The Best and Worst Cube Farms in America...

Admit it - you've daydreamed about doing something cool with your office.  Maybe you're thinking about painting that accent wall, or maybe you're thinking about doing something cool with your cube.  Something to spice it up.  Something to take it to the next level, way past where Les Nessman left it.

Before you do that, manage your expectations.  Most of you probably aren't in Silicon Valley, or working at Google.  That's OK, but it probably means you aren't getting the marble counter top for the juice bar coffee closet at work.

That's fine - you can still dream, and maybe even have a cooler workspace than Yahoo.

Here's a look at the best workspaces in Tech via Valleywag. In the snapshots, you'll find cool workspaces from Six Apart (they provide the software that runs this blog), Netflix and Digg.  Pretty cool.

Then, there are the worst workspaces in Tech via Valleywag.

Get ready, because the standard for a cool workplace in high tech is probably higher than what you are used to.  Case in point - I say "Yahoo Offices" and you automatically have an expectation for some cool stuff, right?   Well, maybe that exists somewhere in the Yahoo real estate portfolio, but the Valleywag feature ranks Yahoo as one of the worst workplaces in tech, featuring the picture to the right.

The good news - Yahoo still has some apparently highly motivated employees - note the guy taking five in his cube...

The bad news - Yahoo's workspace in that picture looks like about 98% of corporate America.

Manage ye expectations, you Peter Gibbons clones of the world.  And if you are sprucing up the cube, bring it with more strength than the guy shown napping here...

Comments

[Wally Bock]

Back in the days of the dot-com silliness, Yahoo lured people with the idea that they would be part of a majestic undertaking at a very cool company. In fact, many of them found work and working conditions that was very much like they would have found drafting classified ads at the local community weekly paper.

Interesting that you show the fellow sleeping under a desk near the Yahoo description. Dave Filo, one of the founders of Yahoo is noted for being the geek sleeping under a desk in a classic photo that made the rounds years ago and adorned the cover of Po Bronson's great book, The Nudist on the Night Shift.

[laurie ruettimann]

Naps during the day are healthy. I think a nap in the cube is healthier than a nap in the bathroom stall (which is where many employees go during the afternoon...).