The code article for office furnishings allows a cord and plug connection, and limits the cord to two feet.

Two feet, extra-hard usage, twelve gauge, dedicated circuit

The specification worth memorizing, because it turns a vague requirement into a planning constraint. Article 605 permits freestanding office furnishings to be cord-and-plug connected where the cord is extra-hard usage with an insulated equipment grounding conductor, the conductors are at least twelve gauge, the receptacle is on a dedicated circuit, multi-wire circuits are not used, and the length of the cord is limited to two feet. Every one of those matters, and the last one governs the floor plan. A pod is not somewhere within reach of power, it is beside its own dedicated outlet. If the layout puts it in the middle of a floor, that means a floor box, and a floor box means a licensed trade and a lead time.

Whether this article applies to a pod is itself a question

Worth raising before anybody treats the two foot rule as settled. Article 605 defines modular office furnishings as cubicle panels, partitions, study carrels, workstations, desks, shelving systems and storage units that may be mechanically and electrically interconnected. Pods and booths are not in that list, which is not surprising given when the article was written and how recent this product category is. So the honest position is that 605 is the closest and most obviously relevant article, that its conditions are the ones a knowledgeable electrician will reach for, and that whether it formally governs your pod is a question for the same authority having jurisdiction who will have opinions about sprinklers. Ask both questions in one conversation.

An extension cord is not a wiring method, and the code lists the exact abuses

This part is not ambiguous. NEC 400.12 states that flexible cords, flexible cables, cord sets meaning extension cords, and power supply cords are not permitted as a substitute for the fixed wiring, are not permitted to be run through holes in walls, structural ceilings, suspended or dropped ceilings or floors, are not permitted to be run through doorways, windows or similar openings, and are not permitted to be attached to building surfaces. Read that list and notice that it describes, item by item, the things people actually do to get power to a pod. One trade publication adds the observation that makes it honest rather than pedantic, noting of cords run through walls and ceilings that this is a violation you can find in many office buildings. Common and non-compliant are not mutually exclusive.

Fastening the pod down removes the cord option entirely

A consequence of a decision usually made for completely different reasons. The distinction in the code is that fastened-in-place furnishings must be hard-wired, while freestanding furnishings may be cord-and-plug connected under the conditions above, or permanently connected by a method meeting Chapter 3. So the moment a pod is fastened to the floor or the wall, whether for stability, for seismic requirements, or because somebody was tired of it drifting, the cord and plug allowance stops applying and hard wiring becomes the requirement. That is worth establishing before anybody drills, because it changes who has to be on site and what has to be scheduled.

Do not run the cord through the wall to make it look tidy

Named explicitly in guidance because it is the intuitive fix and it is specifically prohibited. As one summary puts it, you cannot run a flexible cord through a wall for a clean look, and it is a direct NEC violation. The same applies to floors and to suspended ceilings. There is one narrow exception, added in the 2017 edition, permitting a flexible cord above a suspended ceiling if it is contained within an enclosure suitable for other spaces used for environmental air, which is a plenum-rated arrangement rather than a general permission and is not a route around the rule. If the cord needs to disappear, what needs to happen is fixed wiring, not a tidier cord.

Cords are treated differently because they are weaker, and that has consequences

Useful for understanding why the rules exist rather than resenting them. Article 400 sits in Chapter 4 rather than Chapter 3 because, as one explanation puts it, the NEC does not consider flexible cords to be a wiring method at all. They have lower ampacity than fixed wiring and are subject to derating, and they are more vulnerable to damage. Two practical requirements follow. Strain relief is required where cords enter or leave enclosures or outlet boxes, using listed cord connectors or strain-relief fittings. And cords must be protected from mechanical damage, sharp edges, oil, moisture and chemicals. A cord crossing an office floor under rolling chairs is the mechanical damage case, described in advance.

Get the pod’s actual draw, because it is more than a laptop

Easy to underestimate because the visible load is small. A pod running its ventilation continuously, with lighting, occupancy sensors, a wall-mounted screen and one or two people charging devices, is not the same as a desk lamp. The dedicated circuit requirement in the office furnishings article exists for this reason, and the same article gives the load logic for modular furnishings, capping receptacles at thirteen fifteen-amp positions per circuit and noting that at a calculated load of one hundred and eighty volt-amperes per yoke that would come to nineteen and a half amps. Those specific numbers are about partitions rather than pods, and the principle transfers: ask the manufacturer for the stated draw, and give the electrician a real number rather than an assumption.

This is a scheduling problem disguised as a technical one

The practical summary, and it explains why so many pods end up on extension cords despite everybody involved knowing better. The compliant path requires knowing the pod location before delivery, having an electrician assess whether a dedicated circuit can land there, and getting an outlet or floor box installed in the right place beforehand. The non-compliant path requires nobody, on the day, and produces a working pod within ten minutes. If the electrical conversation does not happen at the point the pods are ordered, the outcome is already decided. Put it in the same email as the fire marshal question and the acoustic test report, because all three are questions that get much more expensive once the units are on site.