Improving cubeville

[thyme4change]

There have been a lot of complaints about our facilities recently. I think they are fine - but I am more simple about these types of things. Twice I have been with a company when they have built a brand new swanky building for their corporate offices, and it was still cubeville.

Things that I like:
- Individual cubes
- High enough walls that you feel some privacy
- Natural light in addition to good lighting fixtures
- Being grouped in natural business groups
- Comfy chairs

Things I don't like:
- Bullpens
- "cubes" with no walls, or walls that are only as high as your desk (or your monitor) I don't want to hear everyone else's phone calls!
- Multiple locked doors within one work space (especially between me and the bathroom - I am going to go at least twice a day - do I really need to prove my employment status every time I pee?)

What have you seen, or what have you thought of that would make coming to work more comfortable than what we do now?

[swamp]

I've never worked in cubeville, but I'd think the natural light and actual real windows that open would be key.

I'm windowless, and it kills me. My favorite office (that went with my least favorite job, go figure) had three huge floor to ceiling windows that I opened up when it was nice out.

[Deleted]

If you are going to be cubeville, there should be a supply of flex offices for folks that need to have a private meeting and folks that just need to schedule their next pelvic exam.

(A certain amount of personal business gets conducted during the work day - people need a little privacy)

[swamp]

exercise classes held at lunch, before work, and after work.

[thyme4change]

Another thing that I think really, really adds productivity is wireless network connections. To be able to pick up my laptop and sit down with someone else in their cube or office or conference room and be able to work on the network, together - huge advantage for training and collaborating.

[thyme4change]

exercise classes held at lunch, before work, and after work.

blech - I never want to see any of my co-workers exercise, and I never want them to see me exercise.

[Sum Dum Gai]

what have you thought of that would make coming to work more comfortable than what we do now?

Not coming in at all unless necessary. Any job that involves sitting in an isolated cube for 8 hours a day staring at a computer should be done from home.

[swamp]

Sept 6, 2012 12:57:12 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

exercise classes held at lunch, before work, and after work.

blech - I never want to see any of my co-workers exercise, and I never want them to see me exercise.

I don't care who sees me sweat. I just want to get my workout in, and having a class right there for me seems to do it.

[chiver78]

I miss having more natural light. when my old department got split up, we got moved to sit with our new groups. I lost an oversized end cube with a wall of windows, and could have gotten stuck with a half-size cube in a loud area - except that the planners didn't take into account my second PC workstation, and I was able to finagle a "double" cube across the floor to be able to set them both up. at least there's only one other guy in this particular clump of cubes, and he hates fluorescent lights too - we've put a restrictor over the light switch that controls the fluorescents over our cubes and rely on a lot of desk lamps for less harsh lighting. it's a start, at least.

[The Captain]

Good coffee always makes things better!

[swamp]

Sept 6, 2012 13:06:58 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Good coffee always makes things better!

I don't drink coffee, but having some cold bottled water and tea is a nice gesture.

[thyme4change]

Actually - clean fridges that are easy to get to are nice. I had one office where there were no fridges and you were not allowed to buy one for yourself.

[whoisjohngalt]

I worked in a cubicle and I worked in an office. I got a lot more work done when I worked in an office. I knew A LOT more gossip when I worked in a cubicle. I really like windows. My MOST favorite office "thing" was free lunches. I would trade a lot of things for free food!!!

Lena

[swamp]

snacks are good. and not just crappy stuff. believe me, i love me some donuts, but some fruit and granola bars and yogurt and cheeses and stuff like that is good too.

[Sam_2.0]

Sept 6, 2012 12:58:45 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

what have you thought of that would make coming to work more comfortable than what we do now?

Not coming in at all unless necessary. Any job that involves sitting in an isolated cube for 8 hours a day staring at a computer should be done from home.

Or at least a wireless connection so I can go sit out on the picnic table when the weather is nice.

