Days of cubicle farms may be numbered

By George C. Ford, The Gazette

As today's work force becomes more diverse in terms of age, gender and ethnicity, and managers see more need for collaboration than isolation, Dilbert-style cubicle farms may be on their way out.

Leslie Dahl, director of design at Saxton Inc. in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, says many clients such as Kinze Manufacturing in Williamsburg have taken the first step toward potentially eliminating cubicles by moving to lower walls.

“The changes we've made with office environments recently at businesses were to bring panel/cubicle heights down from 80 inches and 64 inches to 57 inches and 42 inches, plus areas with no panels or walls,” Dahl said. “This is to aid in communication, collaboration and mentoring.

”Managers have been moved from private offices to open plan environments with panel heights of 64 inches plus glass or mesh screens for visibility and  access to daylight.”

Dahl said the future holds even more significant changes that may hasten the demise of cubicle farms in many offices.

“The newest concept, which is what I saw last month at the Neocon (office furniture) convention in Chicago, is where the panels are totally gone,” she said. “It was all low furniture with some storage components providing separation and division between people.”

Phil Wasta, vice president of Tallgrass Business Resources in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, said cubicles were developed by the office furniture industry to meet a requirement in the workplace.

“In the 1960s and 1970s, people needed to concentrate on their given piece of the overall process and then pass it on,” Wasta said. “Work is becoming more broad in scope, employees are multi-tasking and there's a lot more interaction for problem-solving.

“The cubicle walls that used to give workers concentration time need to come down. It needs to be an open office with more of a 1950s look, but in a much more dynamic sense.”

Dahl said the work environment also is changing, forcing businesses to adapt their physical space to a new reality.

“There's a lot more social activity and collaboration in today's workplace,” she said. “Truly, work happens everywhere. Technology has changed everything, allowing people to work at the coffee shop, while watching their child play at the ballpark, and in the breakroom.

“The ‘Y' generation has grown up on technology and collaboration. They are used to being connected anyplace and any time, which is really a driver of change in the workplace.”

Considering that there are four generations of employees working in many of today's offices, acceptance of a more open environment and the demise of cubicles almost certainly will face some opposition. However, a recent article by Mark Boslet and Katherine Conrad in the San Jose Mercury News shows Silicon Valley's move to dump cubicles is yielding improvements in productivity.

“Ted Baumuller, a senior manager in Cisco's information technology department, said the time it takes to make decisions has been cut by 25 percent to 30 percent because it's easier to round up the team, and collegial relationships have improved by working in a more open environment,” the story said.

“Baumuller believes he is much more accessible now that he no longer has a door. His office is wherever he wants it to be - from a couch to a chair by the window, known as a touch-down site. Workers need only look across the floor to find him.”

While there is a concern that lowering or removing walls or cubicles will lead to increased noise and distractions, the opposite seems to be the case, according to an executive with Coca-Cola Refreshments, a division of the Atlanta-based soft drink giant.

Once the walls were taken down, “we found that, without exception, the noise level goes down,” said Matthew Fanoe, vice president of real estate for Coca-Cola Refreshments, who was interviewed by Amy Hoak of MarketWatch. “Cubicle walls do not block sound. When you see the person next to you, you're more likely to keep your volume down.”

Dahl said the global nature of business also is affecting the design and functionality of the workplace.

“Business is moving at a rapid pace, and the office environment has to change to support that,” she said. “Ergonomics is at the forefront of many changes, but the green movement and sustainability also are important. People really want to see daylight.”