NO-ONE Will Buy These Cube Walls − 9 February, 2008
A few months ago, the software developers in my organization were moved to a small suite on the first floor of our building. It was an old café, remodeled. It was a short-term thing, so there was no major construction. In other words, cubes, no offices.
Man, I’ve never done well in cubes. I can’t concentrate with people all around me talking. Other people in our department would come down to visit us, and exclaim, “Oh, this is so nice!” I would think, “Nice compared to what?”
I’ve seen nice. I’d worked for a brief time in a building with exposed brick walls. The high ceiling displayed ventilation piping, painted a royal green. The windows in the offices opened. The building was practically downtown.
THAT, my friends, was nice.
Let me tell you a little story. My colleague was recently interviewed by an interior decorator who would be designing our department’s new space. She asked him what he liked and didn’t like about our temporary suite. He told her, “It sucks.”
Then she told him a little story. Months ago, she’d been working with the people from whom we’d bought the cubes. They’d asked her, “Do you think anyone would want to buy these cubes?” She replied, “No one will go anywhere near those things.”
Except our department.
They pay us pretty well for University staff. As developers, we don’t get industry salaries. But when I add my bennies and vacation to my salary, I come up with a six-figure “salary”. That’s right. And they put us in ugly cubes that no one else would want.
In the new space it’ll be a cube farm. Yeah, I keep hearing that money’s tight and space is at a premium. Eh, why bother investing up front in space that allows your employees to think and be creative? You’d rather put that money into salaries? Just remember that really smart, creative people look at the space they’ll be working in before they accept a job.
That’s right. It just might come back to bite ya.
Man, I’ve never done well in cubes. I can’t concentrate with people all around me talking. Other people in our department would come down to visit us, and exclaim, “Oh, this is so nice!” I would think, “Nice compared to what?”
I’ve seen nice. I’d worked for a brief time in a building with exposed brick walls. The high ceiling displayed ventilation piping, painted a royal green. The windows in the offices opened. The building was practically downtown.
THAT, my friends, was nice.
Let me tell you a little story. My colleague was recently interviewed by an interior decorator who would be designing our department’s new space. She asked him what he liked and didn’t like about our temporary suite. He told her, “It sucks.”
Then she told him a little story. Months ago, she’d been working with the people from whom we’d bought the cubes. They’d asked her, “Do you think anyone would want to buy these cubes?” She replied, “No one will go anywhere near those things.”
Except our department.
They pay us pretty well for University staff. As developers, we don’t get industry salaries. But when I add my bennies and vacation to my salary, I come up with a six-figure “salary”. That’s right. And they put us in ugly cubes that no one else would want.
In the new space it’ll be a cube farm. Yeah, I keep hearing that money’s tight and space is at a premium. Eh, why bother investing up front in space that allows your employees to think and be creative? You’d rather put that money into salaries? Just remember that really smart, creative people look at the space they’ll be working in before they accept a job.
That’s right. It just might come back to bite ya.
