Corporate Office Furniture

PURCHASING OFFICE CUBICLE FURNITURE – WHERE DO YOU BEGIN?

How do you determine which cubicle is right for you? You have so many options for the footprints (L’ x W’) of your workstations, as well as a great deal of flexibility when it comes to the height of your cubicle walls and how much privacy and/or co-working interactions you want your team to have. Aside from that, you’ll need to consider functional additions like storage, tech accessories and lighting, as well as aesthetic additions like glass tiles and finish upgrades. The best match for you really depends on the nature of the work being accomplished within your office space.
 

CUBICLE FOOTPRINT SIZES (L’ X W’)

Call centers, customer service departments, and companies that really need to maximize their limited corporate office square footage as much as possible tend to go with small cubicles. Most commonly sized as 2x4, these stations will comfortably accommodate a worker plus one set of desk drawers (referred to as a filing pedestal). If you prefer to provide your employees with an L-shaped cubicle, the smallest size possible for this configuration is 5x5.

If you are really strapped for office space and need to fit as many people as you can onto the floor, technically your stations can be as small as 2x3 but we don’t really recommend this size, as your workers may end up feeling incredibly cramped, and therefore distracted and less productive (cubicle farm, anyone?). Also in a station sized this small, there is not enough room for both leg space AND filing drawers. If you really need your stations to be as small as possible but also require storage space, we’d recommend keeping the panel heights tall and adding an overhead shelf or storage bin.

Hopefully, you have a little more breathing room in your office space plan. For a decent midsize cubicle stations are the most popular for all types of administrative, clerical and accounting work. This is also the most common average cubicle size for public relations, marketing, and sales departments where the team members have multiple projects or clients, a blend of individual and shared work, and can benefit from enough private space to spread out and multi-task. A 6x6 office work station is large enough to accommodate one worker and two filing pedestals.

While 6x6 might be the most commonly used size, one great flexible benefit of the O2 System is that your workstation footprints can be adjusted in increments as small as 6 inches. Our space planning team often takes advantage of this feature in order to custom fit a line or cluster of stations into your unique office space. With such a subtle size difference every station looks, feels, and functions the same, but depending on the dimensions of the space available, tweaking 6 inches here and there can often help fit a surprising number of additional cubicles.

More ample cubicles with large L desks sized 6x8 or 8x8 are generally reserved for managers and supervisors, as having more private space is often a valued perk that comes with promotions and seniority. However, these sizes are also quite useful for industries that, just by the very nature of the work being done and the larger equipment being used, need more elbow room. Engineers, architects, contractors – these types of workers can all benefit from a larger cubicle. In fact, most of our customers in these industries also benefit from selecting 30” deep work surfaces, which is an upgrade from the standard 24” work surfaces.

Stations with a 6x6 or 6x8 footprint are large enough that they can be designed and specified a number of ways, not just for extra desk space. For example, many customers enjoy a 6x8 cubicle footprint that includes a 6x6 work surface area plus a 2 foot wide storage tower with extra storage drawers, shelves, and a small closet for hanging coats and purses out of the way. In other situations, the type of position or work being done can benefit from guest seating space for small personal meetings inside the work station. In those cases, we design a 6x8 area to have 5x6 or 6x6 work surface area, plus 2 to 3 feet to accommodate a guest chair.

So what do you do if your office has a great amount of open office space but not enough private offices to assign to everyone who should have them? Office cubicle with door to the rescue. Commonly sized as 8x12, 10x10, or larger, and surrounded on all four sides by extra tall panels, these types of cubicles are best suited for those who need something that feels and functions like a private office. There is enough space to host small meetings right at one’s desk, with a U shaped desk space that surrounds the working individual on three sides. When built with at least 85”H panels, you can add a locking door to provide ultimate privacy for the work being done. Quieter, high-walled, closed-door cubicles are the way to go for those who handle classified information like executives, human resources, and legal departments.

And speaking of privacy, now it’s time to talk a little bit about the height of your cubicle panels
 

CUBICLE PANEL HEIGHTS (H”)

While almost every cubicle system includes low, medium, and tall panel options in their catalog, every modern commercial office furniture manufacturer differs in the exact heights they offer. The O2 System is modeled after the exact same specifications of the original Herman Miller Action Office System, and therefore offers the exact same six partition heights. So how do you choose which height, or which combination of heights, will work best for you?

