If you can’t bring a guard dog to your cubicle …
November 13, 2009 by Steve HannafordPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, New Products
Those lucky enough to work in offices with walls and doors can close out the world and limit interruptions simply by shutting the door. But for 50 million US workers (the Dilberts among us) there’s no door to shut.
What that means s that no matter how urgent the task on your desk, anyone in the office can drop by to chat about office gossip shows or their fantasy football picks. Sociability and easy communication are great in the office, but not when there’s a deadline breathing down your neck.
A California company called CubeGuard is offering a low-tech solution. Its Cubicle Message Barrier is a retractable “Do Not Disturb” banner placed across your cubicle’s entry. The device starts at around $20 per, and uses Velcro or magnets to attach to the cubicle walls.
You can also use a set of signs for indicating you are on vacation or out to lunch, and you can have the company create customized signs as well.
The company declares that “the average time impact of a typical office interruption –- which includes the interruption itself as well as the recovery time to refocus on what you were doing –- is about 15 minutes. Some studies suggests that the average worker is interrupted 10-15 times per day.” You get the idea –- there’s a lot wasted time, at least some of which can be avoided with a “Keep Out” sign.
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Tags: CubeGuard, interruptions
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November 18th, 2009 at 11:57 am
$20 for a Do Not Disturb sign?
If employees are constantly disturbed by neighbors in a cube farm, consider whether they should be working in such an environment in the first place.
No Do Not Disturb sign will exclude the neighbor who slurps his coffee, the one who thumps his keyboard with an irregular beat, or the one with the noxious after-shave.
November 19th, 2009 at 10:57 am
It take 15 minutes to get into “engineer mode” and several minutes to dig one’s self out of that mode. This is why a lot of managers (already in yack mode) think engineers are introverts when we cannot snap to a conversation. The logical end to this is engineers need a sound proof door and no visual distractions so we can safely go into “engineer mode” .
November 19th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Headphones can dampen the noise, even if you don’t play music. If you can play music, all the better.