October 31, 2007—Intel Corp is planning tests in three US locations of new office layouts, according to the Wall Street Journal. Plans include tables where several users can plop down with laptop computers, multiworker desks, and lounge-like settings with armchairs—all a far cry from the mazelike grid of tall gray cubicles in most Intel buildings.
Behind such tests is a growing recognition that classic cubicles have many shortcomings. For one thing, they tend to block visibility without blocking much noise from other cubes, notes the article.
Intel, which helped promote wireless networking in laptops, would seem an obvious candidate for such offices. Cubicles are a part of its egalitarian self-image, like its philosophy against reserved parking spaces and other perks for top managers.
A typical floor at Intel’s headquarters building in Santa Clara, Calif., holds 500 workers and has 17 conference rooms. The rooms are often booked but empty, because the demand leads employees to reserve them if there is a chance they will be needed, the article noted.
In one of its tests, Intel plans to add 32 small conference rooms to a floor for meetings of two to four people and a dozen “private audio rooms”—for private conversations that aren’t possible in cubicles.
For more information, visit the Wall Street Journal’s Web site.
