Typical Office Layouts

If you're shopping for office cubicles, it's important to consider all your typical office design layouts so you can be sure your employees in each department are getting exactly what they need from their cubicle systems furniture. Here are the six most important concerns to keep in mind when choosing the best typical office design layout for each department in your office.

Office Space:

How much space will each employee need? Take into account the different functions your employees serve – for example, a manager will need more meeting space than a largely independent worker, an accountant will need more storage space than a call center worker, etc.

Office Design Layout:

A few common office design layouts (of the worksurfaces) include L-shape, U-shape, teaming, call center, management, and reception. The Maxon Inspirations Guide, your dealer or a space planner can help you find the best design layout for each department in your office.

Office Privacy:

Depending on the employee, they might need to be easily accessible to coworkers or closed off enough to focus on their work. Be sure to assess each employee's privacy needs before you buy your cubicles. Privacy in a workstation is determined by panel height – usually ranging from 42" (low privacy), 54" (seated privacy), 66" (standing privacy), or 78" (wall height privacy). Panel heights can be varied in a workstation to find the perfect balance. Glass is another factor with textured glass giving more privacy than translucent glass. For higher degrees of privacy you can add a sliding door or standard door to a workstation.

Worksurface Area:

Take into account how much flat space an employee will need to work, allowing for a comfortable shape, enough depth for everything they need to have on the worksurface, the type of computer screen(s) they use and the placement of their computer.

Filing Capacity:

Some employees need a file tray to handle all their documents and that's it; others need cabinets for storing binders and filing cabinets around their worksurface. Make sure that each employee has sufficient storage space when you choose your cubicle systems.

Picking a typical office design layout is easy with the Maxon Inspirations Guide that shows each typical as a 3D image, a top view and tells the relative amount of workstation area, worksurface area, overhead and file storage capacity. Once typicals are selected you can be sure that the rest of the office cubicle planning process will go smoothly and meet the needs of your employees.