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There's not a person in the world that would choose sitting at a table with 5 other people over having their own office/space. I'm sorry but you should be able to call your spouse at work without having to go outside or into some sort of "quiet room".
Companies will lose good talent due to these poor seating arrangements without telecommuting options.
Companies will lose good talent due to these poor seating arrangements without telecommuting options.
What's interesting is that while the on-site technology for employee tracking and monitoring is advancing to frightening levels, the number of employees working from home is also increasing. At the company I mentioned I worked at before, this was considered one of the operational hurdles to success of the business they were in -- you can't stalk people in their homes, so if they are working from home you cannot gather productivity analytics.
I saw some incredible ideas being worked on during my employment there. There was a group (not the one I worked in) which had technology available that identified employees via video footage (matched them with the clock in event), and actually tracked the employees body language throughout the day in order to make determinations about that employees performance. There was a demo showing how an employee flailing their arms and acting aggressively could trigger an alert to security to investigate the situation more closely (zoom in with cameras). This is not exclusive to that company, Facebook and Google do similarly creepy things today, not only with their own technology but with photos that are uploaded to their services.
One of the biggest obstacles to these new types of employee monitoring technology is -- yep -- physical walls. Therefore trying to open the space and remove physical office walls was one of the recommended first steps.
Notice you never see the CEO or security team working down there on the open floor? Hmm....
What's interesting is that while the on-site technology for employee tracking and monitoring is advancing to frightening levels, the number of employees working from home is also increasing. At the company I mentioned I worked at before, this was considered one of the operational hurdles to success of the business they were in -- you can't stalk people in their homes, so if they are working from home you cannot gather productivity analytics.
I saw some incredible ideas being worked on during my employment there. There was a group (not the one I worked in) which had technology available that identified employees via video footage (matched them with the clock in event), and actually tracked the employees body language throughout the day in order to make determinations about that employees performance. There was a demo showing how an employee flailing their arms and acting aggressively could trigger an alert to security to investigate the situation more closely (zoom in with cameras). This is not exclusive to that company, Facebook and Google do similarly creepy things today, not only with their own technology but with photos that are uploaded to their services.
One of the biggest obstacles to these new types of employee monitoring technology is -- yep -- physical walls. Therefore trying to open the space and remove physical office walls was one of the recommended first steps.
Notice you never see the CEO or security team working down there on the open floor? Hmm....
This seems crazy - definitely something to think about though.
The whole open concept trend actually started at startups because it was cheap. Throw in some trendy tables, some trendy chairs, paint some walls some sort of shade of lime green, throw in a ping pong table and free soda, bam you have a "cool and collaborative" office space where employees will willingly work 10-15 hour days.
Not sure how this turned into companies the size of Citrix soaking up the hype, but I hope it goes away soon.
This seems crazy - definitely something to think about though.
The whole open concept trend actually started at startups because it was cheap. Throw in some trendy tables, some trendy chairs, paint some walls some sort of shade of lime green, throw in a ping pong table and free soda, bam you have a "cool and collaborative" office space where employees will willingly work 10-15 hour days.
Not sure how this turned into companies the size of Citrix soaking up the hype, but I hope it goes away soon.
I know it seems a little nuts that technology like this is so important to some, but the industry works in weird ways. That kind of tracking isn't exclusive to the workplace. You might be interested in this:
But yes, I do think to some extent there is a perception that these offices will appeal to a younger audience, but smart phones and advances in mobile devices have led to lots of new things to think about for employers. Its not to say every company with an open-concept has already implemented all of the creepy tracking mechanisms available, but they have to know that it is a recommended first step in that direction (i.e. so that if nothing else, the stalker technology is easier to implement later on).
besides why do you think co-working concepts are successful.
Successful? If by successful you mean more common/popular, its because they are cheap and make for easy monitoring.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rubelru
Bingo. Its a ploy to attract and monitor younger (i.e. lower paid) employees, and to babysit them good. "If you spend time on the web we'll know about it". This came about from people bringing their own device to work so they could not be centrally stalked by their managers.
Look at those creepy cattle gates for auto-clock in and clock out. "We'll know exactly whether you were here and working or not".
Creepy babysitting to the extreme, all in a nice shiny package.
Corporate distrust all smothered in chocolate and caramel so the kids can't resist. Engineered to monitor everything and make judgments about what kind of people their employees are via analytics, just like social networking sites.
I'm never one to talk about the evil corporate machine, but there is a lot of truth to this. Most of the companies that I've had contact with that employ these open environments do have a large amount of young people in lower level hourly roles. They have ping pong tables and whatnot but still supervise the staff very closely.
I'm never one to talk about the evil corporate machine, but there is a lot of truth to this. Most of the companies that I've had contact with that employ these open environments do have a large amount of young people in lower level hourly roles. They have ping pong tables and whatnot but still supervise the staff very closely.
Ever noticed how some of them have a "casino-like" feel? Very open, a perception of fun and flashy, games for your enjoyment, a beverage bar, yet simultaneously lending itself to heavy monitoring and behavioral study. Casinos are actually on the cutting edge of this kind of tech, they were the industry that the company I worked for got started in (obviously they have a very strong interest in noticing every little thing both their employees and patrons are up to, even to the point of using behavioral data to predict events). Stuff that goes way beyond just old school video surveillance.
Corporate America is just following the casino model of keeping sheep on the straight and narrow.
I detect someone with zero software engineering experience opining about what a software engineer needs.
You must be referring to "management"..
Yes, these open office plans are very popular in CA. It started as a way to encourage the cross communication between departments that occurred at Bell Labs.
It has now morphed into a "Bastille-style" you never know when we're watching type of productivity booster.
This is not exclusive to that company, Facebook and Google do similarly creepy things today, not only with their own technology but with photos that are uploaded to their services.
I've been to their mountain view site, it has snack rooms and video game stations with recliners. Much more likely to lure in and fool young people..
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