Negotiating change

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Hello, I have an open to all question to ask, How do I, or does anyone have any advice more like! negotiate change with my superior at work. I work in an office (on my own which is great for me with all my eccentricities!) with access to natural daylight, fresh air and has space enough to feel open rather than a closed space. In n departmental change around my office has been designated as one up for moving into a space with no natural light, has no fresh air access (rather awful Aircon) and is more of as closet than office ( I 'm a support officer and have to engage with people in one to one meetings discussing their needs and working out life-plans). The space is a little closterphobic and I feel that it would have terrible impact on me, and also be detrimental to my ability to work comfortably or more so 'in my comfort zone'. I hope to negotiate with my superior of my needs and that they should be taken into account but am terrfied at the thought of first engaging and putting a good argument/my feelings across - any advice much appreciated and any previous experiences from people would be good to talk about..

I work in government, so I have a bit of experience in, "making the best of a bad situation," which is, more often than not, caused by change from above.

If your organization has people who do ergonomic and OH&S assessments, it may be possible to put a case forward to rehabilitate your new space. While it might not be possible to change the decision about where you will be located, it might be possible to make changes that can accommodate your needs in the new space.

It seems to me there are three primary objections to interior offices: 1) light; 2) air and 3) space

A lot of people in my organization who have interior offices have specialized lighting, and many report being happier with that.

HVAC is a much more difficult problem. As I understand it, these systems are largely designed on an "entire floor" basis, and coping with enclosed offices is extremely difficult. That being said, it might be possible to get some supplementary support (such as a portable humidifier/dehumidifier) that will ameliorate things.

As to space, you can't make a small office bigger. But what you might be able to do is replace some of the solid walls with glass so that there is an impression of more space without actually altering the floor plan.

Well you don't want to come across as if you're complaining or demanding and you have to appear flexible (even if you don't feel that way!)

I would start by telling your supervisor that you're really happy in your job. Let him/her know that a large part of that is because of his/her support. You can let your supervisor know that you were really hesitant about broaching this situation with him/her but decided to because you think they'll understand. Let him/her know that you're very sensitive to the environment you're in and you find it really difficult to be in a space with no natural light. Explain that it makes you really claustrophobic. (Don't go into detail here - just keep it short)

Explain that it's really important to you to do the best possible job in helping people work out their life plans and that you're afraid that a claustrophobic/noisy environment will impact you from helping people to the best of your ability. If it's not possible to stay in your current office, ask if there is any way of moving to something similar where there is natural light, where it's quiet. And let your supervisor know that you're aware it will probably be a stretch for him/her to arrange and you're extremely grateful for anything they can do to help.

To sum it up - the trick is to appear flexible, negotiable and appreciative while getting your point across that a better environment helps you do a better job - and that's your number one goal. To be a committed and valuable employee.

Good luck to you. Hope it goes well.

Thank you for the advice, It happens to have turned out all right as I my manager listened, quite unexpectedly, to my reservations of changing my office space and he understood and was sympathetic to my fears. So I am able to remain in my present office. Thanks again for the words of advice..

that is great news! Congrats, sounds like you have a great manager, I know it is a relief!