Eh, it's not so bad. There's a couple of factors to it. One of them is the "encouraging collaboration" thing, which can sound like so much BS but I think does actually have an effect. Another though, is getting away from the "real estate as reward" mindset, which, after all, is a big part of what we do. (Real estate strategy for corporations, alternative workplace design, etc.)
I might not buy it so much except that at my firm immediately before this one we made some internal office moves - shifting people around - and then moved our offices themselves to a newly designed space, and it was fascinating how those changes affected the way people worked together (or more to the point, didn't.)
I read something once that for companies that have an "everyone in a cube" culture, what happens is that the bigwigs tend to park themselves in conference rooms, so that they end up being their defacto offices.
They do maintain a couple of small workrooms in the C Suite area that are pretty much reserved for their use. But everybody does that to a certain extent - is encouraged to - as well as using our big kitchen/lobby area for meetings and stuff. And we do also have pretty decent work from home flexibility.
I read something once that for companies that have an "everyone in a cube" culture, what happens is that the bigwigs tend to park themselves in conference rooms, so that they end up being their defacto offices.
Yeah - one of our small conference rooms was recently officially converted back into an office for the CFO. (Which was a huge PITA for me because it meant I had to find another place to pump breastmilk - that conference room was the only place on this floor with real walls...)
Colin's currently doing skiffy stuff and hasn't been around, Allyson--I'd try and get in touch with him before investing too much effort in a different direction. Nothing to lose, at least.
I firmly believe in real estate as reward. Or at the very least, a door. I don't think I've officially had my own office since my very first job out of university. Stinks. And the games that are played with offices have been petty to the extreme. But it doesn't mean I don't want one. It's my only ambition other than loads more money for no more effort.
Eh, it's not so bad. There's a couple of factors to it. One of them is the "encouraging collaboration" thing, which can sound like so much BS but I think does actually have an effect.
That's how ours is, and I think it does work. When I first started, I was in a different room than the team-sitting across from boss, but everyone else was together. When she moved me back into the room with them, I got more projects and learned a lot more about the account.
On Monday, I'll have my own cube, and I find that thought oddly isolating.
Boss and some of the other biggies will have their own offices, but with all the conference calls and sensitive stuff they are dealing with, I can see why.
It's snowing so hard out that when I was walking into the wind, I had to shield my eyes with my hand, otherwise all the snowflakes hitting my eyeballs was too annoying.
Also talked to a nurse - the results of my physical is that I should exercise more. I did mention to her that I've been doing much less walking recently because of my knee (one of the things I saw the Dr. for).
Anyway, I get my knee x-rayed and looked at next week.
Well, it's stopped snowing here - so hang on.
Which was a huge PITA for me because it meant I had to find another place to pump breastmilk
Interestingly, my co. has a "Mother's Room" on each floor specifically for this purpose. At least they tried to think of all the possible needs for private space.
