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Working in an overcrowded cubicle office space
Dool | Dec 7 2006
Hello all, I work within a large multinational institution. Several of our divisions have now all moved into one large open office space in a series of cubicles. My question is: Can anyone offer any tips to encourage staff to keep their noise levels down and appreciate people around them. Everyone will be in this area by Monday and I am pre-empting a chaotic mess, particularly since we have people from more than a dozen cultures packed in together. Just wondering if any one has any best practices for dealing with this? I've got some ideas but wondered if there were any others before I recommend them to the incoming swarm?? Cheers, Dool 9 Comments
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 I actually agree with the...Submitted by juniorbird on December 8, 2006 - 10:32am.
I actually agree with the noise-cancelling headphones. In two past jobs I've been in cube farms, and I have to say that, even with everyone keeping it down, the overall level of buzz can get pretty high. And that's not even taking into account the VPs who like to manage through yelling. Of course you should speak personally to loud individuals, approaching the issue in non-confrontational ways, and escalate to HR for people who continue to be reguarly inappropriate in their volume levels, but remember that everyone will be too loud from time to time. But, even with that, iPod + noise-cancelling headphones is a lifesaver. The other thing I would recommend is that, since you don't have a door, make some signs to put on the outside of your cube when you're in do-not-disturb mode. That can make a big difference as well. » POSTED IN:
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