Life in a Cubicle Zoo - The Psychology of Office Space

The Solution

There are two ways of dealing with facilities and space problems- one is by addressing the ideas, attitudes and use of the space you’re stuck with. (This may be all you can do if you’ve been assigned space and don’t have budget for changes!) The other option is to address the space itself and make some changes. Use ideas from both sections of this article for best results.

Changing Ideas and Attitudes

Changing your company’s attitudes on time and space is not easy. You have to establish trust and accountability, make sure that your company’s vision, culture, and lines of communication are intact. You have to measure staffers performance on objective criteria, not just the perception of “busyness” created by occupying a cubicle from nine to five every weekday. There are some lines of work that are more compatible with flexibility than others, but in many cases the solution to the cubicle zoo is to free the animals into a more natural habitat.

Time

Many employees request different schedules to meet their own needs- they’re attending classes, taking care of children or parents, or accommodating a second job or hobby. But working “non-standard” office hours may have some benefits to the employer, as well. One employer sees flextime as an opportunity to resolve space issues.

Allowing employees who choose to do so to work 10-hour days and have Fridays off causes a number of people to come in earlier, easing overcrowding in the company gym. (that used to be packed from 7:30 to 8:00 a.m. Now a smaller crowd shows up at the gym from 6:30-7:00 and 7:00-7:30.) This manager has part-time and temporary employees come in on Fridays to do administrative and filing work. They find they can catch up on the week’s administrivia unencumbered by the office’s usual inhabitants- nobody complains if you hog the printer all day since there are few people there. Building maintenance and other items can be arranged to occur on Fridays, impacting the workflow less.

Geography

You may want to take a hard look at how many of your company’s tasks could be performed remotely. Although it is still essential to get together for a really satisfying and stimulating collaborative exchange of ideas, how often are in-person meetings really necessary?

It may be possible for many staffers to work a percentage of time from home. Before offering this as an option (you’ll probably have lots of takers) make sure you outline necessary equipment, determine who should pay for it (some companies require that employees provide their own home computers and phone lines, some foot the bill for these as well) and who will provide technical support when things go wrong (which they sometimes will.)

Changing the Space

Consider the use of space in your company. Does meeting your objectives require employees to spend a lot of time in isolated, concentrated thought? Does it require a lot of books, manuals, computers, peripherals and other items that take up space? Do people spend a lot of time on the phone? Do they talk with each other? Collaborate on a whiteboard? Handle physical items or models? You may find that the cubicle model (which assumes a great deal of isolated thought and a small amount of concentrated space) is not really suited for your line of work.

Have Minute Rooms, Hour Rooms and Day Rooms

One software development company has minute rooms, hour rooms and day rooms rather than cubicles. These rooms are designed for individual or collaborative work, and are designed to change as an employee moves through a day of different types of work and interactions.

Minute Rooms

“Minute rooms” are actual rooms (not cubicles) containing a small table, two or three chairs, and a phone. They have a partly-glass front (so you can see that they are occupied and by whom) but are mostly soundproof. They are designed for small conversations or concentrated work on a particular item. Minute rooms may be used for:

• Conversations between a small number of people
• Conflict resolutions that you don’t necessarily want the whole company to overhear.
• Personal phone conversation
• Working on a task that requires intense concentration and does not want to be disturbed.

Hour Rooms

Hour rooms are what are typically thought of as conference rooms for 8-10 people. They include a table, a whiteboard, a conference telephone, and other typical meeting accoutrements. Hour rooms are used for:

• Status meetings or team meetings
• Announcements and celebrations (Milestone parties, etc.) .

Day Rooms or Project Rooms

Day Rooms or Project Rooms contain white boards, cork strips on the walls (for hanging project plans, posters, etc.) a conference table, and several workstations arranged into “conversational” groups. Everything is mobile.

Day Rooms or Project Rooms are “rented” for a day or group of days for a project team. During that time, the team “owns” the room and arranges the furniture however best fits the objectives and working styles of the project team.

• Large collaborative efforts
• Project work

Informal Space

Consider the informal spaces in your company- reception areas, places around the water cooler, break rooms, places where people tend to congregate and talk. In many companies, these spaces are afterthoughts- the employee “break room” is a converted supply closet, complete with awful lighting, chipping paint and the requisite legally-required posters. A fridge, microwave and a few folding chairs complete the “post industrial” look.

Consider instead an inviting reception area where staff and clients can mingle over coffee, with a few plants and well-placed upholstered chairs and sofas.

Conclusion

It pays to rethink your working space. Rather than having your employees feeling like captives waiting for the opportunity to escape at the end of the day, you can have people with the inviting spaces to work collaboratively or independently as they move through their day. They’ll feel better, and you’ll spend more of your time on vision and strategic direction and less time refereeing turf wars.