[happyhoix]

I work in an office but we have a big cubeville in our main building and because I work in Engineering I hear a lot of the complaints. They generally fall into categories 1) It's too hot or it's too cold (often your cubeville neighbor is cold natured and runs a space heater while you're sweating bullets - if I had my way I'd outlaw space heaters, keep the office at 71 and require people to bring sweaters, I don't care if it spoils your 'look') 2) my neighbor is too loud, can you make cubeville walls that go all the way to the ceiling so I can't hear her, and 3) my neighbor is annoying and comes to visit my cube all the time, can you make a cubeville door that will lock so the annoying person can't get into my cube (No, no we can't).

Another big complaint, when engineering re-does an area of the office, is that everyone wants to pick personalized cube furniture (especially chairs). I understand why they want to do it, but as the department that has to renovate and install say 100 cubes at a time, it's impossible to let all 100 people get 100 different desks, chairs, file cabinets, etc. You get a discount buying in bulk, plus you want the office to have a uniform look, plus you have to limit how much a desk chair can cost - everyone wants the $2500 ergo office chair.

[thyme4change]

Happy - I agree with temperature - I think 71 is too cold, but I conceptually agree that getting a happy-medium is important. The problem with sweaters is that they don't cover your feet. Even in sneakers, my feet are freezing. I guess I could bring in some wooly slippers for when I sit at my desk.

One problem with my office now is that when the door is closed the temperature spikes. Wouldn't be too bad, except the cleaning crew closes the door every night, so in the morning, it is stinky sweaty in here. By lunch I'm freezing my tail feathers. Any way to even that out so I can be hot all day or cold all day?

[swamp]

beat the cleaning crew for continually shutting the door?

[happyhoix]

Sept 6, 2012 13:41:08 GMT -5 swamp said:

beat the cleaning crew for continually shutting the door?

This might work. ;D

Actually my office has the same problem, it has a western facing window that gets direct illumination from the sun all afternoon. The building management system doesn't take solar heating into account, it is pumping AC through the building based on a thermostat set far far away from our blazing windows, so my office heats up while the rest of the plant stays comfortable.

When it gets bad I have a fan I set near my office door to blow the cold air from the hall into my sweaty office, it helps marginally to dilute the swamp air with the nice air. At least you get a nice breeze on your sweaty face.

[thyme4change]

I have a fan and a space heater. I have used both in the same day. I have switched off my fan and gone immediately to a sweater. I also have a fleece for when the sweater isn't cutting it. Sometimes I close my door for an hour or so to heat up the room. It is a constant dance with the old HVAC in this place. Keeps me awake.

[happyhoix]

Sept 6, 2012 14:22:28 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I have a fan and a space heater. I have used both in the same day. I have switched off my fan and gone immediately to a sweater. I also have a fleece for when the sweater isn't cutting it. Sometimes I close my door for an hour or so to heat up the room. It is a constant dance with the old HVAC in this place. Keeps me awake.

One of our buildings is 150 years old and has about 25 different HVAC units. If the person next to the thermostat for one unit is running her space heater it will actually turn the AC on for that section of the building, which causes the heat to turn on in neighboring areas. So we often have at least some of the units running AC while other units are heating - at the exact same time. Between that and the poor insulation/old windows I'm sure we're just a giant energy suck on our local grid. Then we have the woman who comes to work in mini skirts and strappy sandals in the middle of winter and whines that the office is too cold.

[8 Bit WWBG]

I second loathing the cubes that don't even cover your monitor. I don't want to see someone elses face at all times.

[Peace77]

The needs to be a meeting room that is not the room that hold the fridge, coffee pot, microwave and water dispenser. Those amenities should be in a separate break room.

[Deleted]

When I started my current job 3 years ago, I was in a cube. By title I was owed an office, but there wasn't any vacant. It took 7 months for an office to open up. My productivity is much higher along with my general mood. I have a huge whiteboard on 1 wall that I love and the natural light from the windows means I almost never put artificial light on. I have my own mini-fridge and toaster oven too. I'm just a sleeping bag away from moving in.

[tskeeter]

Thyme, some suggestions.

The refrigerator, coffee pot, and sink should be in a out of the way location. That is, not one side of a main aisle so that everyone has to walk by the coffee cups strewn about the counter and the sink with dishes sitting in it. Build this area along a short hallway that give access to a storage room or something similar.

