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Brad is a freelance writer trying to make it big in the video game industry. When he's not desperately pleading for your attention with his weekly Employee Evolution column, he is an editorialist for 
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I’ve never been a big believer in Feng Shui, but I do think your office layout has a certain bearing on both your position in the company and your general demeanor.
My old boss, for example, used only lamplight and conducted all his meetings at a round table in his office. It conveyed a sense or welcome and equality, and I always felt comfortable talking with him. My current boss, on the other hand, keeps all the lights on and stays perched behind her desk at all times, a not-so-subtle reminder that she’s the boss and if we don’t do things here way then there are always files to clean out.
My personal workspace is cramped and exposed, with my cube sitting right out in the middle of the hallway. I also have a cube neighbor (we’re the only two cubes in the whole department), and we’re separated by a high wall that discourages most interaction beyond the occasional flung paper wad.
The worst part of the layout though, is that I’m forced to sit in a corner opposite the cube opening, with my nose facing the wall and my back to everyone that walks by. It’s as though by even taking the job I’ve misbehaved, and now I must be punished every day until I move on. I’m sort of waiting for the day someone hands out fruit or lashes to pelt me with as a lesson for simply being me.
Not long ago, my neighbor and I decided we’d had enough with our arrangements and came up with a new setup. We thought it would be nice to get rid of the wall between us, turn our desks to face one another, and put an opening between them. That way, whenever someone came to see us, we’d be looking at them, and we wouldn’t have to constantly wonder if we were being spied on over our shoulders. It seemed like a great solution. We’d finally feel like members of the team rather than insolent children.
When we presented the idea to our boss (still perched behind her desk) she fully supported it. However, she had to run it by her boss, because, you know, these sorts of things have to go through at least two levels of management or else they don’t count. Oh bureaucracy, how productive could we be without you!
After a few weeks the word came down, her boss had put the kibosh on it, and I loved the reason why. According the bigger boss, we couldn’t rearrange the workspace because the people who held the jobs we currently hold after us may not like a shared workspace.
So let me get this straight, we can’t rearrange our furniture now, because when we inevitably quit in frustration over stupid junk like this, you can’t be bothered to put the desks back when the new employees come in? Wow, great retention methods.
So for now I continue to sit in the corner, wondering what’s happening behind me and constantly glancing over my shoulder every time I hear footsteps. Sometimes I silently weep for the next person to take my job. Not only because the work is boring and meaningless, but also because no matter what they’ve done in their life, be they sinner or saint, it’s already been determined that this person is a bad boy (or girl), and must therefore sit in the corner.
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Brad:
I feel your pain, man. I was forced to sit in this cube that had a window in it (looked like Dairy Queen) and all day long I had people walking by with their heads turned to see who had to sit in that horrible space!
Rest assured. There is one school of thought that believes the majority of American workers will be telecommuting within the next 10-15 years, because your generation will simply refuse to commute to an office to get to something they already have at home (a commuter). That being said, maybe we should thank your boss’ boss for getting the ball rolling a little sooner!
Brad,
Get out of there. Any job that’s more concerned with future employees instead of the ones working for them now is not one you should plan on being with for long. Why wouldn’t they want their employees to be happy with their work environment? Don’t they know that translates into more productivity?
Similar situation at my work, cubicle land, as I like to call it. In my area, approximately 30 people. I was ready to move from the ‘bull pen’ (open area of 6 people together–great, but was ready for a change) and asked about moving to a nearby, vacant cube that had a window. I was told no (not even for a temporary move) and it sat empty for 5 months. Really…would it have been that big a deal to let someone take up temporary residence until it was ready for someone else?
I’m leaving in a month for a job that is cubeless! Good luck!
I walk around alot of cubical farms in my consulting job… One way to get around having to look over your shoulder is to buy a mirror. A small, desecrate, rear view mirror for you computer. Believe it or not I see it all the time in large cubical spaces!
On another note, I thought every business in the world was switching to a shared workspace… where has your boss been? You should really ask your boss if she cares more about her future employee’s then current employees.
Umm … wow.
Let’s hope BrandonA is right, and the world will continue to move toward shared work spaces. I was so jealous when I saw how Google constructed their offices. (There are lots of youtube videos that show how awsome it is.)
