Comments on: Cubicles: The great mistake http://www.postalnewsblog.com/2006/03/15/cubicles-the-great-mistake/ more from postalnews.com Sat, 22 Nov 2008 04:48:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Tom Bozzo http://www.postalnewsblog.com/2006/03/15/cubicles-the-great-mistake/#comment-20 Tom Bozzo Fri, 17 Mar 2006 16:30:47 +0000 http://www.postalnewsblog.com/2006/03/15/cubicles-the-great-mistake/#comment-20 From what I've seen -- at USPS HQ, which is cubicle city apart from upper managers' offices, and various P&D facilities, which seem to use relatively cramped bullpen arrangements for most supervisory staff -- 'real furniture' is relatively scarce in the organization... There definitely is no substitute for being around actual mail, vs. data representing the mail, every once in a while. From what I’ve seen — at USPS HQ, which is cubicle city apart from upper managers’ offices, and various P&D facilities, which seem to use relatively cramped bullpen arrangements for most supervisory staff — ‘real furniture’ is relatively scarce in the organization…

There definitely is no substitute for being around actual mail, vs. data representing the mail, every once in a while.

]]> By: brian http://www.postalnewsblog.com/2006/03/15/cubicles-the-great-mistake/#comment-17 brian Thu, 16 Mar 2006 23:49:22 +0000 http://www.postalnewsblog.com/2006/03/15/cubicles-the-great-mistake/#comment-17 That is a real problem with tele-commuting from home, no doubt about it, although there are many days that I'd be happy to run the risk. But I'd settle for the option to work at another postal location (we have quite a few last time I looked!), hopefully one with real furniture. The face to face communications part is also a consideration, but I think that a lot of the analytical types like myself would also benefit greatly from being in a location with actual mail, rather than in an office tower or suburban office park. That is a real problem with tele-commuting from home, no doubt about it, although there are many days that I’d be happy to run the risk. But I’d settle for the option to work at another postal location (we have quite a few last time I looked!), hopefully one with real furniture.

The face to face communications part is also a consideration, but I think that a lot of the analytical types like myself would also benefit greatly from being in a location with actual mail, rather than in an office tower or suburban office park.

]]> By: Tom Bozzo http://www.postalnewsblog.com/2006/03/15/cubicles-the-great-mistake/#comment-16 Tom Bozzo Thu, 16 Mar 2006 21:07:57 +0000 http://www.postalnewsblog.com/2006/03/15/cubicles-the-great-mistake/#comment-16 A major objection you could make to the Wolf quote, I think, is that telecommuting is an entree to a form of 'time theft' as employers would seek to effectively put employees on call all the time. The question is whether working in PJs and avoiding commuting is sufficient compensation for that. (Could be if you had a lot of Northern VA traffic to fight, less obviously so in less congested parts of the world.) A lot of notionally telecommuting-friendly jobs do also benefit somewhat from face-to-face contact with colleagues. That said, I would not suggest that the *option* of telecommuting isn't valuable, or that I have any love for cubicles. A major objection you could make to the Wolf quote, I think, is that telecommuting is an entree to a form of ‘time theft’ as employers would seek to effectively put employees on call all the time. The question is whether working in PJs and avoiding commuting is sufficient compensation for that. (Could be if you had a lot of Northern VA traffic to fight, less obviously so in less congested parts of the world.) A lot of notionally telecommuting-friendly jobs do also benefit somewhat from face-to-face contact with colleagues.

That said, I would not suggest that the *option* of telecommuting isn’t valuable, or that I have any love for cubicles.

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