The office cubicle, a relic from the 1980s and ‘90s is making a comeback.

Global demand for cubicles and partitions has resulted in a $6.3 billion market, which is expected to grow to $8.3 billion in the next five years, The New York Times reported, citing a recent report from market analysis firm Business Research Insights. That report estimated that the market would reach $9.6 billion by 2031.

Workers returning to the office has been a factor, but the proliferation of cubicles—still considered to be a “hard no” by some design experts—started even before the pandemic. But as workers came back to the office after months of working at home, quiet spaces became more important, Janet Pogue McLaurin of architecture firm Gensler told the Times. “We had seen a drop in effectiveness because of noise interruptions, disruptions and a general lack of privacy,” she said.

As companies try to reconcile remote work and in-office mandates, they are also deliberating the right mix of collaborative areas, conference rooms and individual spaces, the Times reported.

Grassi, a New York accounting and auditing firm with 500 employees, has reconfigured its offices to hybrid spaces, emphasizing cubicles or semiprivate areas along with open collaborative spaces.

Some of the company’s seven offices were “too open with no dedicated private space,” Jeff Agranoff, the company’s chief human resources officer, told the Times. Now the firm has a combination of open and private spaces, and has eliminated reservation-based workspace known as hoteling. “Everyone has a dedicated space,” he said, “because we were concerned that significant hoteling would deter people from coming back to the office.”

Today’s designs are unlike the cube farms seen in such movies as Office Space. They can be rectangular or rounded, with fixed or adjustable walls, and they can accommodate multiple electronic devices. Many cubicles can be adapted to different needs, and some include sound-masking features. Some of Grassi’s refurbished cubicles include glass walls.

Cubicles faded away in the 1990s and early 2000s due to the increased focus on collaboration, but cost was also a factor in high-rent cities such as New York and London. “[P]utting everyone in a cubicle or office was too much, so the open-floor plan became very popular,” Michael Held, vice president of global design at furniture maker Steelcase, told the Times.

Manufacturers are acknowledging the influence of residential design on office furniture, and some employees are importing home décor into their work spaces.  One, Lucas Mundt, a logistics analyst at Simple Modern in Oklahoma City, transformed his cubicle into a faux wood cabin. It proved to be so popular that CEO Mike Beckham gave everyone in the office a $250 allowance—about the amount that Mundt estimated that he spent—to redecorate their cubicles.