Thanks for bringing some humor to the misery, Brad.
It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission…
As I am on the phone with conference/project calls half the day, I don’t mind having short walls between us. Our cubes are of the 4.5’ high or so variety, so standing up will easily allow you to look over. Also, they dip to about 3.5’ near the “door” to give a more open feel. I think it makes a decent effort with the alternative being high cubes that are completely overbearing.
But still, shared workspace would be great. So would open floorplans with low walls. To be honest I would love to see a workplace with half and half, and we freely move about with our laptops as necessary. If I have no calls for a half day, I’d love to sit in an open area with coworkers, and if I had a call, I could pick up the laptop and walk to one of the nearby “walled” cubes.
There are obviously some logistics like phones, etc to work out, but I think in general there are some major modifications that could be made to really foster a more friendly/social environment as well as improve productivity.
Also @BrandonA, I have some coworkers who have the cube rear view mirror. I think it’s hilarious.
It’s really sad when things like this happen. I’m currently residing in a cube farm, but I’m part of a mid-sized IT/Development group, and we’re all in good sized cubes. We have dual-monitors, open spaces, and uber-fast laptops, so it’s not so bad.
It will be nicer when we can all work from home (and I suspect that I’ll be working from home on a regular basis within the year.) Until then, the space that you have to work in does matter. Here are some things that have helped me survive in similar situations
1) Get a mirror to set next to or on top of your monitor. This will let you see when there are people behind you. I HATE it when people are behind me, it makes me incredibly nervous, even when I’m not goofing off.
2) Put things that have meaning to you on the walls you have. My cube walls have Ansel Adams and Jerry Uelsmann photography. I have a white-board that I write a quote that suits my mood on regularly. Right now it reads “The only winner of the war of 1812 was Tchaikovsky.”
3) Bring toys to work. Little things that stimulate you. Keep them on your desk where you and your co-workers can play with them.
The idea here is simple, making your space enjoyable, or as enjoyable as your company will let you. If you can’t rearrange the furniture, which doesn’t surprise me, do what you can. Make your workspace a little transplanted piece of your office at home. When people visit you, they should be encompassed in the you-ness of your desk.
Brad -
What a bunch of B.S.! Hopefully you and your cube neighbor have taken the bull by the horns and:
1) Knocked down or removed the wall. I’m sorry, but who cares about the next person who will take your job. This issue is about the here and now.
2)Re-arranged the space to suit your needs. Your boss would rearrange her office to suit her so why shouldn’t you have the same opportunity? “Rank” means just that - it stinks!
3) Started looking for another job. If this place won’t take care of the simple things for employees and wastes a couple of days to come up with a B.S. meaningless answer, they don’t deserve your time and talent. Blow this joint - quickly.
When companies realize employees will “shout with their feet” and leave because of poor working conditions maybe they’ll get a clue. Or, if they don’t maybe we can chip in and get them one for the holidays…..
AJ has it right.
Jerry
Howdy everyone! I’m traveling this week, so I’ll have to keep my comments brief but first and foremost, thanks for the support! I’m not hoping to stay at this job a whole lot longer (I’m passing out business cards this week like I’m made of ‘em) so hopefully I’ll be off to greener pastures soon.
I’m going to have to try the mirror idea, I had never thought of it before. Also, it’ll look like I’m driving a cool sports car desk.
I also forgot to mention above, but would like to highlight the utter ridiculousness of your manager to be completely unwilling to make the decision herself about whether or not you could change the layout. Coming from a military environment, and generally being of the mindset that I was hired due in large part with my manager’s trust to make decisions and keep him updated on what he needs to know, seeing corporate “managers” who are absolutely unwilling to make any decisions astounds me.
And let’s be honest, it’s an unwillingness, not an inability. It’s sad that only few and far between do you see a manager who 1) enjoys making decisions, and 2) will take responsibility for them. Give me the authority, and stand back while things get done. That’s just how I operate, which sometimes does not mix as well as I’d like in the corporate environment. But that’s no excuse, the fact that a manager can’t even make this simple decisions is completely ridiculous.
