Office Workstations and Cubicle Desks: Types, Sizes and How Many People Fit

The short answer: an office workstation is a desk built as part of a system, with frames, dividers, storage and power that connect, and the layout decides the footprint. Benching puts people on one shared frame at 60 inches wide by 27 deep each: two in 60 by 60 inches, four in 120 by 60, six in 180 by 60. A 120-degree pod seats three in 93 by 80 inches. A cubicle pod gives four people an L desk each inside 42 inch walls in 192 by 157 inches. A single L workstation with a hutch fits a 78 by 78 inch corner. Add 42 inches behind every seat, 66 to 72 where an aisle runs behind the chairs, and plan for an electrician if the stations carry power.

What is the difference between a workstation, a cubicle and a benching desk?

A desk stands on its own. A workstation is a desk that is part of a system: it shares a frame, a spine, a storage wall or a divider with the seats beside it, and the power runs through the system rather than to each desk from a wall. Three layouts cover almost every office.

Benching seats people along one shared frame, usually back to back across a central spine, with no legs at each seat. It is the compact, cable-managed standard for open-plan offices: each seat gets a 27 inch deep by 60 inch wide surface off the frame, the spine carries the power, and on the four and six seat benches a tackboard or a glass screen on the spine breaks the sightline. Our Synapse 2 Person Benching Workstation is the two-seat unit, which ships without a screen (ask for one), and the same system runs as a four or six seat bench, with longer runs built by adding sections along the frame.

A cubicle gives each person a bay with walls. The walls in our line are 42 inch spine panels with a steel accent band, which screen a seated person and leave the room visible standing, plus etched glass screens above the work surface; each bay has an L-shaped desk and its own drawers. The TeamWorx 4 Person Workstation with Privacy Walls is the four-bay pod. It is real cubicle structure without a full-height panel maze, which is also its limit: we do not build the floor-to-ceiling panel system.

A pod or cluster sits between the two: individual desks grouped around a shared spine or storage so a small team keeps a defined seat without walls. The TeamWorx 3 Person 120-Degree Workstation Pod radiates three corner surfaces from a centre in 93 by 80 inches; the TeamWorx 4 Person Workstation with Whiteboard Panels groups four L desks around dividers you can write on; the TeamWorx 6 Person Workstation Pod runs six seats along a spine with a storage credenza at every seat. And for one person, a workstation means an L or U desk with storage built in, from the 78 by 78 inch TeamWorx Workstation with Wall-Mount Hutch to the TeamWorx Workstation with Storage Wall, a 72 inch desk facing 138 inches of cabinets.

How much space does each person need?

Start with the surface, then the chair, then the aisle. The footprints on this page are the furniture only: chairs are not included, and we do not sell them, so add the chair zone below to every seated side. On a bench each seat is 27 inches deep by 60 wide, which holds two monitors and a keyboard with the papers pushed to the side; the screened six-seat bench goes to 66 inches wide. Widths are given first throughout, then depths. An in-line bench along a wall is 24 inches deep, enough for a monitor and keyboard, and the shallowest way to seat three people in a corridor-shaped room. An L workstation gives one person a 72 inch main surface and a 42 to 48 inch return. Behind every seat leave 42 inches clear, 48 to be comfortable, for the chair to roll back. Where people walk behind the chairs to reach other seats, or where the route is an accessible one, keep 36 inches clear behind the pulled-out chairs; that is the minimum clear width the ADA sets for an accessible route (section 403.5.1), a sound floor for any aisle, and whether a given aisle in an employee work area has to meet it is a question for your architect. We plan a pulled-out chair at 30 to 36 inches, so an aisle side needs 66 to 72 inches from the edge of the desk.

Worked example, a four-person bench at 120 by 60 inches with an aisle along one long side. Length: 120 for the bench plus 42 to 48 of clear floor at each end, the same clearance every edge gets, 204 to 216 inches. Depth: 60 for the bench, 42 to 48 behind the seats on the wall side, 66 to 72 on the aisle side, 168 to 180 inches. So a room about 17 to 18 by 14 to 15 feet, which is 60 to 68 square feet per seat with its clearances. Two figures, then, and keep them apart: the furniture alone is 12.5 square feet per seat on that bench (17 on the 120-degree pod, 39 on the six-person spine bench, 52 on the cubicle pod, where an L desk, walls and storage are inside the footprint); the planning figure, with chairs and an aisle, runs about 60 to 68 for a bench seat and more for a pod. Use the second one to count seats in a room.

What size workstation for 2, 3, 4 or 6 people?

Two people. Back to back on a bench, 60 by 60 inches, with the power spine between them: the Synapse 2 Person Benching Workstation. Side by side with shared filing, two 72 inch desks either side of a lateral-file credenza in 144 by 72 inches: the TeamWorx 2 Person Office Workstation, which routes cables through grommets rather than carrying power.

Three people. The TeamWorx 3 Person 120-Degree Workstation Pod puts three corner surfaces around a centre in 93 by 80 inches, each 24 inches deep, with spine walls, etched glass screens and power, USB and data at every seat: the smallest footprint of any station that gives every seat a divider and power. Along a wall, the TeamWorx 3 Person Workstation with Overhead Hutches lines three seats on a 216 inch run only 24 inches deep, with two hutches and a tackboard per seat. For a room that changes shape, the 3 Person Office Workstation with Mobile Pedestals is three 72 by 30 inch flip-top tables on casters that nest flat when the room turns into something else.

