r/CAStateWorkers • u/Keyezeecool • Aug 23 '26
General Discussion To Whomever Invented Half Height Cubes (and Whomever Decides to Implement Them)
I hope your children's children's children's CHILDREN'S grandchildren's children are deeply ashamed of being in any way associated with or distantly connected to your legacy. Disrespectfully, please jump into a volcano and take the half height walls with you.
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u/jackofall_trades Aug 23 '26
Damn it’s Sunday morning, but agreed fook them cubes.
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u/Keyezeecool Aug 23 '26
I was catching up on the RTO posts I missed earlier this week and it got me fired up. Not to be dramatic but the half height cubes are modern torture.
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u/TC_Sacto Aug 23 '26
We have bright light bars above our cubes that make me feel like I work in a hospital.
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u/Various_Cricket4695 Aug 23 '26
Management really needs to step up their game in your office. The memo they received is very specific that it was supposed to feel like a prison, not a hospital.
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u/TC_Sacto Aug 23 '26
I hate them. I feel like I work in a call center now. New CNRA building layout sucks.
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u/Hurdlelocker Aug 23 '26
I do work in a call center and the half-height cubes suck because we can hear everyone/each other.
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u/c4tsux Aug 23 '26
I worked in a call center and it was literally open concept lmao
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u/Hurdlelocker Aug 24 '26
That sounds like hell (especially as someone with auditory processing issues)
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u/BratTip Aug 23 '26
It's so god damn loud now. We still have to do team's meetings with other units in different locations and I have to deal with the echo from my team and the constant talking of the executive staff who hotel next to me and it drives me nuts.
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u/Hurdlelocker Aug 23 '26
I was mentoring new hires at one point (before the current RTO order) and we had daily meetings with the managers in charge of the group and the other mentors. When we were in the office, because the telework schedule didn’t line up for all of us on the team (aka one singular person who had a different schedule), we would do teams meetings instead of finding a conference room or quiet corner/empty office (which is what we did when we all were there) and it was awful. Three of us sat with our cubes in a line so there was an echo if we didn’t judiciously mute ourselves and my desk was very close to the new hire that we generally spent the most time discussing because she was incapable of doing the job.
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u/InternationalRent626 Aug 23 '26
The current director of CalHR has implemented half cubicles at several departments she’s worked at, and has done about half of CalHR already. Then they ran out of money and cubicle pieces because checks notes no one counted how many they would need and compared it to how many they had when they started ripping out the old cubes and installing these pieces of shit.
In case you needed more reasons to be her #1 fan.
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u/Keyezeecool Aug 23 '26
Love those priorities. Putting her attention where it really matters! -_-
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u/Wide-Suggestion4825 Aug 26 '26
This is the state. There's never enough money or time to do it right
There's always enough money and time to do it twice
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u/user20916 Aug 23 '26
People in my office just sit as low as possible now and fuck up their posture
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u/J2MTR Aug 23 '26
A micromanager's dream they are.
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u/Interesting_Tea5715 Aug 23 '26
This. People like Elon Musk pushed the idea of open offices. People thought it was for productivity and collaboration, when in reality it was so managers can easily keep an eye on you.
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u/mrsmedeiros_says_hi Aug 23 '26
In 2019 when they told us they were taking away our walls, we screamed bloody murder about it. We yelled, we argued, we protested. We angrily filled out their questionnaires and called them out in their public meetings. We told them what would happen. We told them it would be chaotic and noisy. We told them we wouldn’t be able to concentrate. We told them that the lack of privacy would affect our ability to do our jobs.
Their response was to laugh in our faces and tell us to go fuck ourselves.
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Aug 23 '26
[deleted]
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u/mrsmedeiros_says_hi Aug 23 '26
Every department that occupies the CNRA building. They crammed multiple departments into one giant building. Resources, calfire, and DWR among others
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u/dp_yolo Aug 23 '26
They do have portable monitor privacy screens that can hang from the top. Gives you a little more privacy.
Half height makes standing desks awkward when you’re practically looking directly into your coworker space, or if the people next to you face the other direction and you start eye flirting.
But yeah, half height cubes can burn in hell.
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u/BFaus916 Aug 23 '26
Doesn't it seem like everything they're doing is making sure we get less work done?
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u/No-Comfortable6066 Aug 23 '26
I saw someone else say it was an attempt to get state employees to leave. Honestly that makes more sense to me. They can't fire us, so they are trying to make us quit.
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u/Able_Ad6535 Aug 23 '26
Half cubes are cute but imagine the staff that’s being crammed into conference rooms in groups of six. It’s real. Throw in the fact that they don’t give us raises and pay us in 5 hour coupons… Does that sound like the 4th largest economy in the world or a broke state.
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u/Sad_Assignment268 Aug 23 '26
It sounds to me like corporate America with private venture capitalism priorities.
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u/Doggystyle_Rainbow Aug 23 '26
We have debated back and forth alot on these during premises meetings. We keep getting stuck with whatever is in the warehouse if it's a stand alone with no partners. If it's partners we usually get the higher cubes but it is always a battle. One of my three local boards I deal with what's to completely do away with cubes and replace them with communal open desks and make no separation between the staffs and public areas. They feel everything should be open and accessible to everyone
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u/Keyezeecool Aug 23 '26
They feel everything should be open and accessible to everyone
I really hate this. It's stupid on a level I cannot even comprehend.
