FYI Magazine

"How can I think outside the box when I work inside a cube?" -- Unknown

 

Since its inception around 40 years ago, the cubicle has been a mainstay of office decor. Love it or loathe it, many companies still employ the segregated design of cubicles to outfit their buildings and provide a measure of personal space for employees.

 

Before the advent of cubicles, most office workers were lined up rather rigidly in desks in one open space. Those who held higher positions in the organization may have had a private office. Robert Probst, a research director at the home-furnishings company Herman Miller in Zeeland, Mich., came up with the concept of the "Action Office" in the late 1960s. His system was designed to increase productivity of workers. It consisted of a variety of work surfaces and shelves that could display paperwork and other work items. This was before the desktop computer became an essential element of offices across the globe. Partitions were part of the design, offering some semblance of privacy and a place to post work in progress. Desks varied in height so that workers could stand up and stretch while working.

 

In theory, the Action Office had merit, but soon plain old economics changed cubicles into what they would become -- inexpensive means of housing employees in a relatively small amount of space. 

 

To stimulate business spending in the 1960s, the United States Treasury established new rules for depreciating assets. They stated that offices with permanent structures depreciated after 39.5 years. Office furniture would depreciate -- and need to be replaced -- in just seven years. Therefore, a company could recover costs faster if it purchased a cubicle-type system, and this factor quickly became a new selling point for Probst's Action Office systems. Probst's original design was meant to be flexible and moveable. But cubicles, once erected, rarely moved. And soon companies packed them into whatever space they had.

 

Although there have been uprisings to thwart the cubicle lifestyle within the office environment -- most unsuccessful -- one of the more recent threats to cubicle life is the growing popularity of working from home or from other areas, such as coffee shops or areas with WiFi service. Some office cubicles remain vacant most of the week thanks to mobile technology and flexible bosses who allow work to get done anywhere as long as productivity is not sacrificed.

 

For those who still spend considerable time inside of a cubicle, here are some suggestions for making it your own.