@Nathan: Good point, but I suspect something more subtle here. I get the impression that Brad’s manager is not unwilling to make a decision. I get the impression that Brad’s manager is using the pained hierarchy of corporate America to “be the good guy.”
“I’ll check with higher-ups” is code for “I’m going to tell you no, but I don’t want you to resent me.”
Your employee wants something that you don’t want to give him for whatever reason? Be the employees friend. Sympathize and maintain a ‘good’ relationship with the employee. Let your own manager know what Brad wants, and that you aren’t giving it to him, and that you’re blaming him. Higher-ups don’t have to manage people directly so it doesn’t matter if they’re hated. But you, being caught in the middle creates sympathy between you and your employee, keeps him working hard for you, and allows you to carry out your goals.
It’s slightly Machiavellian, but it’s the way it goes in a lot of places. I don’t even think it’s a bad tactic. But it is important for us to recognize the tactic where it crops up.
I stayed at my previous job for nearly 7 years, gaining experience and working my way into the career path I wanted. When I got there and compared my abilities, skills, and accomplishments with those of my peers I realized I was severely underpaid. I did my research and went to my manager with market value for my position and asked for more money. “I’ll check with my boss and we’ll see if there’s anything we can do, but I just don’t think it’s in the budget.”
Sure enough, it wasn’t in the budget. So I took a better opportunity when it was offered me.
@Theo – You’re absolutely right. Sometimes I get carried away with my ranting about corporate indecision that it’s all I can see. To be sure this is a major problem, but I agree this could very will be a case that you have mentioned, and similar to some cases I think we all have seen in action. Like yourself, I don’t necessarily disagree with the premise, but it is absolutely important to recognize when the technique is utilized.
My current battle where I am encountering this is telecommuting. I’m not asking for much, just on days that are preapproved and where I need to be home (cable guy, dr appt, whatever) to open up my manager to the idea that work can actually get done outside the office. It’s been brought up in the weekly management meeting numerous times (so I’m told) and upper management had decided that we should not have this ability for now. (again, so I’m told) I find that hard to believe, as some of my colleagues who have a different manager, but same upper management, are able to telecommute without issue. This is one of the reasons I have been so persistent, because I know that my management is the one who is currently unwilling, but continues to use the ol’ “upper management said no” excuse.
Brad - Your best bet may be to do all the leg-work and re-propose the idea. Managers may have so much on their to-do list that they simply do not want to bother with a seemingly small issue like the one you bring up. Make it easy for them to say yes.
If you have a purchasing manager, find out about the desk vendor your company uses, what products are available, and what kind of adjustments can be made to the layout. Many cubicle systems have work surfaces that attach to the panels, so you may not be able to eaily remove them. Wiring may be integrated into the panels. Find out costs, SKU numbers, etc. If you don’t have a purchasing manager or facilities manager, go online to get the info.
Then do some research on open plans and effect on productivity. Make sure your sources are credible. Address concerns you may think management has (there will be too much noise, everyone will want to do this, it will be too hard to change back, etc.)
Put everything together professionally with a summary of products, costs, time involved (maybe you can offer to make the changes after work hours) and expected benefits.
I’m sure this seems like a lot of work, but it will show you are serious and not just acting on a whim. Good Luck!
I’m immediately suspicious of any boss who is unwaiveringly opposed to work from home situations. If you can’t trust me to do my job when you’re not watching me, why did you hire me in the first place?
Cube city is a dark and depressing place that is a hold over from industrial times (the 80’s rat race)
This is an awkward backlash to the free loving hippies that had long hair and had free love!
Once I left Cube city in the Dungy basement my health increased and stress decreased.
I can onyl think that we will be the tele-commuters a renaissance of sorts.
What will be the backlash to our generation? Imagine the possibilities.
