Today’s workplace tends to be more open. The closed-off private offices and cubicles of yesterday have been replaced by shared workstations and collaborative spaces. While this concept has provided many benefits to organizations, some question whether the lack of personalized space will take its toll on today’s worker. After all, don’t we all need a little personalization? In some open offices, employees are claiming “squatter’s rights,” or they are overpersonalizing space that is meant to be shared. This has led to tension, and even conflict, in many offices. I am going to suggest a seemingly odd way you can help overcome this problem: allow telecommuting.
My First Open Office Experience
For the last six years, I have worked full-time out of my home office. At least, it was full-time until about nine months ago when I took on a one-day-per-week assignment in a client’s downtown high-rise open office. In this office, I work at either a touchdown desk or in a comfortable chair in an open collaborative space. Until recently, I had not given any thought to the fact that I never use an assigned private workspace in this open office environment. I do not have a space to personalize or to call my own (beyond a day at a time). And you know what? This doesn’t bother me in the slightest.
However, I soon realized that not everyone felt as I did. As I walked around the office, I saw it everywhere: workers attempting to claim shared space and make it their own. You’ve probably seen this type of scenario - the employee who whips out the monogrammed coffee mug, framed photos, and even the occasional teddy bear in a shared space. Not long ago, I observed a co-worker spending nearly twenty minutes setting up several of his personal belongings and accessories, including a noisy desk fan, at a shared workstation before starting his day’s work. I was extremely intrigued by this behavior!
One employee – we’ll call him Henry – would reserve the same shared, high-wall cubicle every day for the entire day. “Henry” would then completely “move in” as if it were a cubicle dedicated specifically for his use. He would leave his belongings at the cubicle overnight and expect to sit at the same location the next day. This created a lot of tension in the office. Eventually, a manager removed all of Henry’s belongings from the workstation. Not to be outdone, Henry had his assistant come in early each day and move his belongings back into the cubicle. This turned into a rather ridiculous daily battle. I guess Henry eventually won, because there are more dedicated spaces in the office now, and there are even some nameplates placed on cubicles that were originally intended to be shared.
I never understood this intense need for personaization until it finally clicked. One day I realized I may not be so different from Henry after all. That I, too, am the type of person that enjoys a lot of personalization in a work place. But the difference is - I get this personalization in my home office. So, I feel no need to “pull a Henry” in the open office. My home office personalization does the job.
My Home Office
In my home office, I have a collection of mementos and objects that reflect my life and interests. Pictures of my kids are propped up on a corner of my desk, and their artwork decorates my walls. You will also find a Star Wars poster hung prominently in my office, and LEGO sets on open surfaces. (I’d be lying if I said those LEGO sets belonged to my kids. They are a great stress reliever at times throughout the work day!)
My home office provides me with a strong sense of identity while I perform my job duties. When I go into the open office one day per week, it is actually a refreshing change to be in a shared, collaborative environment.
The Importance of Personal Space
For most people, personalization is important in the workplace. It communicates who we are as individuals and provides us with a sense of self-expression. It tells others about our interests, personal tastes, and the things we value. In other words, it is part of our identity. We are proud of our families, our accomplishments, our hobbies and interests. We want to feel connected to these important people and things, and we want our space to reflect who we are. It is no wonder that there is often a backlash when we try to implement entirely open offices without any personalization.
But how would the scene with Henry have played out if Henry had been encouraged to set up a home office and personalize it to his heart’s content? What if Henry had been allowed to telework, say, 20-40% of the time? I propose that Henry’s need for a sense of identity in the workplace would have been primarily met in his home office, and he would not have felt the need to carve out a space in the open office that no one else dare enter.
What Can You Do?
If you have been wrestling with issues of territoriality and over-personalization in your open office, ask yourself the following questions:
1. Does your office currently allow teleworking? If not, why? – Is it essential for each employee to be on-site 40 hours per week? Is the primary reason for the lack of teleworking due to cultural pressure or organizational resistance to change? Is there a reliance on paper and physical documents? (Side note: Even traditionally paper-heavy professions such as lawyers and architects are moving more and more towards a digital workflow.)
2. Consider Specific Job Requirements – Not every position or employee is able to, or wants to, telework. However, based on large-scale surveys that I have administered, most office workers are open to, or actively seek out, opportunities for telework. I believe that dedicated space should be provided for positions that require a full-time presence on-site, while shared workstations should be provided for those who telework part of the week.
3. Implement a Teleworking Policy – Once it has been determined who is eligible for telework, draft a policy that will govern telework. You may want to set a limit on the number of days employees may work off-site. Typical arrangements today range anywhere from one day per pay period to five days per week! Some telework policies are irregular and allow flexibility on an as-needed basis.
4. Allow Some Personalization of Shared Spaces – Encourage employees who work primarily in shared spaces to personalize their laptop backgrounds, or to bring in small pictures and items that they can store in a locker or take home every night. Maybe through the creative use of electronics, nameplates can be changed for each user of a touchdown station, or a small screen attached to the desk can unobtrusively display an individual’s personal photos. As long as the rules and restrictions for these items are followed, this could help alleviate some of the tension caused by the over-personalization of shared office space. Another practice is to have a dedicated “community wall” or large bulletin board where employees can post personal information – photos, stories, etc. to share with everyone. This allows employees to have a personal touch that does not involve overpersonalizing workstations.
The issue of how much personalization is too much may never go away entirely. But I believe the more commonplace my home office becomes, the more this tension will ease. The open office will then become more of what it is designed to be – a space for creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving. And that is a win-win solution.
