putting uppers in our coffee supply and get it over with.

:argh:

[Moochy]

4. Extreme Open Plan Offices are not Healthy

This article ignores the health and safety articles that show this trend is not healthy or productive.
Sick time outages increase due to increased stress levels and less barriers for germ transmission.

...But the WSJ would rather see the silver lining in this dreary trend.

Thanks for posting this.

[Mind_your_head]

5. The new sex pick-up line, "how small is your cube"

:eyes: :sarcasm:

[sandnsea]

6. I prefer an open office

I can't imagine why anybody would want to be in one of those little cubicles. I can't recall ever being condemned to one, thank god.

[question everything]

9. I like the hybrids

An area surrounded by these walls but that has 2 or three desks there. This way you can hear what the others are discussing but do not have that sense of a warehouse.

I think that it also depends on the type of work and jobs. I was in R&D so brain storming was an integral part of our jobs and, yes, hearing what others are saying can give one an idea, or you can just interject about what, or how, and if and a new line of brainstorming can start.

Of course, if you have someone who is constantly on the phone with friends and relatives, or when you want a privacy to talk to a doctor or even to your kids - then this is a problem.

[WillowTree]

7. Funny, but my experience was more positive than this article sounds.

When our office moved a year ago and we got all new furniture, our cubes didn't get smaller (the drawers are smaller, though), but they did away with the high cubicle walls in all but the supervisors cubes in favor of walls that are under 5 feet high, the top 16 to 18 inches of which are glass. I find this arrangement much less isolating and our group has definitely become a more cohesive unit. Frankly, I don't need privacy when I'm at my workstation and this arrangement makes it far easier to interact with those around me which fosters freer exchange of ideas and experience. I much prefer it this way.

[Thickasabrick]

8. These cramped people have jobs - they should be happy nt

[notesdev]

11. A little story

Back when I lived in NYC, I had a contract job at a bank in midtown. The desk they seated me at had so little personal space that I literally could not flex my elbows without bumping the people to either side.

It took about two weeks before I decided it simply wasn't worth it. It paid well, but not well enough to put up with that shit.

Now, I do everything I can to make sure I can work from home, including lifestyle compromises. I make less money than I could in an office, but on the other hand I spend nothing on commuting, work clothes, or any of the other expenses associated with going to an office job, and don't have to deal with any idiot who is not paying me money to put up with them.

If you have this option, let me recommend it. It is very much worth it, and my kitties appreciate it too.