Conference 7.286::digital

    Our office was redid a while ago and we were told that management
    would except input from everyone.  Well a person from out of state
    came in and told the different options we could have [little or
    none].  The employee then that person what we though of their ideas.
    Needless to say that put an end to the input. We had no say on anything
    even color.  We do have a medical room that no one has used and
    a personnel room for company info. That is of no use to anyone.
    150 square feet going to waste.  It's ok though since upper management
    feels it is company standard.
    

    Office space? what's that.  I have a mail slot and the right to
    sit at any unoccupied desk! (^:
    

        In the interest of fairness to "upper management" (whoever
        that is), it might be helpful if people writing such notes
        clarify such things as (1) where you work and (2) just how
        far up the management chain you know for a fact this is coming
        from.  
        
        For instance, I doubt that Ken Olsen directed anyone to cut
        back your office space, nor that the directive came from any
        of K.O.'s direct reports.
        
        If I'm not mistaken, WINERY:: is on the West Coast, maybe in
        the S.F. Bay area, and DPDMAI:: is in Dallas, right?  Have
        you asked your managers if there's a written policy on space
        allocation?  Did you get an answer?
        
        Tom

    I did leave out who upper management is and where I am. We are located
    in the Western Area Headquarters building in Santa Clara Ca. and this 
    change in our space is from WEA management. According to the planning
    documentation there is some sort of corporate spec or standard that
    is being used to justify our cut in space. My question is does this
    standard or spec apply to all organizations or are we being singled
    out? Is this the case even if we hold the same job code levels as
    people in these other organizations where they can keep the space
    and we have to give it up? Is field service second class to other
    organizations?                                              
    
    Renis

    re: .4
    
    How much space do you have now?  How frequently do you use it?
    Are you in the field all day and come to the office just to
    touch base, or do you work out of your cube regularly?
    
    	- Jerry

    The office in San Diego was just reorganized and definitely for
    the better.  We had been in the building for about 6 years and things
    were really cramped.  The facility space was doubled and new furniture
    brought in.
    
    I was sharing an office with another support enigneer and all of
    our documentation.  It was tight.  Now we all have about 60 square
    feet of cubespace, still tight, and our own library room.  This
    is the best office space I have ever had and I have been with DEC
    18 years and in support 10 years.
    
    The sales and software peons have the same cubespace.  Management
    of course has somewhat larger spaces but nothing obscene.

    We supposedly have 86 cubic feet and we work from our desks most
    of the day with some trips out of town and out to the local sites.
    We are Hardware/Software support for the Western Area. Keeping the
    documentation for all that we work on is a job in the first place
    and having the manuals ready at hand for phone support is required.
    Then finding a spot for the microfiche readers, terminals, phones,
    and everything else is fun too. Then there is the problem of the
    VMS manual sets and so on, and so on. Its hard enough to have a
    conversation over the phone on a problem and not be too distracting
    to the next cube.                                      
    
    Renis

	I recall a guideline in the Real Estate
	and Construction organization (RECO) that defines the
	minimum desirable size of individual's offices.  Maybe
	it's a "RECO Standard".  In the past when I have moved
	groups to new locations, we have always had to submit
	an office layout proposal to RECO in order to get approval
	for the capital (facilities upgrade) money.  

	As I recall RECO recommends 100 sq ft per office plus some
	per-person quantity of common space (15 sq ft?); but I also
	recall that their MINIMUM office size is 80 sq ft.  Their
	guidelines also cover things like number of electric outlets,
	height of partitions, size of lavatories, etc etc. 

	Just memories of hearsay, mind you.

	But RECO is propably not involved unless there is a major
	capital outlay.  Plus, there is no policy that says that
	every employee gets an office.  On many occasions I have
	been doubled up, and once even tripled up, in a standard
	10x10 cubicle.  Granted those were temporary conditions
	that were corrected (within 24 months at most!) when one
	of the tenants moved out of the site. 

	And ultimately, I think that the host manager of the facility
	gets to say what does or does not happen there.  Here in the
	Mill, "non-compliance" with standard office requirements is
	a way of life.