If your office workflow can be described as highly collaborative with very little independent/focused tasks, or if you love the ever popular “open plan office” design trend, you would be wise to stick with low-privacy panel heights at 39”H or lower (or even no panels at all!). These will allow the user to see eye-to-eye over the tops of the dividers and interact, even from a seated position. As a useful point of reference, the typical desk surface is at 30”H, so a 32”H cubicle panel is just enough to keep your pencil from rolling off your desk and onto the floor. If you want to keep low-privacy panels but wish there was just a little bit more definition of separate and individual work spaces, consider adding clear acrylic frameless dividers to the tops of the panels. Not only do they serve a function, they also make your stations look extra classy.

For mixed types of work where a medium level of privacy is preferred, consider heights of either 47” or 53” for your workstation furniture– most people will still be able to see over the top of a 47”H cubicle divider when seated, but it’s typically enough division to shelter your tasks and computer monitors from wandering eyes.

High-privacy cubicle walls of 67” or more are best suited for work environments that benefit from minimizing interaction. If the work is independent and requires focus, a higher cubicle panel can help block visual distractions and lead to better productivity. If your team also needs to minimize noise distraction, consider upgrading to acoustic fabric panels for better sound absorbency. We also offer a line of wall mounted acoustic tiles for environments that suffer from unforgiving building materials that cause harsh echoes… or loud mouthed work neighbors that cause harsh headaches.

With so many different wall partition height options, there really is no longer a need for debate over “open office vs cubicle” or “private office vs cubicle” – the O2 System can accommodate every bit of it. Most of our clients end up choosing a combination of multiple panel heights which allows us to create a highly customized, highly efficient space plan that takes all their goals into consideration.
 

CUBICLE STORAGE & ACCESSORIES

Once you have the right size and shape – now it’s time to accessorize! The most popular office cubicle accessories have to do with storage and space management. 99% of our clients add a 2 or 3 drawer filing pedestal, but you can also add cubicle shelves or locking cabinets, pencil drawers, and even storage lockers.

Free up clutter on your desktop with marker boards, tack boards, and paper management toolbars that hang on the panel. Support your posture and advocate for your health with ergonomic additions like keyboard trays and monitor arms. Don’t forget to prevent eye strain with proper task lighting. Then you may also consider the little “extras” of convenience, like coat hooks and desktop power/data hubs.
 

CUBICLE AESTHETICS

Finally, we get to the fun part – Colors & Fabrics! With today’s modern design preferences, there are a number of ways you can create stunning corporate furniture that pleases the eye, impresses the guests, and makes your team feel happy to come to work every morning.

Let the light flow through your office by adding glass windows into the cubicle panels. Add a bright splash of your corporate colors with acrylic desk screen dividers or panel-top fabric mullions. Open up your aisle ways (and save dollars!) by ditching the “wing” panel that wraps around the cubicle desk, and go with sleek, modern desk legs for an upscale, open office appearance.

Since today’s trends are all about white office furniture – you can specify your O2 Series workstations in all white if you like! White work surfaces, white trim paint, white panel fabric – Yes, we can do that! Just be careful with those ink pens.

The full list of O2 Style Program Finishes is quite extensive. With 300+ fabrics, 19 work surfaces and 6 trim paints, they are sure to please anyone and everyone, even your tough interior designer with a discerning eye for detail. Looking to save a little money? Choose from our O2 Budget Program Finishes. Looking to save a little time? Choose from our O2 Express Program Finishes.

The sky is the limit when it comes to designing the perfect cubicle (well, maybe your office ceiling is the limit) – contact us today and speak with a space planning professional who can design something just for you!
 

Cubicles.com is not affiliated, associated, endorsed by, or in any way connected with Herman Miller, Inc. and is not an authorized dealer or representative of Herman Miller, Inc. Herman Miller, Inc. has not evaluated and does not confirm the compatibility of any cubicles.com product with any product of Herman Miller, Inc.