May 2004

I just finished an interesting book – The Pocket Encyclopedia of Aggravation by Laura Lee. Under O was “Office Cubicles, or Fattened Up in the Cube Farm”. I’ll reprint it here.

Once people had real offices. Walls. Remember walls? If you’re under the age of 45 you probably don’t. Since 1968, employees have been surrounded by dividers. They keep you from seeing, but not hearing, the person next to you. If your office is busy, the important client you are calling just might hang up because she hears the cacophony of voices in the background and thinks you’re a telemarketer.

Not only do you not have walls or a door, you probably have less space than you used to. Until recently a standard office enclosure measured 8 feet by 8 feet. These days suppliers report that they’re selling cubes as small as 5 feet by 6 feet, affording employees 30 square feet of workspace. That’s about twice as much space as a funeral casket and half as much as jail cell. Having an office door is a sign of status today. The Washington Post reported that this is true even when the practice is illogical. “For example, social workers or admitting nurses in hospitals may really need private offices to interview clients,” wrote reporter Curt Suplee. “But often the only private offices belong to the supervisor, who never conducts the interviews.” When you can’t close a door, you can’t as easily control your personal space. Imposing desks keep people at a more formal distance. As with other issues of personal space, office arrangements vary by culture. In England they place less importance on the size of the office because status is more clearly evident in a person’s accent. In Germany and Switzerland, workers tend to keep their office doors closed, whereas in America, most people keep their office doors open unless there is a particular need for privacy — a “closed door meeting.” That doesn’t mean we can waltz in and out of an office at will. We behave as though there were an invisible barrier where the closed door would be. We knock on the door frame or clear our throats or lean inside just a bit with our feet well outside the entrance. If you don’t rank office door status, chances are you’re being bombarded with noises that increase your stress. A 2001 study by environmental psychologist Gary Evans of Cornell University compared 40 secretaries. Half worked in a quiet setting, half in a noisy office. Those subjected to constant office noise had higher levels of stress (as measured by the presence of the stress hormone epinephrine in the urine) and made 40 percent fewer attempts to solve an unsolvable puzzle. They also made fewer adjustments to their seating, which put them at higher risk for repetitive stress injuries.

Oh man what I would give to have my own office. I’m afraid of the consequences of wearing headphones all day.