	Personally, I have always thought that the quality of an
	office environment is the most telling metric of the quality
	of the management.  The way they value their employees, their
	ability to plan for the future, their ability to maximize
	productivity....it's right there for the world to see.

Re .5:

>    We supposedly have 86 cubic feet and we work from our desks most

	CUBIC feet?  With standard 8' ceilings, that would only give you 11
square feet.  Something is wrong here.

    re: .9
    
    My guess that is supposed to be 86 SQUARE feet, which is a little
    larger than 9' x 9.5'.
    
    Is this the office size before or after the reduction?

    hmmmm, interesting.
    
    By way of comparison, at least, on the memory level, I seem to recall
    that each software specialist in the western area, specifically,
    Santa Clara District, was to have 64 square feet of work space.
    
    I do not remember accurately, but seem to recall that space also
    included power for 1 terminal, and 1 phone (interesting times, when
    you have a workstation to contend with!!)
    
    Granted, this was several years back.   Would there be a way for
    some resourceful person(s) to enter the current corporte rules (if
    such a thing exists) and especially any overrides that areas/districts
    are allowed to exercise regarding the work environment for the various
    employees??  It seems pretty obvious (to me, at least) that a person
    working in manufacturing needs a different environment than I do
    (a software specialist on site with a customer for multiple months).
    
    In the Santa Clara district office, I walk through and see that
    just about everyone has the same fairly cramped space to work in
    -- sales, software, F/S, secretaries, pre-sales support.... everyone.
    
    I'd even say, the district managers office is spartan compared to
    the area managers office -- which gives me a moral boost (in an odd
    sortof way, I guess...!!)
    
     Well, we may not be in the lap of luxury, but I do see constant
    efforts by managers to accomodate special needs when they arise
    -- and rarely do I hear of a reference to the "corporate rules"
    on space... they seem to work the issue out in a more or less
    democratic method.
    
    -bwe

I am sitting in my UK standard 30 square feet cube. I have additional space
for a cupboard and printer stand and we have lot's of wide corridors
which no doubt push the space up to the legal minimum of (from memory) 45 
square feet. Our group recently moved here from an office with at least 
double the space per person.

Dave.

Office sizes seem to be shrinking all over! 8' x 10' Would seem to be
    the new defacto "standard." Here are some
    converence extracts from  REGENT::WESTFORD_OFFICE 
    
    
                               -< Westford Ho! >-
================================================================================
Note 7.14                        office layout?                         14 of 47
CAMPER::LOMICKAJ "Jeff Lomicka"                       4 lines   1-OCT-1987 11:51
                             -< HL size is 9'x9'. >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For reference, offices in HL02 are 9' by 9' square, 81 square feet, not
much different from the 8'x10' plan.  Most people seem pretty cramped
for space.  (Since all my stuff is in PK, my (temporary) HL office seems
spacious.)
================================================================================
Note 7.18                        office layout?                         18 of 47
CAMPER::LOMICKAJ "Jeff Lomicka"                      43 lines   2-OCT-1987 11:14
                     -< Who gets what size - a new answer >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Contrary to a memo posted earlier in this note, office sizes will not be
assigned on the basis of engineer versus manager, but rather on the pay
scale associated with your job title.  Here are the facts as they have been
communicated to me:

	(reprinted with permission)

From:	VIDEO::BHU "01-Oct-1987 1828"  1-OCT-1987 18:31:25.19
To:	LOMICKAJ,KELLEHER,CICCARELLO,JOHNS,BHU
CC:	
Subj:	re: Office space in Westford. 

  
   Jeff,

    According to current plan:

	- All level-12 and up employees including both technical and management
	  types will get a 10 x 10 office. So consulting engineers and above
	  will get a 10 x 10 office. Similarly engineering managers and above
	  will get a 10 x 10 office.

	  So your information that ONLY managers will get a 10 x 10 office is
	  incorrect.

	- All employee below level-12 will get a 8 x 10 office and NOT
	  8 x 8 office as you indicated in your memo. 

