Feature Article: The Death of the Corner Office
Office Environments Evolve to Adapt to Changes in Technologies and Worker Demands
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Betsy Hoye, Advertising & Public Relations Manager, 563.272.5690, HoyeB@honcompany.com
Jennifer Allanson or Kristi Stolarski, Robert Falls & Co. Public Relations, 216.696.0229, jallanson@robertfalls.com or kstolarski@robertfalls.com
Rest in peace, dear corner office. For years, you were the status symbol of tie-clad, briefcase-toting businessmen. You served us well… representing the epitome of the top of the corporate ladder and all that it entails. But, just like typewriters, “curling” fax paper and rotary telephones… the corner office is a rare site in most workplaces today… making its way to office heaven.
“Previously, offices showed a definite hierarchy with large, executive offices circling the perimeter windows with open space in the center – like a doughnut,” said Rod Vickroy, design director – workplace interiors at Smith Group, a leading design firm of modern workplace environments. “The days of the doughnut are gone! Now it’s more of an inverted doughnut.”
Today’s contemporary workplaces tend to focus on collaboration and teamwork, requiring a more open work environment. Executives are more interactive and involved in day-to-day operations than those of past generations, leading to the crumble of the traditional executive office suite.
Take New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, for example. He has given up his formal City Hall executive office and instead works in a cubicle alongside his employees. In numerous media interviews, the former Wall Street trader has noted he didn’t like working in his cavernous, formal private office -- but instead opted to create a large, open working space where he sits amongst staff members, much like the trading rooms of his earlier profession.
“My whole career has been spent sitting out in the middle,” Bloomberg has said in a Newsweek interview. “You want privacy? Do it at home.”
One solution a number of companies are adopting is one which breaks up the “old-school” concept of corner and perimeter manager offices, moving management into flexible, private workspaces within the core of the office space.
Level Playing Field
At the Intel Corp., company policy states, “Executives are not entitled to operate under different standards than other employees.” Thus, they inhabit workstations just like everyone else there, including President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini, who is said to have a corner cubicle next to the windows.
Leading office furniture companies, such as The HON Company, have taken note of this office transformation and offer a variety of versatile workstation options, such as its Initiate® panel systems, to help companies achieve an open floor plan, while still accommodating the needs of executives. Initiate offers a wide variety of layouts and looks to make it a simple, smart and sustainable solution for any office environment.
In fact, The HON Company is utilizing its own Initiate panel system in their Muscatine, Iowa, headquarters to create workspaces that suit their managerial needs, but also make them more approachable to the company’s 250 headquarters employees.
“There’s no such thing as a formal corner office at The HON Company,” notes Don Mead, HON’s vice president of marketing. “Our headquarters building has only a handful of private offices, and most are at the center of the building rather than in a corner. Our furniture systems allow us to create work areas that achieve necessary privacy for our executives without putting them up on an unreachable pedestal. We believe in teamwork here, and our teams include everyone from the receptionist to the company president.”
Open to Privacy
Much to Mead’s point about privacy, some companies, such as law firms, still require a more traditional arrangement of private executive offices. Managing partners and others who do highly confidential work throughout the course of a day need a secure space.
“Attorneys use their offices as a tool for business. They have to meet with clients and need to counsel them. They require a protected space for conversations,” Vickroy says. “Today, you’ll see a functional, yet evolving, mix of private and open offices in law firms and other contemporary professional service firms, such as accounting and consulting. The private office is still in their tool kit.”
However, executive offices in these kinds of organizations also have shifted with changing times, Vickroy notes. They’re getting much smaller.
“At staid law firms, the space for corner offices used to be at least 200 square feet,” he says. “Now more firms are going to universal office design where all workspaces range between 144 and 180 square feet. The footprint size definitely is shrinking. However, the furnishings have kept an upscale feel, thanks to luxurious wood or veneer casegoods, such as HON’s Park Avenue Veneer line, in contrast to laminate products in staff spaces.”
“We offer a variety of office solutions to create a unique flow from workstations to executive offices,” says Mead. “HON office furniture allows companies to incorporate wood finishes and upscale fabrics in the panel systems to create a high-end, aesthetically pleasing workspace that transcends well with other traditional offices. Additionally, taller panels help with acoustical properties and can add additional privacy.”
As times change, the look and feel of the workplace will change with it. So, it’s “farewell” to the presidential pedestal corner office and the hierarchical stigma that it creates. Instead, say “hello” to flexible, functional and collaborative workstations. The future seems clear… top executives and staffers will be sharing common ground – literally!
For more information on The HON Company, please visit www.HON.com.
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About The HON Company
The HON Company is a leader in the design and manufacturing of workplace furniture including chairs, storage, panel systems, tables and desks. Headquartered in Muscatine, Iowa, The HON Company has numerous manufacturing facilities strategically located throughout the United States, and markets its products through a nationwide network of dealers and retailers. The HON Company is an operating company of HNI Corporation (formerly HON INDUSTRIES). For more information, visit www.HON.com or www.HONthinksgreen.com.