New cubicles are easy to get for any size workforce, but a middling office supply budget is hard to reconcile with a large requirement for new cubicles. If you have a large-ish office you’d like to stock with new office cubicles, that presents a problem.

The high cost of new cubicles, for one thing, can put a damper on your dreams of new office furniture domination. To take an example, new Herman Miller Eames shelves may cost you upward of $3,000 a unit. Extrapolate that to other new Herman Miller products, and you might end up spending a pretty penny and not yet furnish the whole office! (Imagine that – you blow your whole budget on new cubicles and you only have enough just for the sales department.)

The trick is knowing where to save costs – buying new cubicles manufactured from virgin resources may not be a wise move. But dumping new cubicles doesn’t mean that you compromise on quality – not all cost-conscious options are quality downgrades. Used cubicles can be just as effective – looks- and function-wise – as new office cubicles. You just have to know where to look.

So you’re the new guy, moving into a new job and new cubicles. Unless you’re the CEO’s son moving into the family business straight out of grad school, moving into new cubicles can be a frightening, intimidating process. With plenty of new faces, an unfamiliar hierarchy, and a completely different environment, easing into your new cubicles won’t be easy.

New cubicles don’t have to be a new challenge, though, if you follow the tips we lay out in the next few paragraphs.

Pay attention. Before you enter your new cubicles, you’ll probably undergo an orientation session with the HR department. Keep your ears open at this point: you want to reach your new cubicles with your head full of useful information. Find out how they do things in the office; this can give you a taste of the office politics and work environment in the space surrounding your new cubicles.

Ask questions. Wrack your brain for important, or less-than-important, questions that you may need to ask – in these few shining moments as the fresh guy in the new cubicles, you’re free to ask embarrassing questions without looking stupid. (This supervisor’s checklist might give you some ideas as to the questions you can pose.) You might ask questions about:

-    decorating and personalization rules for your new cubicles
-    employee benefits
-    sexual harassment policy
-    attendance policy
-    dress policy – casual Fridays

If you’re looking for a sweet deal on manager’s chair furniture this summer, you don’t have to look far: Cubicles.com is working with office chair systems provider OpenPlan Systems to offer you an executive chair with the perfect combination of features and price.

The manager’s chair furniture included in this promotion come in two levels of customizability and comfort, from a darling of office chair reviews with a more-than-standard amount of adjustability, to a day-to-day manager’s chair with a modicum of features together with a good helping of comfort.

The Manager’s Chair (model 4008) by OpenPlan Systems provides a feature-rich executive chair configuration with a surprisingly low price tag. This manager’s chair is almost completely adjustable, providing ergonomic support that can go toe-to-toe with any manager’s chair contending on the web’s office chair reviews.

When sourcing ergonomic chairs for your office, understand what you’re looking for – you need seats that can adjust precisely to each worker’s individual body proportions.

Ergonomic chairs, like other products of ergonomic design, are designed to fit the individual. A chair can be considered ergonomic when it specifically suits a worker’s body dimensions, the worker’s station, and the worker’s tasks. (Ergonomic Chairs – Features to Look For)

Because it conforms exactly to its user’s proportions, the ideal ergonomic chair provides lasting comfort, maximizes productivity, and minimizes the risk of injury. With office workers spending upwards of five to eight hours at their stations, the wisdom of investing in ergonomic office chairs becomes apparent. (Improving Office Ergonomics)

That’s why finding the right ergonomic chair takes more thought and effort than usual. But the effort really pays off.

Ergonomic Chairs – Designed for Productivity

The right ergonomic chair is designed specifically for the
type of work performed in it, and stays comfortable
throughout its use.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed
a checklist that evaluates the ergonomic benefits of
an office chair. (OSHA.gov) Ergonomic chairs must meet all
of the following criteria:
Backrest should support your lower back
Seat pan dimensions should fit the specific user
Seat front should not press against the back of knees and
lower legs
Seat is cushioned, and rounded at the front with a “waterfall”
edge
Armrests are optional – but if used, should support both
forearms and not interfere with movement.
In the long run, the right ergonomic chair pays for itself, by
increasing office morale and eliminating repetitive-strain
injuries that result from poor posture and inferior-quality
chairs. (Choosing the Right Ergonomic Chair)
Ergonomic Chairs from Cubicles.com
At Cubicles.com, our ergonomic chairs are built with features
that promote good posture and provide maximum
comfort. Our ergonomic chairs are meant to provide years
of comfort and service
Cubicles.com’s selection of ergonomic chairs includes highend
$600 Herman Miller chairs and lower-cost seats alike in
the sub-$200 range. Think of our ergonomic chairs as an
investment that pays off in reduced strain and increased
productivity for your workforce.

