Office Cubicles, Ergonomics and your Environment

The care and attention that must be dedicated to the choice of the proper cubicle environment for your employees must exceed that spent on any other aspect of the office milieu. There is no other furnishing choice that will have such a drastic effect on your employees' well-being, morale and job satisfaction (and thus your bottom line) than the cubicle.

Depending on the choices you make, your employees will see their cubicle as a valid tool to assist their professional efforts, keep them organized, alert and comfortable, or they will see it as a dank, dark, cramped dungeon where they have to suffer the agonies of the damned. The proper cubicle is a balance between privacy and preservation of acoustics vs. the need to be in contact with the rest of the team.

Find more information on the growing trend of Going Green for business.

Cubicles must never be set so high that employees can't see over the tops, neither should they be set so low that the entire office is given the resemblance of a cafeteria. The open section of the cubicle should be large enough to allow a person to enter, even when carrying a large box or piece of electronic equipment. The best cubicles are the ones that to some degree face a source of natural light, whether it be a skylight or a window. Is your business going green?

Ergonomics are first and foremost in the list of features to look for in a cubicle, and the various work surfaces must be fully adjustable. A desktop that forces a keyboard or mouse into an unnatural position can be a carpal tunnel syndrome claim waiting to happen. Since employees come in all shapes and sizes, then the cubicle's ergonomic features must be fully adjustable to suit them all, tall and short, thin and portly. Since no one size can possbily fit all, the adjustability must include desktop altitude, separate keyboard tray with in/out and up/down movement, a separate mouse surface which must also be adjustable, and an overhead or side mounted monitor arm which allows the LCD panel to be easily moved to where it is most comfortably viewed.

All cubicles must contain an L shape and the PC must always be placed in the center of the L, allowing the employee to have access to working surface on both sides at a 90 degree angle. The chair is also a critical feature. It must be almost infinitely adjustable, including the lumbar support, seat angle and backrest height. With care, you will select a cubicle which will be beneficial to your employees and their productivity!