So my boss won't move offices...

[Mr Pickles]

These are big offices here. I have a good sized cube that I'm actually very comfortable in. There is a better area that IT can work in down the hall and because his office is bigger by 2 insignificant square feet of space our whole department isn't moving. He's a rational guy and a damn good manager, why would 2 square feet make a difference? You can't even tell and quite frankly, the atmosphere is way better over there. I just don't get it.

The funny thing is, the veterans on our team consider it a legit argument. Apparently this happens all the time in the corporate world. You guys every see this in your work place?

 

[purbeast0]

lmao ... 2 square feet is like the space a trashcan takes up. that is pathetic.

 

[ScottFern]

Thats probably like taking a pay cut to him. At least he probably looks at it that way. Probably a status symbol in the corporate world.

 

[D1gger]

I saw this kind of thing all the time when I worked for big blue. People would stake out a desirable office and once in it, they wouldn't dare give it up as it becomes a status symbol to them. Personally I could care less, and as a business owner now, I have the smallest office, with no window, but it works for me. Others in my company are more concerned with space and appearances, so I let them have what is important to them.

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: MrLee
These are big offices here. I have a good sized cube that I'm actually very comfortable in. There is a better area that IT can work in down the hall and because his office is bigger by 2 insignificant square feet of space our whole department isn't moving. He's a rational guy and a damn good manager, why would 2 square feet make a difference? You can't even tell and quite frankly, the atmosphere is way better over there. I just don't get it.

The funny thing is, the veterans on our team consider it a legit argument. Apparently this happens all the time in the corporate world. You guys every see this in your work place?

That's called kissing ass. And your boss is ridiculous.

 

[spidey07]

You can never have an office smaller by any amount than those that work for you. It's career suicide.

 

[ATLien247]

Originally posted by: spidey07
You can never have an office smaller by any amount than those that work for you. It's career suicide.

I'll make sure to tell my executive management that because all of their offices are smaller than mine. Granted, they have corner offices with windows...

 

[mugs]

Are you sure he's not using that as an excuse to mask some other reason that he doesn't want to reveal?

Originally posted by: spidey07
You can never have an office smaller by any amount than those that work for you. It's career suicide.

1. Wow.
2. He didn't say the boss would have a smaller office than his subordinates, he said his boss would have a smaller office than his current office

Originally posted by: ATLien247
I'll make sure to tell my executive management that because all of their offices are smaller than mine. Granted, they have corner offices with windows...

Most of the higher ups in my company have smaller offices than me. They are in a different location though. I wonder if this "smaller office" rule transcends location? Perhaps there should be a corollary to the rule that takes into account the cost per square foot.

My manager works in the same location as me, and he had a smaller office until someone else left and he took their office. Around here no one really cares about the size of the offices. They're all big enough, and they all have doors and walls, so we're all happy.

 

[imported_Imp]

That's corporate culture for you. Something similar in the place I work. Department used labels for cubicles that would have made my job (and others) a lot easier, but because one director/manager said they were ugly, they had to take them all down.

 

[kranky]

"Career suicide" to have a smaller office than someone who works for you? That's absurd.

I have passed on moving to a private office three times and kept my cubicle. (In our building, there's a ratio of 1 private office to about 80 cubicles.) I am the only person in our department who doesn't have an LCD monitor. Three people under me have desktop printers, I don't. Up until last year, I had a Pentium II PC, by far the oldest PC in the department. Eight other people have offices the exact size of mine. In the past I have had peers with private offices, although not at the moment. People move in and out of private offices depending on whether someone new has a higher title (and therefore may be assigned to an occupied private office and the occupant moves out, back into a cubicle) I never saw a need to move into an office for some period of time only to have to move out later.

People in our group seem to appreciate that I let them have better and newer stuff instead of grabbing it for myself first. And they know I could be in a private office but instead I sit with them. If anything, this approach has helped my career.

 

[S Freud]

Its not the size of the office its the...um, I dunno.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: kranky
"Career suicide" to have a smaller office than someone who works for you? That's absurd.

I have passed on moving to a private office three times and kept my cubicle. (In our building, there's a ratio of 1 private office to about 80 cubicles.) I am the only person in our department who doesn't have an LCD monitor. Three people under me have desktop printers, I don't. Up until last year, I had a Pentium II PC, by far the oldest PC in the department. Eight other people have offices the exact size of mine. In the past I have had peers with private offices, although not at the moment. People move in and out of private offices depending on whether someone new has a higher title (and therefore may be assigned to an occupied private office and the occupant moves out, back into a cubicle) I never saw a need to move into an office for some period of time only to have to move out later.

People in our group seem to appreciate that I let them have better and newer stuff instead of grabbing it for myself first. And they know I could be in a private office but instead I sit with them. If anything, this approach has helped my career.

That's weird. Everywhere I've worked size and location of office dictates how much power you have. Even if you were the same level of somebody else you could trump them because you had a bigger office.

It was also VERY frowned upon to have lunch with subordinates.