	  So all engineering supervisors/principle engineers and below will
	  get a 8 x 10 office.


	- Only Larry Cabrinety and his staff ( ie. people reporting to
	  Larry directly) will get closed offices.


	The office size of (8 x 10) has been selected so that we can fit all
	the employees we need to fit in that building while maintaining proper
	size labs (10% more lab space than we have right now) and enough 
	conference rooms so that we don't have hard time finding a conference
	room on a short notice. Other benefit of an (8 x 10) office size is
	that it virtually guarantee that people won't be doubled up in offices
	in future when TBU grows.
       <<< REGENT::SYS$SYSDEVICE:[NOTES$LIBRARY]WESTFORD_OFFICE.NOTE;1 >>>
                               -< Westford Ho! >-
================================================================================
Note 7.20                        office layout?                         20 of 47
REGENT::HUMMERS                                       9 lines   3-OCT-1987 10:23
                              -< 10 x 10 in LKG >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I spent a little time in LKG Friday morning and discovered that
    EVERYONE, from the plant manager on down, have 10 x 10 offices.
    Note too at one point, LKG was doubled up for a time.)
    
    A VERY important point noted in LKG was the top 'cap' on the 
    modular walls is 6 inches tall to allow all the cables to
    fit!   They had to retro-fit this, we should start with this!
    
    \s\Rick
       <<< REGENT::SYS$SYSDEVICE:[NOTES$LIBRARY]WESTFORD_OFFICE.NOTE;1 >>>
                               -< Westford Ho! >-
================================================================================
Note 7.47                        office layout?                         47 of 47
HUMAN::CONKLIN "Peter Conklin"                        3 lines   3-JUL-1988 17:18
                           -< MKO1 is growing 8x10s >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    When I was in MKO1 last week, I noticed that many of their new offices
    are 8'x10'. I didn't have a ruler with me, but several measurements
    gave this result. The resulting offices look quite ample.

.0> Is there some Dec standard for office space per a persons job code? Or
.0> is there a multi-level class system forming in Digital that gives other
.0> organizations more rank and benefits over others? 
    
    Yes, and no.  There is a standard that lists each and every job,
    by title if I remember correctly, and the square footage requirments
    for their cubicle/office.  I saw it years ago, but filed it under
    the Science Fiction category when I realized that field management
    pays it no attention whatsoever.
    
    As for your second point, there's no multi-level class system forming.
    The amount of space your organization gets is the number of square
    feet your management is willing to pay for.  That usually gets decided
    at least one level, sometimes higher, above the cost center manager.
    
.1> We do have a medical room that no one has used and a personnel room for
.1> company info. That is of no use to anyone. 
    
    When I was a unit manager faced with drastic reductions in the space
    available to all my people, we fought tooth and nail the requirement
    that every facility devote an entire office to a literature room for
    Personnel.  I had no one working for me who had any problem getting
    whatever literature they needed, and we were in a remote branch office.
    The problem had already been solved.  But that didn't matter.  It
    turned out that Personnel had addressed the issue high up within the
    corporation, and no one in my entire geography had any choice but to
    devote that space to Personnel whether we could afford to lose it or
    not.
    
    				Pat, who moved into a cubicle this morning
    				for the first time since 1981 and is
				still smiling !!

    Well if it makes you feel any better we have about 60 sq.ft. per
    area support eng. in the COL office (MAA Columbia, Md.). They are
    actually 16x16 cubes which are subdevided into 4 cubes. We were
    told that this was some standard corp. layout. Maybe one of these
    years they will pipe in some sunshine. :-)
    Jeff Filer
    MAA HPS

Actually, I think the secret to satisfactory space per employee is the
    proper matching of standard workspace to standard employees.  If
    a group has 1000 sq feet of space allotted and has requirements
    of ten employees, then they could, with proper planning, arrange
    100 sq. ft. of space per employee.  If the group has 100 sq. ft.
    per employee, they can employ 7 cu. ft. employees.  If there was
    a required passageway, or easment, through their area or their space
    was reduced or their manpower requirements increased, they may have
    to exchange thier employees for the next-smaller-standard employees,
    6 cu. ft..  It's all right there in the DEC standards.
    

