Office walls are closing in on corporate workers (smaller work spaces)

[Liberal_in_LA]

Office walls are closing in on corporate workers

Businesses used to provide 500 to 700 square feet of work space per employee, but the average is down to 200 square feet — and shrinking. The recession and an emphasis on teamwork accelerated the trend, and younger staffers prefer less


Southern California Gas Co. employees check out samples of new workstations at the utility’s downtown L.A. headquarters, where a major makeover is underway. It’s cutting back to 12 floors from 15. (Gina Ferazzi, Los Angeles Times / November 2, 2010)



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Companies have been gradually dialing back on office size and grandness for years, but the recession accelerated the trend as sobered owners let go of their old floor plans and tried new ways to speed productivity, attract talent and cut costs.


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-office-space-20101215,0,965694.story

[snooper2]

1. Actually

Every office I've ever been in



always give the shit cubes to the H1B folks...

[Arctic Dave]

2. "attract talent"?

Wow, that must be some recruiting video.

You can have your very own micro-cubicle outfitted with a spool and milk crate! Woohoo!

[guruoo]

3. Ahhhh...

That's better.

[Newsjock]

4. Back to the future

Cold War military contracts also impacted the employment of civilians, as this room full of Boeing engineers documents

It was dehumanizing then, and it is dehumanizing now. It's all about one thing: more profit. The truly talented need their space, but the truly talented are no longer valued.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. no wallls, but each of those Boeing engineers has a lot of space

[Hannah Bell]

10. i used to work in that room, or one a lot like it.

[Incitatus]

5. "Businesses used to provide 500 to 700 square feet of work space per employee"

500 square feet is a big office. What company has ever given this amount of space to the average office worker?

That certainly can't be the norm.

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. I guess they mean overall space, cafeteria, restroom, etc...500 is a studio or small 1bd room apt

[SoCalDem]

13. From 1970-1977 my office was 10 x 12

with 2 doors:)

I had plenty of room

had a big desk a credenza across the room
chairs for 4 clients ..2 beside the credenza & 2 at the desk..

[Newest Reality]

8. Companies with record profits and

tons of cash to sit on? Ahhhh! Finding even more ways to squeeze even more profit!

The profit motive is trumping just about everything but itself now. Go ahead, be imaginative. Where might that profit-worshiping priority behavior continue, left unabated?

"I pride myself on my skills and am thankful to have a job at all!" said Mrs. Usa Smith. Mrs. Smith works for Profit Inc. as a Dispossession Agent. She has proved to be a superior example of the new work ethic, performing a job that used to require fifteen employees not long ago and she gratefully does so at minimum wage.

We spoke to her in her 3'x 2' cubicle during her once-a-week, optional lunch break. "I am so glad that I can do my job well at this position while holding the two other jobs I need in order to luxuriate in the bare necessities even though there are times, now and then, when I have to skip dinners and new clothes in order to pay the rent." she said with an infectious smile.

[Hannah Bell]

9. "younger staffers prefer less" = lol.

[j420norcal]

11. It's OK, they still get Herman Miller chairs NT

[NuclearDem]

12. Shall I start with the Office Space jokes? nt