How do you put a constantly-complaining colleague in his place? Simple: make his complaints of “I’m being buried alive in my work!” a reality, if only a little: Your next project: how to bury your whiney colleague’s cubicle. All in good fun, of course.

Frivolous? Hell no, you need these stunts to make life on the cubicle farm more bearable. Play is an integral part of a productive workforce – managers ought to tolerate a little prankery like the demonstration above.

Or an office party – with the holidays coming up, even businesses weakened by the economy ought to have an opportunity to celebrate, boosting morale and building teamwork.

Carin Warner’s workforce will be celebrating more humbly this year – “We’re going to scale back and still have fun together,” said Warner, proprietor of the Boston-based public relations firm Warner Communication, is based in Boston. Potluck party on the beach replaces weekend getaways for Warner, but no matter – the party is the important thing.

Teamwork will be reinforced by involving employees in the planning process – “The very coming together over a non-work task is in itself delightful, delicious and engaging,” said employee retention consultant Beverly Kaye.

Office cubicle stations beware: open office setups can be bad for corporate productivity. According to Julian Treasure, Chairman of sound consultancy The Sound Agency, the impact of sound on business is way out of proportion to the attention it’s been given so far.

Most organizations have no idea about the impact that sound makes on business, and therefore don’t seek to control it. But sound does affect workers on a very deep level – changing behavior in subtle ways for both good and ill.

In open office plans, Treasure notes, average ambient noise can drop productivity by over 60%. The good news, Treasure reassures us, is that workers in open office plans can triple average productivity just by wearing headphones playing the sounds of twittering birds.

Don’t take our word for it, listen to Treasure’s TED Talk below.

Green buildings are so mainstream now, even hotel chains are getting into the act. Marriott International revealed an ambitious green hotel portfolio last week, a plan underpinned by a green hotel prototype that is pre-certified LEED-compliant.

The new hotel design will be available in April 2010, implemented on the Courtyard Settler’s Ridge property in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As Marriott learns from the prototype’s example, more green hotels will be built as part of a tenfold expansion planned over the next five years.

Marriott claims it can save up to $100,000 in construction expenses, and reduce design time by six months. The green hotels built using the template will use up to a fourth less energy and water compared to the average hotel.

Earlier we discussed new thought on ergonomics – namely, how we’ve discovered that movement is essential to proper ergonomics, not proper posture.

Therefore, comfort and long-term protection from injury doesn’t come from knees locked at a ninety-degree angle all the time. Proper ergonomics comes from adjusting one’s chair, stretching extremities, resting one’s eyes from looking at the monitor, or standing every few minutes to avoid being locked in a seated position for hours on end.

One group of office workers is extremely grateful for this new ergonomic thinking – call center workers, who suffer a great deal from the injuries that come with bad ergonomic habits.

Image © OpenOfficeMouse.

Ergonomics isn’t rocket science – comfort is job one, and intuitiveness is always, always going to get you there two-thrids of the way. A seat that supports your lumbar area. Keyboards that cushion your wrist.

So what could the guys at OpenOffice be thinking with this un-ergonomic eighteen-button monster?

A doctor’s office layout can help greatly in facilitating her patients’ well being – a consultation room’s interior design can improve the quality of a visit, the Mayo Clinic announced in a new study.

These surprising findings were revealed through a randomized trial published in Health Environments Research and Design Journal. The Space and Interaction Trial tested a new office interior design, which had both patient and physician facing a computer screen at a semi-circular desk. The study randomly tested 63 pairs of patients and doctors.

Participating physicians felt that they were able to share more information, while patients felt they had better access to information.

“This study supports the notion that the space in which people meet can influence how they work together,” said Dr. Victor Montori, one of the study’s principal authors.

The study was a result of collaboration between the Mayo Clinic and the office furniture company Steelcase.