    New York District PSS desks have a 2x3 work area.  If you put a VT100
    on one, your paper work stays on your lap.  Officialy, employees are
    doubled up in each!  (Unofficially, employees go scavenging for real
    work space just the way they did before they had the "luxury" of
    assigned seats.  F&A ran out of money during the move, see, and...) 

    re:   the "class system":
    
    Actually, my office space has been _inversely_ proportional to my
    level (or "class").
    
    As a Mfg.Engineer 1  a few years ago,  I had a 12' X 14' office
    in NRO4.   Shortly after being promoted to M.E.2, I was moved to
    a 10' X 12' office.   A couple of months later,  I moved to a 10'
    X 10' office in WMO.   After being in a 10'X10' for a couple of
    years,  I was  moved to an 8'X10' office for a short time,  until
    I was promoted to Senior M.E.,  at which point I was moved to an
    8'X8' office.     
    
    If I keep getting promoted,  I think I'll end up in a closet!
    
	-Don-

    I currently have my office in Santa Clara, and my group is
    2 to an 8 X 10 cube... which yields about 40 sq ft.
    There are two terminal lines and one (1) phone per cube.
      
    Members of this unit are frequently working at a customer site
    and therefore don't need alot of space back at the
    office.  
    
    The theory is that on the average, everybody gets a cube to themselves.
    
    The problem is that when you and your cube-mate get a six month
    project to do in the office, the theory goes out the window.
    
    I'm not sure what the solution should be.  We can't be moving every
    time that our assignments get shuffled.  Constantly backing into
    each other is not really productive.  I can't justify reserving
    cube space for people that aren't always there, although it would
    sure be nice!
    I will say that it is MANDATORY for specialists that work from
    time-to-time at customer sites (or even that work constantly out
    of the office) to have a desk that they can call home.  I must have
    a place to store company-confidential information, and if we don't
    make people feel that their home is with Digital, their loyalties
    may slide to the customer where their "home" is.
    
    Any thoughts?
    Kevin

    Our office moved to a new location last October. We have a facility
    that was implemented according to the 'new corporate guidelines'.
    
    The basic construct is called a Core. A core is approximately 16x16.
    Floor to ceiling walls (in some cases a wall has outside windows)
    on three sides, and a short wall broken with a walkway on the fourth.
    
    To illustrate

    --------------------------------------------------------------------
            |                |                |			|
    	    |		     |		      |			|
    	    |		     |		      |			|
    	    |	Core	     |	Core	      |	Core		|
    	    |		     |		      |			|
    	    |		     |		      |			|
    	    |		     |		      |			|
-----	----------     ------------	-------------	  -------------
    |	|	 |     |	  |     |	    |	  |
    |	| Sect.	 |     | Sect.	  |     | Sect.	    |	  |
    |	|	 |     |	  |     |	    |	  |
	------  --     -------  ---     --------  ---     ----------
      W  A  L  K  W  A  Y                W A L K W A Y
----------  -------------  ---------------  ----------------  ---------
    
    This is not to any scale. Closed 9x10 offices on this side of walkway.
    
    The cores are open internally. Layout and furniture relates to the
    function of the occupants, resulting in 4, 8, or 10 people per core.
    
    SWS delivery people *not* on residencies (eg on in-house projects) get
    assigned to 4 person cores. SWS people on residencies do not get an
    assigned desk, but are supposed to use a "residents lounge". Note that
    assignment to a desk is a transitory thing. 
    
    SWS sales support have stable assignments to 4 person cores.
    Sales are supposed to be 8 person cores.
    FS are supposed to be 10 person cores.
    
    The theory is that generally, the people in these functions shouldn't
    be in the office, and therefore don't need office space.
    
    [I personally, dropped some money into my home; fixed up an office
    area in the basement and bought a VS2000 (which I'm now using at
    a customer site). I try to avoid the office now; it's depressing]
    
    Dave