 

[ed21x]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: kranky
"Career suicide" to have a smaller office than someone who works for you? That's absurd.

I have passed on moving to a private office three times and kept my cubicle. (In our building, there's a ratio of 1 private office to about 80 cubicles.) I am the only person in our department who doesn't have an LCD monitor. Three people under me have desktop printers, I don't. Up until last year, I had a Pentium II PC, by far the oldest PC in the department. Eight other people have offices the exact size of mine. In the past I have had peers with private offices, although not at the moment. People move in and out of private offices depending on whether someone new has a higher title (and therefore may be assigned to an occupied private office and the occupant moves out, back into a cubicle) I never saw a need to move into an office for some period of time only to have to move out later.

People in our group seem to appreciate that I let them have better and newer stuff instead of grabbing it for myself first. And they know I could be in a private office but instead I sit with them. If anything, this approach has helped my career.

That's weird. Everywhere I've worked size and location of office dictates how much power you have. Even if you were the same level of somebody else you could trump them because you had a bigger office.

It was also VERY frowned upon to have lunch with subordinates.

that sounds like a horrible corporate culture. at where I work, the boss regularly eats/hangs out with the subordinates just to promote good relations, communication, and empowerment. Respecting the subordinates cultivates them to work at a higher level, with more leadership and creativity rather than making them mindless drones. Good for the morale too.

 

[Imdmn04]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: kranky
"Career suicide" to have a smaller office than someone who works for you? That's absurd.

I have passed on moving to a private office three times and kept my cubicle. (In our building, there's a ratio of 1 private office to about 80 cubicles.) I am the only person in our department who doesn't have an LCD monitor. Three people under me have desktop printers, I don't. Up until last year, I had a Pentium II PC, by far the oldest PC in the department. Eight other people have offices the exact size of mine. In the past I have had peers with private offices, although not at the moment. People move in and out of private offices depending on whether someone new has a higher title (and therefore may be assigned to an occupied private office and the occupant moves out, back into a cubicle) I never saw a need to move into an office for some period of time only to have to move out later.

People in our group seem to appreciate that I let them have better and newer stuff instead of grabbing it for myself first. And they know I could be in a private office but instead I sit with them. If anything, this approach has helped my career.

That's weird. Everywhere I've worked size and location of office dictates how much power you have. Even if you were the same level of somebody else you could trump them because you had a bigger office.

It was also VERY frowned upon to have lunch with subordinates.

Wow, tell me where you work so I can remind myself not to work in a company with that type of culture.

Bosses can't have lunches with his subordinates? Talk about up-stuck b!tches. That is like saying people who drive Fords shouldn't be on the same road as BMW drivers.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: ed21x

that sounds like a horrible corporate culture. at where I work, the boss regularly eats/hangs out with the subordinates just to promote good relations, communication, and empowerment. Respecting the subordinates cultivates them to work at a higher level, with more leadership and creativity rather than making them mindless drones. Good for the morale too.

Wish my place was like that. Instead its all high cubicles, everyone is pretty much blocked off. You can talk to other people, but it's like sneaking off to someone else's jail cell. On the other hand, these cubicles are not at least bit 'sound proof'. I went through a few months last year listening to a person mumbling, swearing at people before picking up a phone call and it took a while to pin point the exact person on the otherside (coulda walked over, but never had a reason to).

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Imdmn04
Bosses can't have lunches with his subordinates? Talk about up-stuck b!tches. That is like saying people who drive Fords shouldn't be on the same road as BMW drivers.

Funny you should mention it...

Some corporations are retarded.

 

[BrokenVisage]

Maybe he just doesn't want to move?

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Imdmn04

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: kranky
"Career suicide" to have a smaller office than someone who works for you? That's absurd.

I have passed on moving to a private office three times and kept my cubicle. (In our building, there's a ratio of 1 private office to about 80 cubicles.) I am the only person in our department who doesn't have an LCD monitor. Three people under me have desktop printers, I don't. Up until last year, I had a Pentium II PC, by far the oldest PC in the department. Eight other people have offices the exact size of mine. In the past I have had peers with private offices, although not at the moment. People move in and out of private offices depending on whether someone new has a higher title (and therefore may be assigned to an occupied private office and the occupant moves out, back into a cubicle) I never saw a need to move into an office for some period of time only to have to move out later.

People in our group seem to appreciate that I let them have better and newer stuff instead of grabbing it for myself first. And they know I could be in a private office but instead I sit with them. If anything, this approach has helped my career.

That's weird. Everywhere I've worked size and location of office dictates how much power you have. Even if you were the same level of somebody else you could trump them because you had a bigger office.

It was also VERY frowned upon to have lunch with subordinates.

Wow, tell me where you work so I can remind myself not to work in a company with that type of culture.

Bosses can't have lunches with his subordinates? Talk about up-stuck b!tches. That is like saying people who drive Fords shouldn't be on the same road as BMW drivers.

They were all older companies, 100+ years old. It wasn't that you couldn't, but if you socialized with subordinates it was dinged as "too close to staff personally". Who you eat lunch with also shows how much power you have. So if you had the choice of your peers or those under you, you always choose peers.

