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Your Perfect Office
I have only been active on the forum for a few weeks now, so it's possible that this has been discussed over the years, but I didn't see any definitive topic on it. So, I work as a software engineer for a big aerospace company (being in the Seattle area, you can probably guess which one), and as such I am entrenched in the typical "corporate America" cubical office system. Unlike most of my co-workers, who have worked here their whole careers, I have had the fortune of working for four small to mid-size businesses previously, all part-time jobs and internships during high school and college. Going from those environments to a huge company has left a lot to be desired.
As such, I occasionally think of things that I miss from previous jobs or would like to see in a future job (possibly my own business, which is my ultimate goal). To get this thread started, here are few things I want in an office (or company).
1) A nap room - One of my not-so-finest moments involved getting fired from an internship for sleeping on the job. I didn't feel too bad about it, since I made a big mistake in accepting the job in the first place, but it was still frustrating to me since it's something that I can't always help. I know there are a lot of people, perhaps a majority of people, who get tired at work. Coffee is not a cure-all solution. So, whenever I'm feeling sluggish and caffeine fails to get me into gear, I would love to have a closed off room with a cot to just take a short nap. This can also help for people who get headaches from working and just need a break to get rid of it. Easier to do that than take the rest of the day off.
2) Hot water dispenser - I only complain about this because it's something we used to have here. When they announced that they were going to take away our water coolers, the biggest problem I had with it was that I would get my hot water for tea from the coolers. I had to do this since the cafeteria doesn't provide hot water for tea or cocoa (which is just dumb too). I've since resorted to getting water from the tap and heating it up in the microwave, which works, but it's just not the same. It's also annoying to have to bring in cold, filtered water with the coolers gone. Small complaint, but it seemed unnecessary to get rid of them in the first place.
3) Sandwich fridge - Now, I've had a couple jobs where the companies provided free soda in a big fridge, one job where you could get soda for a small charge ($0.50 for a bottle), a couple where it was BYOD, and my current one that has vending machines for stupidly high prices. For a lot of developers, having the free soda, or even the vending machines, is a nice thing. I want better than that (since I don't drink soda anyway). The one thing that I could really use at an office is a fridge dedicated to providing sandwich-making materials. It's a little riskier than soda since meats and cheeses go bad much quicker, but I would surely use it everyday to get my snack on.
These are just some of my ideas. What would you want (that's not a necessity) in your office that would make it better?
As such, I occasionally think of things that I miss from previous jobs or would like to see in a future job (possibly my own business, which is my ultimate goal). To get this thread started, here are few things I want in an office (or company).
1) A nap room - One of my not-so-finest moments involved getting fired from an internship for sleeping on the job. I didn't feel too bad about it, since I made a big mistake in accepting the job in the first place, but it was still frustrating to me since it's something that I can't always help. I know there are a lot of people, perhaps a majority of people, who get tired at work. Coffee is not a cure-all solution. So, whenever I'm feeling sluggish and caffeine fails to get me into gear, I would love to have a closed off room with a cot to just take a short nap. This can also help for people who get headaches from working and just need a break to get rid of it. Easier to do that than take the rest of the day off.
2) Hot water dispenser - I only complain about this because it's something we used to have here. When they announced that they were going to take away our water coolers, the biggest problem I had with it was that I would get my hot water for tea from the coolers. I had to do this since the cafeteria doesn't provide hot water for tea or cocoa (which is just dumb too). I've since resorted to getting water from the tap and heating it up in the microwave, which works, but it's just not the same. It's also annoying to have to bring in cold, filtered water with the coolers gone. Small complaint, but it seemed unnecessary to get rid of them in the first place.