Why are you even asking your manager?! Where I am, if we want to shift the way our desk faces we just do it - the only constraint is we aren’t allowed to have power and network cables etc crossing pathways (which is understandable for health and safety reasons). If you’re not infringing on anyone else’s space then there shouldn’t be a problem. Why do you feel that you need to ask your manager’s permission? It doesn’t strike me as an adult relationship - and I don’t think all the blame here should go on your manager, YOU need to decide on the type of relationship you want and start acting it (if you act like a child then you will be treated like one). If you ask your manager for trivial decisions then you can expect trivial answers…
Hey everybody, I finally get to check in again, and there’s some great conversation! Let me address a few points that stand out.
theo: I hadn’t really looked at it that way before, but what you’re saying makes perfect sense. I don’t know if the issue was quashed by the higher-up or by my own boss, but ultimately it does make her look better this way. Obviously, if she’s on “my side” and we both lose, then obviously I will hold no animosity toward her. Interesting…
Wendy: I may have to start looking into all of the components and see if it’s one of those budgetary issues. All of our desks are bolted to the walls, so there is no free-standing furniture (other than the chair, thank god). I can see how moving stuff around is more labor and cost intensive with this sort of cube, but my boss has already let slip that they can be rearranged, this time it’s just a matter that they won’t be rearranged.
Kerry: Ours is not an office where you can just move stuff around. As I mentioned above, everything is bolted down, so you have to disassemble the cube in order to make changes. Unfortunately, short of me showing up dressed in overalls with a toolbox, there’s nothing I can do to move stuff around. Even the computer monitors are stuck in the corner because that’s where the only outlet is. So in that respect, this whole process is too complicated to be considered “trivial.”
I think you can tell a lot by a person’s desk. I could only tell which people were content with just keeping their current position and never moving up, and those that were always hungry for something bigger and better. Those that were content where they were had cubicles that looked like their bedroom. they had more photos and nick nacks in there than some grandmothers. Those that either hated their job or knew they would be moving up soon, had the bare essentials, and maybe a poster or one picture of their family. That was it. I wonder if any of my bosses picked up on that!
@Erik,
You make some good points, but I think that your methodology is a bit narrow. I agree, you can tell a lot about a person by their desk, but you seem to be relating all of that to their plans for career advancement. In my experience, a messy/homey desk does not mean a person isn’t looking to move up, although that interpretation is certainly one that might make sense.
There’s no simplified guide to interpreting a person based on the things they surround themselves with. It’s entirely plausible that a person who has a clean desk is simply terrified to show people who they are or what they’re interested in. Someone like that is not likely to make the connections or put in the effort required to move forward in their career.
Similarly, I know lots of people who don’t bring things to their desk precisely because they are content. They don’t need toys, pictures, or clutter because they’re perfectly content sitting their day after day doing data entry. And they’ll be happy doing that until they retire.
The way a person arranges their work-space has more to say than how they look at their career. millennials, in my experience, are far more likely to have a desk that tells a great deal about their personality, who they are, what they do, and how they think, regardless of their desire for career advancement. This is likely because millennials blur the lines between their work and their life (or erase those lines).
For example, I’m a software developer. I work in a low-walled cube farm, intermingled with developers, business analysts, support, QA, and various contractors. My cube has photography that I find inspiring, a small white-board that I can write/sketch onn. It has toys and wooden puzzles that help me focus and relieve stress when things get tense. I have a selection of important books in my life. Some of these (Like Steve McConnells Code Complete 2) are job related. Others (like A Density of Souls and Stranger in a Strange Land) are books that inspire me, or are important to my philosophy or life in some way.
My desk reflects my personality, but it would be a mistake to think that I’m content in my role. I recently left an organization I was with for 7 years precisely because the opportunities I was looking for were not going to be available there. Here I’m working with a great team and people who have a lot of experience in my industry.
Brad,
I’m late to the party, but Karen said it best:
“Get out of there. Any job that’s more concerned with future employees instead of the ones working for them now is not one you should plan on being with for long.”
Your manager is short sided. It’s amazing he/she ever got to where he/she is. As a young employees we are told to ‘put our heads down,’ ‘Work past 6,’ and ‘always say yes.’ And even though some of that is true, there is a point where one needs to stand up and act.
It sounds like you’re thinking about moving on already, so when you do, remember to ask your new manager what he/she thinks about future suggestions, and then always remember it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
Good luck
There was an LA Times article tonight about the importance of the office environment in keeping employees. Somewhat relevant to your plight
Decor affects workers, a survey finds. Dirty bathrooms and climate control draw most ire.
www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-decor25feb25,1,2504063.story?track=rss