 

[Imdmn04]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Imdmn04

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: kranky
"Career suicide" to have a smaller office than someone who works for you? That's absurd.

I have passed on moving to a private office three times and kept my cubicle. (In our building, there's a ratio of 1 private office to about 80 cubicles.) I am the only person in our department who doesn't have an LCD monitor. Three people under me have desktop printers, I don't. Up until last year, I had a Pentium II PC, by far the oldest PC in the department. Eight other people have offices the exact size of mine. In the past I have had peers with private offices, although not at the moment. People move in and out of private offices depending on whether someone new has a higher title (and therefore may be assigned to an occupied private office and the occupant moves out, back into a cubicle) I never saw a need to move into an office for some period of time only to have to move out later.

People in our group seem to appreciate that I let them have better and newer stuff instead of grabbing it for myself first. And they know I could be in a private office but instead I sit with them. If anything, this approach has helped my career.

That's weird. Everywhere I've worked size and location of office dictates how much power you have. Even if you were the same level of somebody else you could trump them because you had a bigger office.

It was also VERY frowned upon to have lunch with subordinates.

Wow, tell me where you work so I can remind myself not to work in a company with that type of culture.

Bosses can't have lunches with his subordinates? Talk about up-stuck b!tches. That is like saying people who drive Fords shouldn't be on the same road as BMW drivers.

They were all older companies, 100+ years old. It wasn't that you couldn't, but if you socialized with subordinates it was dinged as "too close to staff personally". Who you eat lunch with also shows how much power you have. So if you had the choice of your peers or those under you, you always choose peers.

I feel sorry for C.E.O then, who does he eat lunch with?

Kidding aside, wouldn't the ideal leader be someone who is approachable and personable? You would think someone would move further along on the corp. ladder if they provide those type of qualities. Yes, no? or Maybe the older companies are still indoctrinated with older corp. philosophies where leaders are suppose to separate himself from the rest of the crowd so he can appear head and shoulder above others?

 

[DainBramaged]

I found it amusing that a former co-worker of mine wasn't allowed to move into a larger, unoccupied office in our small building because there are federal guidelines that determine how much office space you are allowed to have. What a waste. :roll:

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: MrLee
These are big offices here. I have a good sized cube that I'm actually very comfortable in. There is a better area that IT can work in down the hall and because his office is bigger by 2 insignificant square feet of space our whole department isn't moving. He's a rational guy and a damn good manager, why would 2 square feet make a difference? You can't even tell and quite frankly, the atmosphere is way better over there. I just don't get it.

The funny thing is, the veterans on our team consider it a legit argument. Apparently this happens all the time in the corporate world. You guys every see this in your work place?

Look at it this way

Is it worth the effort and wasted time to move a full office AND a full IT office just so the IT dept can have 2 square feet of additional space?

Why is this area better? The difference in square footage is meaningless, it's only 2 feet and having him move won't do anything for anyone. You won't be doing more with that 2 square feet than he is (diddly squat). It's only down the hall, so it's not like you're in a better location relative to the rest of the building.

Why do you care about changing rooms over "2 insignificant square feet?"

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Look at it this way

Is it worth the effort and wasted time to move a full office AND a full IT office just so the IT dept can have 2 square feet of additional space.

Why is this area better? The difference in square footage is meaningless, it's only 2 feet and having him move won't do anything for anyone. You won't be doing more with that 2 square feet than he is (diddly squat). It's only down the hall, so it's not like you're in a better location relative to the rest of the building.

Why do you care about changing rooms over "2 insignificant square feet?"

Where on earth do you get the idea that the new area is only bigger by 2 square feet?

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: jagec
Where on earth do you get the idea that the new area is only bigger by 2 square feet?

From this post

Originally posted by: MrLee
There is a better area that IT can work in down the hall and because his office is bigger by 2 insignificant square feet of space our whole department isn't moving. He's a rational guy and a damn good manager, why would 2 square feet make a difference? You can't even tell and quite frankly, the atmosphere is way better over there. I just don't get it.

The OP said the size of the office is only bigger by 2 square feet. He wants the IT dept to move from the old office to the new office that is larger by 2 square feet.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: jagec
Where on earth do you get the idea that the new area is only bigger by 2 square feet?

From this post

Originally posted by: MrLee
There is a better area that IT can work in down the hall and because his office is bigger by 2 insignificant square feet of space our whole department isn't moving. He's a rational guy and a damn good manager, why would 2 square feet make a difference? You can't even tell and quite frankly, the atmosphere is way better over there. I just don't get it.

The OP said the size of the office is only bigger by 2 square feet. He wants the IT dept to move from the old office to the new office that is larger by 2 square feet.

No, it's the opposite...the area is much bigger, but the boss's office is 2 feet SMALLER, hence the reason they are not moving. Read it again.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

government can be even worse. I've bid several remodelling projects and we are given strict size guidelines for offices. They won't accept a larger existing office so we will have to tear out the walls and re-size it smaller.