I work in an office in central Wellington. We’re close to town, and have a view over the harbour. Everything is open plan, and moves are being made at present to remove offices, and make our meeting rooms into fishbowls (frosted glass walls).
Personally I’m an advocate for open plan. As a manager I’ve had to deal with many instances of staff complaining about others not pulling their load. Open plan helps to minimise this by allowing the whole team to see everyone else, and see who’s busy. You can ask questions across the floor, and generally get responses back without having to call meetings.
A discussion broke out within my team recently that rooms were better for software developers as they felt they could concentrate better without office-noise distractions. They could also set up their desks so that they couldn’t be surprised by drive-by management, or unwanted colleagues.
I thought about how this compares with workplaces from the most obvious developer-oriented business; Google, Microsoft etc… I’d have to say that developer rooms would not be high on the list which seems to be topped by gourmet meals and food vouchers. In fact I’d have to say that free food or drink is a great attractant to the IT professional.
Think I’m joking? Come to my office at 11am every morning when the free fruit is being delivered, but mind the crush. In fact I’ve heard rumours that our Auckland office has free lunches; these were put on during the Auckland power outage as local cafes weren’t operating. Productivity went up so much that they kept them on!!
I’m not saying the IT employees judge their workplaces by the free food they get, but it certainly seems to go a long way to blinding them to any office remnants that they don’t like.
What perks does your office give your staff??
Post a Comment