Workers of the World Unite!

No stopping the wheels of progress....or of the socialist/communist regime?!  

Given that I’ve popped in for a sec I might as well get someone going.  Shit, might as well make it a loooooong post, too.  

After near 20 years of making meaningful and significant contributions to one of the largest infrastructure engineering firms on the planet .....not a single employee in the NY headquarters can claim so much as a chair that holds only the remnants of their own discreet farts, not even the CEO and CFO.  As if you can even fart discreetly in an “agile workspace”.....

Well, I take that back.  Though not by design there is a de facto “executive” area (surrounded by more conference and huddle rooms than workstations), so the nomenklatura is protected, I guess.  Also, I do get to put my spiffy new Jabra headset (no phones) in my “very own” cubby when I clear my 6’ by 3’ workspace at the end of a workaday!

Given a forced move by our landlord, my company made the transition to an open, agile work environment.  800 workstations for an office of 1,000 people.  No offices, no assigned seating.  We, the workers, at all levels, are alike, and we all have the same of everything!  Well, at least in our designated “neighborhoods”.

From a business perspective you have no choice but to buy into the drum beat that the powers that be are laying down.  It’s wonderful!  It’s collaborative!  It’s efficient and cost effective!  In a word, it’s “agile”!  In reality, only the people that chose it (or were forced to choose it) think it has any real merits.  Sure, I miss my office, where I could pick my nose if I had to and I didn’t have to worry about buying a “monitor privacy screen” so that I can fly under the radar when researching a ski trip for a few scant minutes when it becomes necessary....but even they guys who work for me miss their cubicles, where they got some sense of ownership and belonging, some kind of space of their “own”.  I don’t think such a feeling of ownership, and a modicum of privacy, and respect, is misplaced in the business world, but going without such things is the way of the world these day, it seems.  For some, I’m sure, it’s all they’ve ever know.

We’ll all adjust, but man....feeling like a kinde-gartener as I packed up the shiny new backpack they gave me this morning to beat feet to the office early so I could compete for a workspace, after I got my shit out of my cubbie...., well, it kinda sucked.  

Oh, well!

Rant over.

Lol. If you don't like the changes at your company, I'm sure there are plenty of great jobs for a guy like you (assuming that the opinion of others about you is as high as your opinion of yourself).

Otherwise, suck it up, snowflake, and quit your whining.

I'm willing to accept whines about snowmaking or grooming or opening terrain earlier. At least it's relevant to a ski forum.

But whining about work? Yeesh.

Once again you demonstrate your total lack of a sense of humor, and failure to understand the concept of ‘tongue in cheek’!  Good to know SOME THINGS will neva change!  As if I’d talk about farts and picking boogers if I was tots serious.  Oh, and dude,.....it’s the fecking Off Topic board on the ski forum!  I guess I shoulda put it in the tales from work thread....you didn’t give Harvey shit for starting THAT one!

As usual, if you don’t find it interesante or can’t appreciate the humor, don’t read it or stay the fuck away.

But you know you can’t stay away from me!

BwaaaHahahaaahaaahaaaa!

I think whining about work is completely legit and I have some interesting thoughts to share but right now I'm out on my walk listening to angry eyes by long as and pacyna so it'll hafta wait good luck.

Even though SOME PEOPLE (person ) can’t see it, we all roll with the punches....but the changing work environment could make for some interesting discussion.  You know, for those people (everyone except MC ) that actually know how to say anything interesting!

I understand where you’re coming from JTG, both on the office real estate front and the meaningless buzzwords. One of our biggest suppliers adopted that office space philosophy and whenever I’m in there it makes me very uncomfortable. We’re there for a sales meeting or training, trying to taste through some whiskies or mezcals or whatnot at 9 or 10 AM and there’s some corporate dude sitting on a sofa ten feet away staring at his laptop. It’s a real buzzkill, you know? Thank god im on the street 4 days a week.

Harvey wrote

long as and pacyna

Dig it, love the voice recog errors.

Now my LONG STORY....

Our company has been shrinking over the last ten years.  I'm not proud of it, and have been doing all I can to fight it, but there is no denying it.

From a revenue POV we are not that much smaller than we were then, but we are smaller, especially if you account for inflation.  I'm sorry to say we aren't great at sales.  As one of the owners that is my responsibility, and I am not shifting the blame.

There's another thing going on too.  We just do more work with less people. A lot of it is computers and automation. We've also "outsourced" certain functions.  We used to make dozens of deliveries to clients, and my first job at the company was delivering packages. Now it's all email or occassionally Fed Ex.

In any case... about 5 or 6 years ago the ceiling in our conference room collapsed.  It could have been terrible, but luckily no one was in the room.  An undetected leak had saturated the plaster which was concealed behind a stupid drop ceiling. Hate those things.

We cleaned up the mess but didn't repair it.  Times were crappy and we didn't have the money.  We stapled plastic over the hole and insulated it.  It sat that way for maybe 3 years.

There are two of us that own the company but three who own the building.  The third guy basically said, fix the ceiling and move the entire company down stairs, and rent out the upstairs, or I'm out.  Meaning we'd have to buy him out, money we didn't and don't have.

So we fixed it up and moved the whole company into the lower level.  Neither level was really full so it wasn't as bad as it might sound. It was around 4000 sq ft with maybe 22 people.

I moved from the most spectacular office in the building, corner with two huge windows, into a common area, by the refrigerator down stairs.  The downstairs space has 5 offices with doors, and i could have pulled rank and had one. But those offices are used by writers, who need quiet to work.  

