ALT-3 Pros and Cons of Cubicles

From 3arf

Cubicles, cubicles and more cubicles. If you work in an office you will realize that everyone works inside a square box. An 8x8 box. Sometimes this cubicle can be smaller and sometimes bigger. It all depends on your work title. If your work description requires that you have meetings with people concerning the work you do, then getting a bigger cubicle will not be a problem. The manager will approve expansion of your cubicle, so that you can have a small table in the area to hold short meetings or spread any drawings or papers that you need to discuss with a coworker.

Cubicles can be torn down and rebuilt at the manager's approval. If an employee needs a bigger cubicle and with a legitimate reason, then the manager will approve the work order and, voila, the worker's wish is granted. Mind you though, if you really need the extra space but the manager doesn't think so, you are in big trouble. You will not be able to get that extra foot of cubicle space, so that you can spread your paperwork or use an extra filing cabinet to store your files.

Cubicles have advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are that you have your own privacy to do your work. No one can see what you are doing. You can be on the internet shopping (if you are the coworker from hell) and no one will know. With cubicles, an employee can work on private company matters that no one else should know. You can make a private phone call, as long as there are no people around who listen to your every conversation. By having walls you can customize your cubicle to remind you a little bit of home. You can put your family's pictures up, or pictures from a vacation trip that you enjoyed.

The disadvantages of the cubicles are that they are not permanent. I would prefer that cubicle walls were built with bricks and mortar. The reason for this disadvantage is that every time an employee decides that he/she needs more space, it is very easy to tear the cubicle down and expand it. What does that do to the rest of the employees? Day in and day out they hear hammering, drilling, panels being moved from one place to the next, noise everywhere. In some cases the noise can be so loud that an employee cannot concentrate on his work or even carry a conversation with a customer over the phone.

Overall, cubicles can be practical and impractical. It's better for a company to have mobilized cubicles than permanent cubicle walls. The company will look after their financial expense and if keeping movable cubicle walls will save them money, then cubicles are here to stay. I don't think we are ever going to see concrete cubicle walls. At least not in our lifetime.

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