Archive for November, 2011

NeoCon East: New Commercial Furniture Part 1

Saturday, November 5th, 2011

Wow, first there was NeoCon in Chicago, then NeoCon Canada, and now there’s NeoCon East to talk about! Pretty soon, they’ll have to change the name from NeoCon to PerpetualCon. As always, the big names in office furniture all put in an appearance last week. The Tweetosphere was chirping with news and invitations to come see this booth or that. The most exciting part of the convention was (naturally), all the new products making their debut. In this series, we’ll take a virtual stroll through the marketplace to see what our favorite manufacturers are up to.

Humanscale

The Float™ work table actually made its first appearance at the Chicago NeoCon event, but it’s being shown to a different group of potential buyers at NeoCon East in Baltimore. As you might suspect, this Maryland event is focused on government buying programs. We’ll see if this sit/stand desking solution becomes a popular GSA item for ergonomic workspaces.

The idea of a height-adjustable worksurface has been explored in many different iterations by various manufacturers. Some use a motor to lift and lower the worksurface. Others rely on manual adjustment. The Float takes its mechanical inspiration from the principle of counterbalanced motion. This means very little force is required to shift the surface up or down – even when it is loaded with a hundred pounds of office equipment. In fact, Humanscale says you can operate the adjustment feature with one hand to float the tabletop into your desired position.

The table has a 20” range of motion to accommodate sitting and standing workers of many different heights. Options include different table widths from 36-72” and colors ranging from silver to black or white. You can even mount a tabletop from another manufacturer on the Float table base if you prefer a different look. So, that’s what’s up (and down) in the realm of adjustable workstations at NeoCon this year.

Vintage Office Etiquette

Friday, November 4th, 2011

This office etiquette video from the Encyclopaedia Britannica Films archive offers a delightful peek at what was expected from white collar workers in the 1950s. Some of the advice is still very relevant for today. After all, the Golden Rule doesn’t change. Going to work is much more pleasant when everyone treats others they way they want to be treated. Being considerate never goes out of style.

Of course, today’s employers tend to be a little more lax about some behaviors. For example, making an occasional personal phone call or spending a few minutes surfing the web is not considered problematic in many offices – as long as you get your work done. We’ve also got a very different attitude about work/life balance. For example, few of us would spend hours every night learning skills that should be acquired via company paid training during regular business hours. Plus, not that many people actually learn shorthand anymore!

Which ‘rules’ shown in this film do you still find relevant in today’s work environment? Let us know in the comments.

What IT Workers Want in a Workspace

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

Last year, we looked at one programmer’s opinion about whether IT workers prefer offices or cubicles. But now there’s more extensive data available from a survey conducted by Computerworld. Author Cara Garretson reveals that not all tech employees have the same desires when it comes to their office setup, but there are some definite trends.

The most successful approach employers are using for IT staff appears to be a blended work environment. There are some collaborative areas for when team members need to have an ad hoc discussion or troubleshoot a problem. But workers also have the ability to retreat into cubicles or semi-private workspaces such as small conference rooms when they need more privacy. The flexibility of being able to choose where to work at any given time seems to be more important than the “office or cubicle” debate – as long as the noise level is addressed.

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