If you frequently have meetings where food or beverages are served, building a coffee bar, with sink and adequate outlets, or something similar into a corner of the conference room is really handy.

Build copier rooms around the work area to minimize noise.

A couple of small conference rooms, big enough for two or three people, a small conference table, and a phone is nice. We used to call these the vendor conference rooms because they were located close to the front door. Allowed you to meet with visitors and not have to drag them through the office area.

Being completely wireless is a nice feature. Over the long term, it allows for nearly instantaneous re-configuration of work spaces. Beats the heck out of the raised floor we put under one cube farm I helped build. However, a raised floor or wire troughs in the floor does eliminate the power poles coming down from the ceiling. Inevitably, power poles result in holes in your ceiling tile when the power poles are moved. I never considered the ceiling full of holes a good look, but it is very, very common.

Bring electricity up through the floor under conference room tables and install outlets and data jacks either through the top of the table or within easy reach under the edge of the table. This lets you power run down laptops or use the conference room for computer based training.

Install a screen in one conference room for use with projection equipment for power point presentations and the like.

We used adhesive backed carpet tiles, rather than broadloom carpet. This allows you to rotate the tiles from high wear areas, such as the corners where aisles connect, to under work stations where the tiles get almost no wear.

Sound absorption is a big deal. The office I work in is so acoustically active that you can easily understand every word of a soft phone conversation taking place three cubicles away. Decorative sound deadening panels could be just the ticket.

Lots of storage space. It seems like there is never enough. Stacks of records storage boxes and file cabinets lining aisles always looks so chic. If you use an off site records storage service, including space in a mail room or copier room to stage records coming and going from the off site storage is a nice feature.

If you want to have confidential conversations in offices or conference rooms, make sure that walls run all the way to the roof. They often stop a few inches above the ceiling, so when you and your boss discuss things that aren't ready for public consumption, everyone attending the meeting in the conference room next to your office can hear every word you say.

[Deleted]

I agree with a lot of the above- I've been in Cubicleville for 9 years and my new space is also cubicleville. It beats the offices of my previous employer in Switzelrand, where a large office was shared by 5 or 6 people and at any time the conversations or the phone calls could be in English, German, French and occasionally Spanish or Italian. Oh yeah- there's a big scarcity of meeting rooms and sometimes someone with a lot of chutzpah just takes over one of the rooms.

The 2-3 person rooms are nice- I've taken my cell phone into them for private conversations.

Natural light is good. Also configure the cubicles so that people walking by can't see your screen. (EG the worker faces the door of the cube with the monitor between them and the door.)

There's probably some studies around about minimum space per person that doesn't make them feel crowded.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Sept 6, 2012 12:50:05 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

There have been a lot of complaints about our facilities recently. I think they are fine - but I am more simple about these types of things. Twice I have been with a company when they have built a brand new swanky building for their corporate offices, and it was still cubeville.

Things that I like:
- Individual cubes
- High enough walls that you feel some privacy
- Natural light in addition to good lighting fixtures
- Being grouped in natural business groups
- Comfy chairs

Things I don't like:
- Bullpens
- "cubes" with no walls, or walls that are only as high as your desk (or your monitor) I don't want to hear everyone else's phone calls!
- Multiple locked doors within one work space (especially between me and the bathroom - I am going to go at least twice a day - do I really need to prove my employment status every time I pee?)

What have you seen, or what have you thought of that would make coming to work more comfortable than what we do now?

As a long-time cube dweller, I have to agree with you on all these pros/cons. I would add that I would like to have a cubicle with an actual door on it sometime (they make them!), so that I can occasionally close it and not be bothered. You gotta dream big, right? ;D

[happyscooter]

not cubeville but a sound proof room with a phone. upstairs away from prying eyes and ears. you could call your doctor or have a yelling match with your spouse or call your mortgage company. it was nice.

[Deleted]

One of my biggest gripes about cubeville is most of the time cubes are set up with your back facing the aisle. I hate it when people walk up behind me.

[Peace77]

Geez, not even a picture of the spouse or kids? That's cold.