Office walls are closing in on corporate workers

[n2doc]

By Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times
December 15, 2010


The walls are closing in on white-collar workers — their office environments are shrinking, propelled by new technology, a changing corporate culture and the age-old imperative to save a buck.

Although personal workstations won't disappear, the sprawling warrens of cubicles and private offices that have defined the workplace for the last few decades are heading the way of Rolodexes and typewriters. The shift is of tectonic proportions, experts on the workplace say.

In the 1970s, American corporations typically thought they needed 500 to 700 square feet per employee to build an effective office. Today's average is a little more than 200 square feet per person, and the space allocation could hit a mere 50 square feet by 2015, said Peter Miscovich, who studies workplace trends as a managing director at brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle.

"We're at a very interesting inflection point in real estate history," Miscovich said. "The next 10 years will be very different than the last 30."

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/la-fi-office-space-20101215,0,1254312.story

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Shut up and get back in your mini-cube farm, you smelly proles" - RepubliCorp (R)

[Crazy Dave]

2. I've noticed it for the last five years

It's not so much new technology, we're being forced to do our work two to three times faster and go on salary versus hourly "or else".

All of the engineering and architectural firms I've worked for or know well are doing this. I used to have time to design a project, verify it myself then have another set of eyes do quality control. There were always oversights and corrections to be made no matter how diligent the team worked. These days it's "hurry up and get it out of the door" and the new standard is, "there's no such thing as a mistake unless someone else catches it". So the next new road, bridge or building you see being constructed was designed on this principal, built by the lowest bidder who in turn cuts corners to add to his profit margin.

[tjwash]

6. I've quit and moved on from quite a few jobs in the last 20 years...

...for various reasons you just cited. In each one, I even told them that I was going to start looking, and each one of them just basically laughed and told me that there was nothing out there, and even if there was, that I was too lazy and stoopid to get another job anyway and that they were doing me a favor by holding on to me, so I had better just accept my situation, put up with their abuse, and learn to like it.

In some cases I had to move to a different state, and in others I moved to different countries for a few years. In each case however, I was able to improve my money and bennies. In each case as well, the "you ain't smart enough to find anything better" mind games, and the "you had best learn to put up with our crap" theme ran through them like a common thread.

So fuck those assholes...just because corporate america runs the media and has everyone brainwashed that there is nothing out there for anyone, and to accept what they dole out to them, doesn't make it true.

[niceypoo]

3. Then they start firing fulltime employees

And replacing them with part time employees whom they pay no benefits.

[Crazy Dave]

7. My wife works 38 hours a week as a "part time employee" n/t

[Common Sense Party]

4. I haven't worked in an office in more than a decade.

It doesn't sound like I'd miss it much.

[Bandit]

5. File cabinets are becoming a thing of the past

So are bookshelves. It is no wonder at $150.00 (and up) a square foot rental, that Companies are looking to downsize their square footage needs.. A room seven by seven could easily have a desk with printer and waste basket and computer. What else is needed?

[johnlucas]

8. I hope they didn't think they were different

Now they will find out that they are just the same as the folks dismissed from the collapse of industry.
That's the thing about labels. Sometimes people buy into the hype & start believing in the words ascribed to them.

The key word in the phrase "white-collar workers" is workers.
Smugness is about to undergo a decline in America.
John Lucas

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. I'd rather work in an egg crate than an office cubicle

Not that there's much difference.

[Crazy Dave]

10. This sounds mean but...

Some of the people I've worked with over the years used to decorate their cubicles beyond ridiculous. Some were really over the top stupid, ugly, political and non-professional.