Four people. Three answers at three levels of separation. A bench, two facing two in 120 by 60 inches: the Synapse 4 Person Benching Workstation with a tackboard spine, or the TeamWorx 4 Person Mobile Workstation on an open frame with frosted dividers and a locking mobile pedestal at every seat. A cluster of four L desks in 156 by 144 inches with whiteboard dividers the team writes on: the TeamWorx 4 Person Workstation with Whiteboard Panels. Or the cubicle pod, four L bays inside 42 inch walls in 192 by 157 inches: the TeamWorx 4 Person Workstation with Privacy Walls. All three carry hardwired power at every seat.

Six people. A bench, three facing three: the Synapse 6 Person Benching Workstation in 180 by 60 inches with a tackboard spine, or the Synapse 6 Person Benching Workstation with Privacy Screens in 198 by 60 with etched glass screens, 66 inch seats and a mobile pedestal at each. For six people who each need real storage, the TeamWorx 6 Person Workstation Pod runs a spine bench with a four-wide credenza of lateral files at every seat, in 216 by 155 inches.

For more than six, benching extends: eight or ten seats are sections added along one run, and rows of benches with a shared aisle are how call floors and open-plan departments are laid out. Pods and cubicle clusters are built as sized; adding people means adding a pod. Send us the headcount and the room and we lay out the rows, and tell you how many power feeds the runs need.

How much privacy do you need?

Privacy in a workstation is a sightline, not a wall, and the line offers four levels. A fabric tackboard on the spine breaks the view between facing seats and gives each side a pin-up surface. An etched glass or frosted acrylic screen above the surface does the same while keeping the bench bright; that is the divider on most of our pods and benches. A whiteboard panel between seats is a divider the team writes on. And the 42 inch spine walls of the cubicle pod screen a seated person from the next bay and carry shared cubby shelves, while a 2 inch thick modesty panel closes the knee space. Pick the level by how the team works: benches with tackboards for a team that talks, screens for one that focuses, walls for one that wants a seated person out of view. None of them is a sound barrier; a team on headsets all day needs a room, not a divider.

Worth knowing: the tallest divider in our line is the 42 inch spine wall on the cubicle pod. We do not build full-height panel cubicles, and none of the stations on this page has an electric sit-stand base as built; a sit-stand base can be quoted, since the same partner builds them, but it is not on the product pages.

Where does the power come from?

Two kinds of station, and the difference decides your installation. 10 of the 18 stations carry power in the system: a below-surface module or a recessed module with outlets above and below the surface, fed through the shared spine on the team stations and through a pass-through grommet on the single station, with wire baskets or a cable channel for the slack. That power is hardwired to the building supply, not plugged into a wall outlet: the module ships in the station, and once the station is assembled your electrician connects it to a floor or wall feed, so budget the electrician and the feed into the plan, check what your lease allows, and expect the same visit if the station moves later. We deliver curbside on pallets; assembly is yours or a paid inside-delivery-and-assembly option, and the electrical connection is always the building's. The other 8 stations route cables through grommets and channels to a nearby wall outlet and need no electrical work. The table below says which is which; if a powered station is going into a room with no feed where the spine will sit, tell us: power is specified when the station is built, and it can be built without the module. On the TeamWorx 4 Person Mobile Workstation, "mobile" is the pedestals; the frame is hardwired like the rest.

Every workstation we build, measured

All 18 workstations we list, 6 single stations and 12 team stations, sorted by people and then by length. Footprint is the overall size on the product page; per seat is the work surface each person gets; dividers is what separates the seats; power says whether outlets are built into the system (hardwired at installation) or cables run through grommets to the wall. All are made to order in the USA and ship by freight, on one to five pallets per the product page, as components that bolt together on site. Each name opens the product page, where the current price, the renders and the storage detail live.

Office workstations, questions answered

What is a cubicle desk?

An L-shaped desk inside a bay of panels. In our line the panels are 42 inch spine walls with etched glass screens above the surface, four bays to a pod in 192 by 157 inches, with drawers and hardwired power at every seat.

How much space does a workstation need per person?

About 60 to 68 square feet per seat for a bench once the chair zone and an aisle are counted, more for a pod with walls. The furniture alone is 12.5 square feet per seat on a four-person bench and 52 on the cubicle pod; the rest is 42 inches behind each seat and 66 to 72 inches from the desk edge on any side that is an aisle.

What is a benching workstation?

Seats along one shared frame, usually back to back across a spine that carries the power, instead of separate desks with their own legs. Each seat gets a 27 by 60 inch surface; two, four or six seats per bench.

Are height-adjustable workstations available?

Not as listed: none of the 18 stations on this page has an electric base. The same partner builds sit-stand bases, so a workstation can be quoted with one; tell us which seats need it.

Do office workstations need an electrician?

The 10 stations with built-in power do: after assembly, your electrician connects the module to a floor or wall feed. The 8 grommet stations plug into a wall outlet.

What is a 2 person workstation desk with storage?

Two 72 inch desks either side of a shared lateral-file credenza, 144 by 72 inches overall, or a back-to-back bench in 60 by 60 inches with a mobile pedestal added at each seat.

Can I add seats later?

On a bench, yes: the system runs as two, four or six seat sections and longer runs add sections along the frame, so eight or ten seats is one run. Pods and cubicle clusters are built as sized; adding people means adding a pod.