If you’ve worked in an office any time after 1968 , have read a Dilbert cartoon, or you worked in high tech, you’re no doubt familiar with the office cubicle. According to Wikipedia, “a cubicle is a partially enclosed workspace, separated from neighboring workspaces by partitions that are usually five to six feet (1.5 to 1.8 m) tall. A cubicle is open on one side to allow access.” For those of us who have worked in one, cubicles lack privacy, separate us from those who have offices, and for the most part, are depressing to work in.
History of the Office Cubicle
The term cubicle comes from the Latin term “cubiculum” which means “bed chamber.” It was used in English as early as the 15thcentury for small chambers of all sorts, and for small rooms or study spaces with partitions that didn’t reach to the ceiling.
Robert Probst, a designer who worked as the director of research for office furniture manufacturer, Herman Miller Inc. According to Fortune Magazine, by studying how people worked at the time, he developed the “Action Office” which had ”plenty of work surfaces and display shelves; partitions were a part of it, intended to provide privacy and places to pin up works in process. The Action Office even included varying desk levels to enable employees to work part of the time standing up, thereby encouraging blood flow and staving off exhaustion.”
The introduction of the cubicle happened at the same time as the rise of the middle manager and rising real estate prices for corporate America . Office cubicles provided a perfect way to redo a floor plan to accomodate workers. Not only were they cheap, but they were easier to write off on taxes than an office. According to Fortune, “during the 1960s, to stimulate business spending, the Treasury created new rules for depreciating assets. The changes specified clearer ranges for depreciation and established a shorter life for furniture and equipment, vs. longer ranges assigned to buildings or leasehold improvements. (Today companies can depreciate office furniture in seven years, whereas permanent structures–that is, offices with walls–are assigned a 39.5-year rate.)”
What’s the Future of office cubicles?
Called “veal feeding pens” and worse by office workers trapped in “cube farms”, cubicles themselves probably aren’t going away any time soon. What is changing is the way that office workers use cubicles. With telecommuting, all employees need is a laptop, an Internet connection, and a phone to do their jobs. So, workers can work completely outside of the physical office space and get their jobs done remotely. As more organizations realize the cost advantages of not having workers take up office space at all, cubes can be shared by employees who are just at the office for a “visit.”
Office cubicles look more neat because it makes the space more organized. In this way, workers can better concentrate on their jobs without interference from the surrounding environment.
John
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