Ms. A arbeitet seit wenigen Monaten in diesem Unternehmen und hatte davor bereits Erfahrung mit Büroumgebungen, in denen man seinen Arbeitsplatz im Voraus buchen muss. Ms. B arbeitet schon mehrere Jahre in dem Unternehmen und kennt daher das dort vorherrschende System mit festen Arbeitsplätzen sehr gut.
Das Interview fand auf Englisch statt. Im Folgenden ein Auszug aus unserem Gespräch:
aroma_ID: How would
you describe the office environment you are working in?
Ms. A: Well, as
you can see we do have a lot of open spaces in our office. Our team is working
in one part of the open area which in our case is combined with another
department that works on the opposite side of the shared meeting room. Other
than that the different teams each have their own room that are situated around
a communal meeting/cafeteria area. All the rooms have glass walls facing the
center of the communal area. Moreover we do have so called “boxes” within the
communal area that we can use to have video calls or smaller meetings.
aroma_ID: Do you have
to book desks or meeting rooms in advance and how does that work?
Ms. A: No, we
each have our own desks to which we can return every day and I have to say that
I appreciate that very much since I used to work at a company that had a clean
desk policy where I had to book the desk one week in advance. Here I can work
at my personal desk where I can place the notes and documents the way I like it
and I also have my own storage space that I can use. We only have to book the
meeting rooms in advance but I don’t consider this much of an inconvenience.
aroma_ID: What are
the aspects that you appreciate the most about this setup?
Ms. A: First of
all I do save time compared to where I used to work before. Even though that
system was designed to be more efficient I had the feeling that it cost me
around 10 minutes in the morning to book and find my desk and another 10
minutes in the evening when I have to clean up everything and pack my things
just to take them home and back again for the next day. Here I only have to
place my laptop in my docking station and I am good to go. Another aspect that
I see as a big advantage is that I know where I can find specific colleagues.
They all do have their desk and I can easily see if they are in or not. In an
environment with shared desks it was sometimes difficult to find somebody and
in some instances you would not meet somebody only because it would take too
much effort to find that person.
Ms. B: I do
appreciate the possibility to have my post-its on my monitor and the fact that
I can organize the things on my desk according to my needs. I do not need many
personal things on my desk, for example I can do without photos of my family
but we do have colleagues that do have photos and personal items on their desk.
aroma_ID: Are there
any challenges that you see with this kind of working environment?
Ms. B: In
general I do quite appreciate this kind of setup. But there are instances that
are not really ideal. For instance, you saw the communal are in the middle
where we can work at the coffee tables or in these meeting boxes where we are
right now. These boxes are fine but in the area of the coffee tables I feel
that I am too openly on display since all the surrounding offices do have glass
walls towards this side which gives you the impression that you are being
watched all the time.
Ms. A: Another thing that I noticed is that
sometimes it is quite loud in here. So, for example, if somebody is taking a
phone call it can be quite hard to concentrate. That’s why I tend to take a
phone call outside, especially when I have a private call or somebody is
talking on the phone already and I have to take a call at the same time.
Ms. B: Yes,
exactly. When I have to make a doctor’s appointment and I have to describe why
I am calling it is sometimes difficult to find a place where I can talk without
somebody hearing what I say. When I was working at WeWork we at least had these
telephone boxes where you could talk and had a little bit of privacy.
aroma_ID: How would
you describe the level of flexibility regarding your working hours or using the
home office?
Ms. A: I think
it always depends on the supervisor you are working for. In my case I need the
flexibility. Otherwise it would not work for me. Regarding the home office we have
sort of an agreement that we do not use the home office more than once a week.
aroma_ID: And do you
feel that this flexibility in turn also allows for a certain amount of unwanted
intrusion into your private life?
Ms. A: Maybe,
but for me this is by choice because I do appreciate the opportunity to work
late or at home because it gives me the flexibility I need.
Ms. B: Yes, for
me too. It has happened occasionally that I took some of my work home for the
weekend. But I would say that this is voluntary and I do not mind it. And I
think that this also depends on the supervisor you are working with.
aroma_ID: Do you
think you work more effectively at home or in the office?
Ms. A: For me
definitely in the office. I think the working environment in the office is much
better for my productivity. Also I really appreciate the social aspect of
working in the office – at home I have to work alone and I think for the
majority of tasks I prefer the office environment.
Ms. B: Yes, I
seldomly use the home office. Most of the time I am here. It is only when I
know that my team members are not in the office for whatever reason I also stay
at home. For the teamwork aspect the home office is rather counterproductive.
And I think that most people here also feel this way and I really appreciate
this. We have all the resources in our building and so we can always go and
gather information or have a look at what the other teams are working on.
aroma_ID: How would
you describe the hierarchical structures here? Do you feel a lot of external
control and do you think that the office structure encourages that?
Ms. A: We do
have these glass walls here, so everybody can always be seen. This could be
seen as some kind of control but generally the hierarchical structures are
always dependent on the supervisor you have. With some it is more strict and
with others not so much. One thing that has been an issue though is that when
we use the home office and our supervisor comes in and nobody is here that this
could potentially be misunderstood.
Ms. B: As A
already mentioned it always depends on the supervisor. But the hierarchical
structures can be seen in the architecture here since the higher-ups tend to
have solitary offices since they potentially also need to make more phone calls
or have one-to-one meetings with employers. So this is not really regarded as a
negative around here.
aroma_ID: Do you also
have relax areas here? How are these used?
Ms. B: Yes, we
do have a relaxation room downstairs. It is only used for relaxing and taking a
short break from work. For a while it was used by people that work in the
laboratory where there are quite strict regulations regarding contamination
risks. This includes a quite elaborate procedure which led to some of the
colleagues using the relaxation room to work there. But that was only for a
short while because those who use it for relaxation where complaining about the
noise level.
aroma_ID: Final
question. Would you prefer a shared desk system over the fixed desk system that
you have here?
Ms. A: No, not
at all. As I mentioned before, I used to work in a shared desk office and I can
say that I like this a lot better. I think we are settlers and not nomads
anymore. I want my own desk!