3) Sandwich fridge - Now, I've had a couple jobs where the companies provided free soda in a big fridge, one job where you could get soda for a small charge ($0.50 for a bottle), a couple where it was BYOD, and my current one that has vending machines for stupidly high prices. For a lot of developers, having the free soda, or even the vending machines, is a nice thing. I want better than that (since I don't drink soda anyway). The one thing that I could really use at an office is a fridge dedicated to providing sandwich-making materials. It's a little riskier than soda since meats and cheeses go bad much quicker, but I would surely use it everyday to get my snack on.
These are just some of my ideas. What would you want (that's not a necessity) in your office that would make it better?
Comments
1) A free/affordable nursery for children of employees. I don't have kids, but I know this is a boon for parents of either gender. It also creates a great atmosphere.
2) A treadmill work station. Some offices already have these (where you can walk slowly, but constantly as you work).
3) An office gym.
4) A kitchen with paper towels, cutlery, dishes, dishwasher fluid, salt, pepper and milk. We have a decent kitchen and a dishwasher at work, but few of the supplies that would make that convenient. Also, a supply of tissue boxes (as none are provided).
5) A cleaning crew that vacuumed weekly and dusted off work stations daily.
6) The option of having a 30 minute lunch and leaving 30 minutes earlier rather than a required hour.
7) Casual dress code. We used to have one, but it is no more.
Our new lab is going to have something that I always wanted in an office: a huddle room. It's a small, secluded office with a table and enough seating for 6 people. It's perfect for small, quiet pow-wows away from the bulk of employees, or as a place to discuss sensitive issues.
I'd like a tight and effective security system. It's a must-have for doing any sensitive work or when dealing with select agents, and right now our building security is somewhat lax. We frequently get people from neighboring offices just wandering around, gawking at things, and it's a huge problem. I'd rather not have to stop for 5 minutes to figure out if someone is supposed to be where they are or not. Just stop giving them access in the first place and everything would be great.
A quality food service establishment in the office would also be a great thing. I've had pretty crummy cafeterias, and now we have a Subway, but I'd like something of a higher caliber, where I can stop by at lunch and get fresh, high-quality food in a very convenient location.
Our personal accountant owns his office building, so he gets to bring his dog to the office. That would be nice. If I could have an office pet, though, I think I'd an owl. I'd make my secretary tell people it was artificial.
As a pre-emptive statement to the flurry of people posting that they love casual dress codes and have never had a problem with casual dress codes, I will state that I'm sure no one here wears blatantly inappropriate clothing if they have a casual dress code and that casual dress codes are great in theory and bloppity bloppity blah. I work in a bidness where "blatantly inappropriate" might mean something different than your "blatantly inappropriate". For example, it would be blatantly inappropriate for a lawyer to go to court in a T-shirt, cutoff shorts, and flip-flops (actually happened). That's the type of thing that always seems to end up happening when there is a casual dress code.
I'll admit that it's very different if you have to interact with the public in any capacity. In the lab, we don't talk to anyone outside of the department on a routine basis. Once in a great while, we'll have sales reps swing by, and even less frequently, we give tours or educational sessions to groups of students. 99% of the time, we're interacting with the same people we've known for the past 5 years and nobody else. Now, if you ever have to handle the public, there needs to be a more stringent dress requirement.
We had a casual dress code and two people violated it (flip flops and ratty sweatshirts). Instead of talking to those people, my boss enforced a business casual dress code. However, he still wears jeans four days out of five and the attorneys frequently wear jeans. This means that the all female support staff (the lowest paid people in the office) must adhere to the dress code, but the 6 male and 1 female attorney can all come in in jeans.
All and All, I don't think I want to change anything about my work, except my chair, which is cheap and hurts my back.
Everything in the vending machines was only a quarter, which was really awesome. The break rooms had lots of free stuff, like 20 flavors of tea (tea bags though, not the fancy loose leaf tea), hot chocolate, oatmeal, and Starbucks coffee with all the fancy add-ins. Plus, people were always having food meetings, and the leftovers would be put in the break room up for grabs. I got free lunch at least twice a week.
Too bad I hated the work. :-\