What Others Have Said

"[The] iMate is a mirror that is fitted on top of the computer monitor.  It is a curved mirror so it gives a wide field of view.  It is designed to provide the opportunity to give the eyes a rest without getting up and walking around.  A glance up at the mirror allows your eyes to change focus.  This might be of value especially to computer operators who are positioned with a wall behind the computer monitor so there is no opportunity to look into the distance.
Computer operators positioned facing a wall may also feel psychologically isolated and cut off from their work colleagues.  The "rear view" mirror with a wide field of view fitted on the computer monitor may serve to reduce this sense of isolation since the computer operator can keep an eye on what is going on around them.  This might enhance a sense of well being, and Collins has shown that a sense of well being at work is a factor in reducing the incidence of visual symptoms for computer operators."
Barry L Cole
Professorial Fellow
Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences
The University of Melbourne, Australia

[On Workstation Configuration in call centres]
If a monitor has too much light emanating from behind it, eyes become strained and confused, increasing error rates. So it's easier and safer for an agent to work at length if their monitors have partitions behind them. However humans are social animals and the stress of often-repetitive call centre work can be alleviated simply by allowing agents to maintain eye contact with team members. According to Caple, "decision making is much more efficient over long periods of time if there is a variability of inputs, visual, auditory and so forth. So if you stick someone in a corner you find that their productivity become erratic." ...

Capel warns that even the location of the centre should be taken into account... "I'm familiar with one call centre in Sydney where staff refused to occupy a space because they felt like that (isolated). They were on, say, the 23rd floor of a high-rise building that had panoramic views of the harbour and they were totally enclosed in these small partitioned work coops - they couldn't see anything." ...

The Crucifix or Star - each agent occupies a wedge-shaped workspace in a circular, square or oval configuration. Workspaces can be added or removed and a team environment is easily established. Agents are encouraged to focus their concentration forward, into the monitor. But by artificially focusing an agent's attention in a small area, this design can prevent agents from easily resting their eyes.
Nick O'Malley
"Fitting the Mould",  Telcall Magazine #34