James asks Can the virtual office ever emulate a shared physical space?
As a card carrying proponent of Bedouin workspaces, I’d have to say yes.
James mentions Alan O’Rourke who seems to be missing the fag breaks and water cooler chats of the pre-Web 2.0 world.
I’m not a smoker and the last thing I would have done back in the day was join my confederates in the “stinky room of death” allocated to the smokers. By all accounts (thanks to the flunky that I sent to his death several times a day), this was not only where the important decisions were made but it was also where the various PAs were loudly indiscreet.
This problem, of course, is with teleworking and this has nothing to do with Bedouin working (unless you’re unfortunate enough to be Bedouin AND alone). I worked from home for 2 years when I was with Nortel. I cheated perhaps because I could pop into the local site when I was needed but my team were all over Europe. We used IP Softphones, Yahoo Instant Messenger and email. Being on-site all the time wouldn’t have helped me because I didn’t go to the smoke room anyway and to be fair I was never one for smalltalk at the water cooler/photocopier anyway.
Alan’s issue is that these 5 minute scenery changes would often provide the best brainstorming breakthroughs. Bernie Goldbach in James’ comments agrees that “Half of the best thinkers on the staff where I’m assigned smoke and share some of their best ideas while outside in the rain.”
If I was their employer I’d wonder why they can’t have these great thoughts in the workspace I’m paying for by the square metre. And if the great thoughts are out in the smoke room, what the hell are they doing working in the office? They’d be perfect for homeworking.
Obviously we can’t condone a smoking workplace but does it reflect on the workplace or the workers when they can’t “work” effectively in the workplace? I’m inclined to think it’s the workplace and then wonder whether a dedicated Bedouin workspace is going to be better or worse than a normal workspace. It’s going to be non-smoking too…
I don’t know what the answer is. I know I resent the smoke breaks taken by co-workers because frankly every smoker I know has taken the piss[1] with them. I most definitely resent the filth they leave behind in the form of ash piles and discarded butts and I’m not a big fan of the smell of dry, powdery tobacco either.
[1] yeah yeah, I know, you’re the exception yadda yadda….