Published on Wednesday, June 21, 2000 Section: Smart Living Page: E1
© 2000 The Arizona Republic

Byline: By Janie Magruder

The Arizona Republic

The cubicle has come a long way since its birth 30 years ago as a sterile gray cell designed to keep a worker's nose to the grindstone. Visitalk.com, a Phoenix Internet company, has monthly cube decorating contests, and a team of its software engineers, mostly Gen Xers, are turning their workspace into a bachelor's pad with a stocked refrigerator and numerous toys. ''Our goal is to make it comfortable and laid-back and accessible,'' said Marcia O'Donnell, a co-founder of the 18-month-old upstart, who knows that she must because of competition.

Most anything goes in the cubicles at a Frederick's of Hollywood call center in south Phoenix where Maria Chavez has lined up her ''happy guys,'' small toys given to productive workers by manager A.J. Rosenfield. They pale in comparison to what's on the walls: larger-than-life photos of women posing seductively in Frederick's merchandise. ''Life-sized posters of breasts, for most companies, would be considered HR nightmares, but for us, it's our product line,'' Rosenfield said. As long as the decor isn't offensive, dangerous or interfering with work, most employers have given up dictating what goes in cubicles, said Joyce Filupeit, a Scottsdale workplace consultant. ''Autonomy, as a motivational factor, is such a huge issue,'' she said. ''And that may mean something as simple as 'What does my cube look like?' '' Workers afraid to bring their collection of action figures or annual school photos of all 10 kids to the office should ''do it and ask for forgiveness later instead of permission now,'' Filupeit said.

Boring right-angle panels and traditional immobility are disappearing in favor of bright fabrics on panels, 120-degree angles and furniture that's literally on the move. Computer tables and file cabinets on wheels glide from one cube to the next. Lightweight screens slide around work spaces, providing privacy much like the curtain around a hospital bed. Employees are being given permission, and sometimes money, to personalize their work spaces with vases, paper handling systems and gizmos like rear-view mirrors. ''You can actually see people sneaking up on you, and if you have food in your teeth, you can check it out,'' said Sue Sylvester of Haworth Inc., a Michigan-based furniture manufacturer. Manda Turley, an administrator for Visitalk.com, lets others decorate her work space. Turley is the frequent recipient of ''cheap gifts,'' weird knickknacks from colleagues traveling the country. Each has its place in her cube: an alligator skull from Louisiana, a fish key chain from Ensenada and a red stuffed voodoo doll from who-knows-where that she can use to wish everything from nose hair to prison time on co-workers.

The boss at Lavidge & Baumayr, a Scottsdale advertising firm, is driving cubicle change by chucking employee nameplates for close-up photographs and bios on each employee. Unpopular among some staff members, the photos aren't going away any time soon, owner Bill Lavidge said. ''It's a nice way to welcome new employees and define their space, and it puts a name with a face, too,'' Lavidge said. ''People who tour the office like them a lot. It says a little bit about our culture that we're proud of our people.''

Photo by computergear.com
Color photo by cube-a-door.com
Color photo by Michael Ging/The Arizona Republic Blame the computer, just like everyone else. A foam hammer won't get you in trouble for it, either.
The Cube-a-Scope lets you know when lazy co-workers are surfing the Internet or when the boss is coming.
Manda Turley lets other people decorate her cubicle at Visitalk.com by bringing her back little gifts from their travels.

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