When are office cubicles best?
Whether you are planning an entirely new office space or injecting new life into a current layout, you will likely at some point need to decide on the efficient use of cubicles to meet employee needs. The open office, agile trend has its fans and detractors but many industries and specific company dynamics benefit from the versatility and privacy of cubicle environments. Some companies even incorporate a blend of open, private, and cubicle. For example, if a cadre of employees spends a good portion of the day making phone calls or discussing sensitive information, cubicles offer a private and relatively quiet place to do so.
Does your office need cubicles?
Office space planning is a big deal; it must consider employee and senior management requirements, specific company workflow parameters, potential employee shifts between departments, and future growth. If you are gearing up to plan an office space or weighing the benefits of cubicles, keep these factors in mind:
Check with your employees
Current employees are not only reliable company assets; they can provide essential feedback on preferred work environments and what facilitates consistently solid performance every day. A dozen of your staff might vote strongly for cubicles while others wish to spend part of the day in a cube, with the option of collaborating in a more open space elsewhere in the room.
If your company initially jumped on the open office bandwagon but you see a parade of employees leaping (or falling) off due to the noise and distraction, the privacy of cubicles might be the answer to relighting the productivity flame.
Get organized
Cubicles are the office version of Lego. It’s all about organization—employees are generally provided a small space in an office and a cubicle allows opportunity to set up that area in a functional way. In the bigger picture, an entire office space can leverage the flexibility of cubicles to organize in a visibly and operationally effective manner.
Affordability
If you build a wall in an office, it’s there for the duration. If you decide you don’t want it, it means a lot of work, mess, and disruption in the day. Cubicles solve this problem with their versatile and easily moveable panels. You can rearrange them as many times as you need, adapt different configurations, and add new sections for additional employees as your company grows. This allows a beneficial space-saving and organizational option that is easy on the budget and looks great.