CREJ - Office Properties Quarterly

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April 2015 — Office Properties Quarterly — Page 23
Design
I t’s time to debunk the myths
about current workstations and
address the workplace realities.
First, let’s reflect on the current
state of office workstation furni-
ture.Through the combination of a few
large projects, we have directed two
very different clients through the pro-
cess of procuring more than $10 mil-
lion worth of office furnishings.That
volume exposes one to everything the
office furniture industry has to offer.
Our two clients came from different
orientations – one wants to be leading
edge and push the envelope in terms
of creating the ultimate open, collab-
orative, energetic workplace.The other,
unfortunately, believed it was an inno-
vator in its marketplace, but was rooted
in old-school values and myths when
it came to the workplace environment.
Juggling two perspectives and provid-
ing both with the best consulting was a
challenge.
Part of our responsibility is to educate
our clients about what is out there that
may be outside their wheelhouse.The
resistance for some to accept where
the evolution has taken us is embed-
ded in some myths about worksta-
tions.Those myths, realities (at least
my take on them) and some solutions
follow:
• Myth No. 1: Employees need privacy
that the workstation doesn’t provide.
Reality: On average, employees may
need privacy for a small part of their
workday while the rest of the time
could be spent collaborating and inter-
acting with colleagues.
Solution: The evolved workplace pro-
vides huddle rooms for those private
times.
• Myth No. 2: Higher panels create
the impression of visual and acoustic
privacy.
Reality: Yes, but
they also restrict col-
laboration and man-
agement oversight.
Solution: Moderate
panel height with
glass panels above
can achieve both.
• Myth No. 3: Higher
panels absorb noise,
so the workplace is
quieter.
Reality: Not really,
because the noise
bounces to the ceil-
ing and back down.
Solution: Sound
masking and cul-
tural adaptation do a better job quiet-
ing an area.
• Myth No. 4: Lower panels create a
noisier workplace.
Reality: Just the opposite – research
shows an incredible natural adaptation
of workers to lower their sound volume
when in a more open environment.
Solution: A modern sound-masking
system and cultural adaption create a
workplace that is quieter with low pan-
els than without.
• Myth No. 5: Size is everything – more
gross size equals more productivity.
Reality: Those passé 8-foot-by-8-foot
stations are huge, cost serious real
estate dollars and are wasteful, espe-
cially in light on old monitors taking up
9 square feet in the corner.
Solution: Try a 6-foot-by-7-foot option
with narrower surfaces that offers as
much room as the old 8-foot-by-8-foot
station with deep surfaces and corners.
• Myth No. 6: Managers can’t work in
workstations; they must have offices.
Reality: The modern workstation can
provide everything a manager needs to
do his job most of the time.
Solution: Create an adequate number
of huddle rooms, as well as collabora-
tive and quiet areas.
• Myth No. 7: Managers can dictate
workstation configuration even though
they don’t ever work in them.
Reality: Mangers tell us what their
workers want, but it might be better to
let the workers tell us themselves.
Solution: Educate management and
let the younger generation occupying
those workstations have a voice in
their development.
• Myth No. 8: Workstations are imper-
sonal and create an Orwellian group of
workstation gnomes.
Reality: Workstations can be 100 per-
cent adaptable and often are personal-
ized with individual choices of layout,
work tools and accessories.
Solution: Drop preconceptions and
look at what is offered today.
It is not just about the workstation.
Most clients are now warming to the
notion that the most functional, flex-
ible and economic workplace is cre-
ated when the same components are
used in both the workstations and the
private office. Minimizing the “kit of
parts”while maximizing the available
configuration options is a win across
the board .s
Phillip A.
Infelise
National
director, project
and facilities
management,
Cresa, Denver
To provide a bit of historic back-
ground, the following is a (very)
general timeline in the evolution of
what most of us know as the “work-
station”:
• 1960s: First freestanding steel-
divider panels surround steel desks
and file cabinets in long, monoto-
nous rows of 6 feet by 6 feet stan-
dard sizes.
• 1970s: Softer monolithic fabric
panels and first connected work
surfaces, but the area maintained
highly regular, boring “cube” farms
still in a standard 6-foot-by-6-foot
station.
• 1980s: Integrated deep corner sur-
faces accommodated large moni-
tors, along with components hung
on panel systems as sizes grew to 8
feet by 8 feet.
• 1990s: Stackable panel systems are
front and center; and many more
storage and work tool options are
introduced to the standard 8-foot-
by-8-foot configuration.
• 2000s: “Belt-Line” integrated voice,
data, power management and glass
view panels; flat screens brought
shallower work surfaces and some
hotel or touchdown stations; and
the standard size moved toward an
economical 6 feet by 8 feet.
• 2010s: Lower panels are introduced
as sound masking improves acous-
tics; free-standing components,
benching and desking systems are
introduced; mobile pedestal seat-
ing allows guest visits, even in the
standard 6-foot-by-8-foot footprint;
and the same components are used
in the office to minimize the kit-of-
parts and maximize flexibility.
• 2020s: “Panel-free systems” are on
the way, with all possible storage
options; standing surfaces, team-
ing and collaborative stations in a
6-foot-by-6-foot standard – perhaps
workstations as a concept are a
thing of the past.
The workstation evolution from the 1960s to today