June 30, 2010 at 1:55 pm
I guess this all goes to show that perks intended to help morale need to be carefully designed to accommodate the peculiarities of human psychology.
I witnessed a similar goof not too long ago where some employees were complaining because the monitors on their computers were way too small. It got to the point where it was becoming a serious morale issue. Management did the right thing and bought everyone a nice big flat-screen monitor, then negated some of the goodwill with an e-mail announcing the upgrade that indirectly said "we are doing this to stop the complaining, even though it is going to cost the company a fortune." It also implied that the direct manager of the employees wasn't exactly on board with the idea, but upper management really wanted it.
It was kinda like giving your wife flowers, then saying "I knew you'd be mad if I didn't get something, and these were on sale, so happy valentine's day!"
June 30, 2010 at 7:53 pm
There are currently three of us assigned to a particular product. We each take turns bringing in the doughnuts. No designated schedule, but if you haven't brought them in a while and we haven't had them in a while that is a good time to announce that tomorrow you're bringing them in. We share with the manager and network guy who are in the adjacent offices to ours. It would be cool if either of these guys brought in the donuts but its really no big deal because none of us expects it. They dont come looking for the fat pills. There is one developer that stops by to ask where are the donuts but has never brought any into the office. That is really annoying but we arent selfish and still honor the request. Some people are selfish and just don't get the whole community aspect of it all.
I used to go to lunch with a group of folks and the four of us would take turns picking up the tab for lunch so we could get outta there without all the commotion. I wouldnt dare do some thing like that unless the people were honorable. Sometimes team is just a title and then other times its so much more.
July 5, 2010 at 3:17 am
Cakes are for birthdays - the birthday person brings them so everyone does their turn over the year on or as near the date as possible.
We have an official rewards system (Applaudit) where you can get up to £50 of vouchers (you choose which type) for a specific success - we got one for implementing the new helpdesk system successfully.
The one I didn't get anything for (pre-dated Applaudit) was when the new clocking in system went in, we needed to see our clockin times and balances which you can do with a complex key sequence at the clock. I thought this clunky and since it's a SQL database behind, it took an intranet page and a couple of stored procs to enable anyone to check their times from their desk. The idea quickly sold to management and now it's the most used application in our business! I get calls now saying "Can't access it" and it's invariably because their AD account is not correctly set up to link in and that's not in my control!
July 8, 2010 at 7:04 pm
He, he, he...
I couple of years ago, I was working on a company that had a cafeteria on the first floor.
There were no restrictions specifically about the time of the day, you could go down, take some breakfast, snacks, coffee, etc, at any reasonable time. After all, we were adults. However a few employees started to pass so much time in the cafeteria talking, and taking over an hour in a breakfast. As there were no formal dressing code, the ladies used the place as a runaway, specially on fridays. We, all the guys, were of course pleased about this 😉
A few years later, the company was bought by another multinational, and you can imagine what came with it...change of CEO, procedures, reduction of expenses, and all that stuff.
Then came the changes.
In the first amendment, it was stipulated a dressing code, for "boys" and "girls"; and that created a huge cry inside the "boys" group.
The Second amendment specified that the cafeteria could only be used from 7am-8am, and 12pm-2pm., and that ends forever the "tertulia" some people had daily, at middle morning/afternoon.
The third amendment declared that our daily subsidy could only be use for the food they cooked; so crackers, juices, or snacks of any kind were not included in the daily allowance.
Sometimes, I think about how the open cafeteria could stayed as a benefit, if it was not used like a spotlight or singles bar. Of course, I also think about how a couple of employees, to show themselves nicer to the new authorities, imagined "a small, simple idea" like this, just to save to the company the US$2/employee subvention they gave at that time.
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