How Well Do You Know Your Cubicle?

Great article on the history, and the present, of the cubicle. Read the article for the facts; check out the comments for laughs.

“Imagine yourself in a typing pool in the early 1960s, amid the clack-clack-clack-PING of dozens of Smith-Coronas. You’re out in the open, like a factory worker, with nowhere to hide from the raking gaze of the boss….”

Full article here.

How Well Can You Relate to This?

 

Never Forget...

2012 Labor Day Resolutions

Labor Day is over, which means for cubicle workers, this marks the beginning of a new work year. Labor Day is New Year’s Day for the cubicle class, which means the end of summer and the advent of fall means it is time to reflect, assess and set new goals for our professional careers.

It’s been a tough few years for the American workforce, so it’s difficult to establish new career goals while also hoping in the back of your mind that you don’t lose your job. But life is about moving forward, so we all must be optimistic and stoic. So, what are your career goals this year? Ask for a raise? Take an Excel class? Get promoted into an office? Let us know!

The Cubicle Survival Guide on NPR

What bothers your employees the most about working in cubicles? Listen to this interview with author James F. Thompson and other workplace culture experts on NPR to find out! Just click HERE.

This Book Is Cheaper than Lawyer Fees

Every office worker in America should be given a copy of The Cubicle Survival Guide by HR at orientation. It will help employees navigate the annoying quirks and idiosyncrasies of their coworkers while also teaching them that they, too, may be driving others crazy without even knowing it.


Self-awareness is priceless, and you can make your employees self-aware by simply buying them this book. The Cubicle Survival Guide is now more important than ever. Unless, that is, you like to watch coworkers fight like ants in a jar. And then sue each other. And then your company.

Come On Feel the Noize...

This article from The New York Times explores the role noise plays in cubicle farms and how it influences the way we work, think and potentially go crazy. And corporate, finally, is listening.

"Cubicle culture is already something of a punch line — how many ways can we find to annoy one another all day? — but lately the complaints are being heard by the right people, including managers and social scientists. Companies are redesigning offices, piping in special background noise to improve the acoustics and bringing in engineers to solve volume issues. “Sound masking” has become a buzz phrase."

Does noise disruput your productivity? How do you handle it?

Robert Propst and His Frankenstein

Love him or hate him, Robert Propst probably never imagined the monster his invention, the cubicle, would become. What was he thinking? This article explains:

"The man credited with creating the cubicle, Robert Propst, developed the Action Office concept while working for furniture giant Herman Miller in the 1960s. He’d hoped, as he explained in 1998, that his idea 'would give knowledge workers a more flexible, fluid environment than the rat-maze box of offices,' while also acknowledging that his flexible system had often been misused because 'not all organizations are intelligent and progressive.'"

Do You Work with a Dwight Schrute?

"I'm a Sith Lord."

Cubicle... errr... Shrinkage

It doesn't matter how cold out it is. This article explains that there may be another reason beyond your control as to why your cubicle is shrinking.

"In 1994, the average office worker had 90 square feet of office space, but the area had been whittled down to 75 square feet in 2010, according to the International Facility Management Association, a professional network for the facility management industry."