It was a huge adjustment. I'd been in an office with a door for 25 years and the last 10 or so, it was an incredible space.  At first I just didn't see how I was going to be able to write (which I also do, sales proposals and reports sometimes) in an open area.  Eventually I got used to it and now I kind of like it.  One thing is for sure, I have a much better idea what is going on in the company, including who works hard and who doesn't.  Also though I COLLABORATE much better with people who are around me.  I can honestly say our work is better because we are closer together.

I guess that is a long story that only barely relates to JTs original post.

Back to check on Brownski. :)

Sorry to hear JTG, I have no idea about anything office related but this sounds like it sucks.

Wait... Was it a comedy bit (that wasn't funny at all)?

JTG4eva! wrote

Once again you demonstrate your total lack of a sense of humor, and failure to understand the concept of ‘tongue in cheek’!
..
As usual, if you don’t find it interesante or can’t appreciate the humor, don’t read it or stay the fuck away.!

Or did you post the whining seriously, looking for discussion?

JTG4eva! wrote

 the changing work environment could make for some interesting discussion.

Just weird stuff, man.

After having my own office for 25 years for the last 4 years I share a large office with another person but the space is divided and I have some privacy. I have two friends who have gone through the "shared space" transition where there are less cubicles than people who work there. Since you essentially have everything with you in your backpack you are mobile and can work from home. One guy works from home Monday and Friday and the other person only goes in if there is a meeting he has to attend. They don't like the shared space idea but it gave them the flexibility and excuse to work from home. Both guys are pushing 60 and aren't looking to climb the corporate ladder at this stage. I told another younger person who is that they should go to the office as much as they can because it gives them visibility and interaction with more people that will help them to be recognized when it comes to promotions.
JTG, Is working from home an option for at least some of the time you would normally spend commuting and working at the office?

Looks like its 7:48am and I'm late again....

Hotelling sucks.  As a contactor I share an 8x8 cube with another guy.  Right by the door.  It's not too bad.  I've been in more cramped conditions, but at least I can put stuff on the walls of the cube.  My gig forces me to talk to people so, like Harv, I have a good idea who works and who doesn't.  That's valuable.

I don't think I would adjust to a hotel workspace well, especially if I was an FTE (full time employee).  I think you would want to have your employees feel like they were part of something.

I've read that the real idea behind this is to save real estate space. Most companies are leasing in one form or another. Some bean counter figured that only 80% of the workforce is in the office at any given time (due to company travel, vacations, sick days, etc.). So to save on square footage leasing costs they came up with the shared space idea and passed it off as being a better work environment. The problem with letting bean counters run the show is that they only count the beans and don't count quality of work life, productivity, problems that arise when more than 80% of the workforce are present, etc.  Some jobs lend themselves to shared spaces but some do not. In my experience, when copanies only count beans, problems arise in other areas that overall cost the company money in the long run.

My partner and I are old school when it comes to working from home.  We have seen too many examples where it seems that work becomes secondary.  Once I called a guy who was WFH and he told me he couldn't talk because he was in the car with his kids and would call me when he got home.  Another time a female let on that she loved working from home because she could wash her kitchen floor, which was, you know, impossible to do when you are in the office.

Some people do abuse working from home but I think it's becoming more and more common place, and most of the people I've worked with who work from home are serious and professional about it.  

Between Google Hangouts, screen sharing, and Slack, communication is instantaneous, public, and often more collaborative then trying to share a screen in an open office where your conversation is disturbing everyone else.  These technologies make it pretty obvious who is working and who isn't.  

Secondly forcing people to do 2+ hours of a grueling commute everyday doesn't benefit anybody - It burns out the employee and takes working time from the employer

Younger workers starting families who are priced out of the big cities are starting to demand the flexibility.  You just can't have both parents working in the city and kids over an hour away by unreliable mass transit.  

I'm currently in the process of buying a house in NJ, so maybe I'm jaded,  but not having at least partial remote flexibility will be a deal breaker for me as an employee.  

My company just went in the opposite direction. In our old facility all my guys had their offices out in the open floor. Now they all have their own enclosed offices. We went from a 6000 sq ft facility to a 27,000 sq ft facility that is producing more than we forecasted for. Fingers crossed this continues.

As for working from home I honestly couldn't do it. I'd do my own shit I just know it. I don't know how anyone could help but not too.

If you really love what you do working from home is doing your own stuff

Harvey wrote

My partner and I are old school when it comes to working from home.  We have seen too many examples where it seems that work becomes secondary.  Once I called a guy who was WFH and he told me he couldn't talk because he was in the car with his kids and would call me when he got home.  Another time a female let on that she loved working from home because she could wash her kitchen floor, which was, you know, impossible to do when you are in the office.

Harv, where WFH makes sense is more when availability is important, don't you think?  Like real estate agents - it's not how many hours they're working necessarily, it's the ability to contact them at 9:00 at night for a half hour conversation.

D.B. Cooper wrote

Harvey wrote

My partner and I are old school when it comes to working from home.  We have seen too many examples where it seems that work becomes secondary.  Once I called a guy who was WFH and he told me he couldn't talk because he was in the car with his kids and would call me when he got home.  Another time a female let on that she loved working from home because she could wash her kitchen floor, which was, you know, impossible to do when you are in the office.

Harv, where WFH makes sense is more when availability is important, don't you think?  Like real estate agents - it's not how many hours they're working necessarily, it's the ability to contact them at 9:00 at night for a half hour conversation.

That's the both sides of what's wrong with working from home. Most people don't have the discipline to actually work, but if you work at home you are always at work.  You end up worrying more and producing less. Also at bonus time no one ever remembers you answered the phone 24/7. You gotta do the face time.

mm

What the hell is a phone?  If you're using old school tech you're gonna get old school results.  

My team operates on Slack and Google Meet / Screen share (Video conferencing).  No one really cares if you are in the office other then the CEO who wonders why he's paying all this money for NYC Real Estate.