At their best, office partitions go unnoticed as a neutral sort of element in our office landscape. At worst, office partitions can seem like cruelly oppressive trap-like mazes that engulf us all. Whether they’re meant to seem permanent or can be opened and closed with ease, the less we think about office partitions, the better they generally are. So, though choosing office partitions might not seem like an important, weighty decision, think again – your employee morale can sometimes be affected by them. The good news is that you’ve got many options when it comes to picking out your office partitions.
When you pop your head over a cubicle wall and catch your neighbor shopping on eBay or updating his MySpace blog, you’re popping your head over office partitions. Some people think the terms “office partitions” and “cubicles” are synonymous, but they’re wrong! In fact, cubicles are only one kind of office partitions available to you, the buyer. The cubicle brand of office partitions are known as half height office partitions.
Some office partitions stretch from floor to ceiling. These are called either floor-to-ceiling, appropriately enough, or full height. Although these office partitions fully enclose a person and, it could be said, impede visibility throughout the office, they also lend an air of permanence to your office. These office partitions will seem less like “partitions” and more like “walls.” But though they may seem more permanent, these office partitions can be rearranged or removed in short order. So do you want your office to have the greater sense of openness that half height office partitions provide, or do you prefer the more solid, permanent feel of full height office partitions?
If your answer to that last question is “neither,” then you’re not out of luck. Maybe you’re looking for office partitions that can offer the full enclosure of floor-to-ceiling partitions, but also allow for the openness that full height office partitions can’t accommodate. If that’s the case, then your best bet may be accordion walls. You might remember these partitions from high school, where they’ve often been used to separate (and sometimes unite) adjoining classrooms. When slid shut, this office partitions act as complete walls, but when open they create no barrier whatsoever.
Your least permanent option for office partitions would be the portable variety. These office partitions are similar to accordion partitions only in that they can expand and be made smaller. Unlike accordion office partitions, however, these portable partitions can easily be picked up, rolled on wheels or otherwise moved from one place to another. In other words, it takes minutes to move them or take them down, as opposed to the hours it takes the full height office partitions to be disassembled and moved.
Here are some handy tips for finding a dealer once you have an idea for the kind of office partitions you want.
1. Visit the Blue Book locator online to find local office partitions dealers.
2. An old-fashioned search on Google or Yahoo for “office partitions” turns up many manufacturer websites, as well as sites that list numerous manufacturers. A wide search like this is valuable to give you a better appreciation for the variety of office partitions that exist for your choosing.
3. Talk to your building manager. It’s very likely that he or she can recommend local businesses that sell office partitions.
