Omar Ales has fun at work. He's good at it too. As marketing specialist, keyboard and live music production, for Yamaha Music Canada, his bosses consider him "highly creative and productive." He works in a cubicle.
Many corporate minions slave away in insipid grey cubicles -- no windows, no colour, no natural light -- that drain energy. They are the decor equivalent of a strait jacket. Redecorating seems like a no-brainer. So why don't more people do it?
"We've witnessed this huge boom in home design. Everyone's getting into decorating," says Kelley L. Moore, author of Cube Chic: Take your office from drab to fab! (Gotham Books, $20.95), "but people don't spend the same energy or time on their work space. They treat their cubicles like giant bulletin boards, with pictures of family members push-pinned into grey walls. The cubicle comes to resemble a jail cell."
Cell-like is an apt description, according to Toronto-based human resources consultant Pelly Shafto. "Cubicles are cost-saving measures and the trend is moving towards smaller, more standardized spaces that really aren't very interesting," he says. "Where you see investment made is common spaces."
While meeting rooms get decked out with leather loveseats and gas fireplaces, cubicles remain barren wastelands. But somehow Ales has managed to succeed despite a workspace that fairly leeches creativity. So what does his cubicle have that millions of others don't?
On his walls are posted the requisite groupings of family portraits, including one of his six-month-old daughter sitting at a keyboard, but he has also hung posters and he even brought in his own keyboard, installed in a corner for the enjoyment of himself and his co-workers. "I'd freak out if I didn't have the escapism these photos and the keyboard offer," Ales says.
Adding colour -- figuratively and literally -- is essential to combatting cubicle burnout. Picasso understood the rich relationship between disposition and colour. The moody indigo canvasses of his famed blue period gave expression to his depressed state.
Paradoxically, while blue is symbolic of depression, it is also associated with serenity and healing. (Conversely, red and orange are thought to excite and green to relax.) In an omnibus survey conducted by Environics Research for Xerox Canada late last year, 51 per cent of women and 40 per cent of men said adding colour to their cubbies would make them more productive. The No. 1 shade of choice: blue.
While more than 50 per cent of respondents said colour had no effect on their productivity, 40 per cent of those surveyed who work an eight-hour day said they are only productive for five to six hours per day. "Adding colour and texture are the most important things you can do to bring instant life to a cubicle," Moore says. "Doing so can't help but improve productivity."
Research supports Moore's claims. In what is now considered to be a landmark 1976 study, American psychologist Rikard Kuller studied the effect of colour on men, versus women. Half his sample group were placed in a grey room, the other half in a colourful room. Electroencephalogram and pulse-rate readings, as well as anecdotal reports of mood, showed that, for both sexes, heart rates were faster in the grey room. Further, men were more likely to be either stressed or bored in the grey room.
But colour is just part of the picture, says Erik Calhoun, architect and designer with Re:placement Design in Toronto. Workspaces should be personalized too. "People resent the notion of the anonymous cubicle," he says. "To be a valuable part of a team you have to feel respected as an individual."
He advocates hanging art and photos from home in sophisticated groupings. "Put the art or photos in lightweight frames and display in groups of three or four for a dramatic and polished effect," he says.
Over all, when it comes to cubicle decor, less is more. "Remember that cubicles have been professionally designed to be efficient, and organized efficiency looks good," Calhoun says. "Don't mess it up."
Presumably worried that his employees would mess up, the pod police at Calvin Klein in New York have, in the past, outlined precisely what each employee's cubicle should look like, right down to the kind of pencil (mechanical) and colour of flower (white) allowed.
It's not so Draconian elsewhere. One Loblaw employee says the Toronto head office, for example, allows for freedom of expression as long as it doesn't exceed the height of their workstation and is done in a clean, organized manner.
Finding the serene space between colourful and clean requires restraint, says Calhoun, who, while not a cubicle specialist per se, is happy to offer his consultative services (replacementdesign.com). One-on-ones start at $85 an hour: good value when you consider the potential productivity payoff.
For starters though, he says, "ease off on the photos of the kids and the Garfield cartoons and for god's sake leave the teacup collection at home. At the end of the day, this is still a work space; your aim is not to create a home away from home."
Cool cubicles
Grey away: Kelley L. Moore, the author of Cube Chic, used corrugated paper to create the Zen cubicle (above). Erik Calhoun of Re:placement Design disguises grey by framing and hanging pieces of wallpaper.
Frame game: Create a little escapism with frames. Then create vignettes with three or four photos. And since most cubicles don't have windows, Moore suggests framing a big photo of a favourite destination.
Go green: A study conducted by a researcher at the Texas A&M University found employee idea generation improved with plants or flowers.
Pack a snack: Make your pod welcoming with a bowl of munchies. Extra visitors won't help productivity, but you'll feel good about work.
-- Liza Finlay