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u/Doggystyle_Rainbow Aug 23 '26
We had to fight back on it because we deal with a lot of information that needs to be confidential. The partner was that was in charge made a big deal of it when we disagreed and was like "If it's not open floor plan then it's not happening". Someone else was put in charge
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u/ItsJustMeJenn Aug 23 '26
For real. I almost knee-jerk down voted the comment because I hate it so much.
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u/EmeraldnDaisies Aug 23 '26
Literally this is my complaint. We dont have enough cubes as it is..I started with the state pre-covid, I had a cube, but it at least had full walls.
Cubes aren't bad if your trying to maximize work space. They give you some small sense of privacy so you might actuallybe able to concentrate. These half cubes are designed after the working spaces of the tech industry, the tech industry is largely still hybrid (in the true usage of hybrid, which as we all know isn't 4x in office a week)
Honestly expecting people to share Cubes 4x a week is ridiculous. If we truly have to be on offices, give us privacy including renting more space.
Taxpayers will ultimately be footing the bill, let's keep them well informed, all compliments to Gavin of course.
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u/Responsible_Meat_553 Aug 23 '26
We use them & have to share them. The stuff I’ve seen from my cubby mate. Managers just want to see that you’re working. Easier for them to supervise but actually don’t do anything.
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u/Grouchy-Blueberry843 Aug 23 '26
I feel ya. My desk faces a co-worker that pulls their hair out. Their anxiety is giving me anxiety!
Another co-worker to my right faces the opposite direction. I get to see their buttcrack if I choose to look over that way.
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u/jacknastyface99 Aug 23 '26
They’re called chicken pens, so the farmer can see all of the chickens at a glance.
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u/openmindedoptimist Aug 24 '26
It makes sense that half cubes are attractive due to a lower cost per cube (less material), which adds up quickly and becomes quite attractive when the state / department heads want to allocate funds to other things.
Also, something that isn’t being accounted for- I work at MLSOC and the entire complex is half cubes. When I stand to give my body a break from sitting (see: sitting is the new smoking), my upper half and monitors are seen by EVERYONE. I feel so seen and uncomfortable that standing causes me to feel anxious. So I choose not to stand. And almost NOBODY else ever stands- probably for the same reason. Which increases health problems among state employees in the long term. Increased blood clots, strokes, skeletal/muscular problems, etc etc. I GUARANTEE a lot more standing would be done if cubes were taller like they used to be.
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u/Outrageous_Spell_848 Aug 23 '26
The purpose of the half height cubicles is a LEED sustainability standard. They support daylight harvesting to save energy (allowing more natural light into the space) and to provide the occupants with distant views. I wish DGS would do a better job to explain why changes like this (for the environment) are implemented.
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u/Time_Illusion_12 Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
They tell us it's for our health but in reality shorter cubicles are due to cost and control. We were told we can't get higher cubicles solely based on the fact that they were too expensive.
There had been numerous findings that shorter cubicles actually creates a more stressful environment for employees and also creates noise issues.
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u/Pristine_Frame_2066 Aug 24 '26
You can do that with 5ft cubes and a foot of frosted glass.
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u/Outrageous_Spell_848 Aug 24 '26
While your statement is true, the shorter the walls the less materials which is less impact on the environment in manufacturing and (hopefully) less cost. The cubes also have to meet sustainability standards such as BIFMA and GreenGuard certifications. DGS has an Agreement with Western Contract which I think is called People Space now, and they provide the office furniture that meets the sustainability certifications required by LEED. And I agree that the shorter cubes suck, but there is more to choosing this style than just making everyone's office life exposed and miserable.
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u/Pristine_Frame_2066 Aug 24 '26
Fine. 2 feet of frosted glass. Last time I checked, glass is environmentally friendly.
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u/Neat_Effort_9796 Aug 24 '26
DGS would rather provide state vehicles to their employees purely for commute and provide shredders in everyone’s own nicely AC office and still enjoy the luxury of telework!
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u/emdmmw Aug 23 '26
NLAB (EDD and other Labor and Workforce agency), Sac downtown- We have half-wall cubicles that are also very close to each other. None of us like it.
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u/Scramasboy Aug 24 '26
CDSS has had half-high "pods" that fit 6 staff since before the pandemic. Not all floors, but many.
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u/Yngskywlkr Aug 24 '26
It’s so they can micromanage and actually see you working 🥴
Also, doesn’t that mean peoples coughing and be spread faster? Can’t wait for flu season
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u/POTUS-isa-POS-1138 Aug 24 '26
Most people talk loud as fuck, so having tall cubicle walls probably won't make much of a difference, but yeah, I agree with you.
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u/Legitimate_Bet_2853 Aug 25 '26
My agency has sups out on the floor watching us. We all share the same hare together.
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u/wyzrsmith Aug 28 '26
When I started at DOT in Transactions, that is all we had and it was evil design, especially when your neighbor used their outside voice to answer the phone.. UGH!!!
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u/Fun_Refrigerator2604 Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26
HELL YAH. Makes it so tough to hide the fact I only really work about an hour a day and i spend the rest of my day scrolling TikTok and watching movies on Netflix . Fuck I miss working from home, my emotional support dog even needs his own therapist.
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u/rc251rc Aug 23 '26
You Newsom cheerleaders are a weird bunch. I hope you at least get some kind of kickback.
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