51–60 of 76 posts
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No doubt I'll feel silly for asking but what is IMOP? Google didn't provide any sensible answer.
Given the context, most likely "In my own opinion."
I'm a customer of Bevi. I got it for our office after seeing it in another startup. I think Bevi is pretty great - cuts down on La Croix can wastage at the office. Some things could be improved: sometimes it runs out of CO2 and everything comes out flat.
This sounds way entitled.
But there are carbonated water machines that are not "smart" (meaning they aren't online and don't cost an arm an a leg to have a sw button running on a tablet)
I'm a customer of Bevi. I got it for our office after seeing it in another startup. I think Bevi is pretty great - cuts down on La Croix can wastage at the office. Some things could be improved: sometimes it runs out of CO2 and everything comes out flat.
> I think Bevi is pretty great - cuts down on La Croix can wastage at the office. This sounds way entitled. But there are carbonated water machines that are not "smart" (meaning they aren't online and don't cost an arm an a leg to have a sw button running on a tablet)
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That's not something that is measurable for office managers. I don't think office managers need metrics - just a suggestion box. Most thinks are really obvious, especially if you let people tell you about them. I guarantee if the had a suggestion box nobody would suggest an IoT water cooler.
I disagree. Have you ever done this? I've been on the other side of it. (I own my own company.) Get suggestions from staff & follow through. In the real world staff have lots of wants, nice ideas, and "wouldn't it be good if" suggestions. They have very little concept if other people are interested in their idea, if people would actually continue to use the idea once the novelty wears off, and so on. In my office her…
Everyone has standing desks and they are often used. Not all the time of course but most people use them occasionally.
Every company I've ever worked at has a microwave. Not having one would just be weird. Similarly every company I've worked at has whiteboards. They're cheap, why not have them?
My current company has fresh fruit and it all gets eaten. Just order less if it isn't getting eaten.
Anyway, I wasn't suggesting you immediately implement any suggestion an employee comes up with - you can survey your staff to see how many people agree. It's not difficult.
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I disagree. Have you ever done this? I've been on the other side of it. (I own my own company.) Get suggestions from staff & follow through. In the real world staff have lots of wants, nice ideas, and "wouldn't it be good if" suggestions. They have very little concept if other people are interested in their idea, if people would actually continue to use the idea once the novelty wears off, and so on. In my office her…
Those are totally normal and common things in the UK at least. My current company has them all, and the only one that I think makes little sense is the sofas (well it's more like armchairs, but yeah they are rarely used). Everyone has standing desks and they are often used. Not all the time of course but most people use them occasionally. Every company I've ever worked at has a microwave. Not having one would just be…
I'm a programmer at a manufacturing company and our offices all have (well we actually have two) canteens attached, Microwave, 4 rack toasters and a paninni maker.
Coffee/Tea/Water are available from a machine (you just put your token in and select what you want).
We don't have Sofa's but everything else we do have, I have a whiteboard behind my desk (though that is because what was a meeting room is now just my office).
Boss understands that staff comfort is important.
His comments on the radiator grill aren't fair. The temperature of steam won't exceed 100 degrees C which some plastics are fine with. And the downward slope is to stop spilt water dripping inside. The fan (if it's working after that error!) will push the air through enough.
Steam can be whatever temperature it wants. There is no 100C limit. Either way, there should be no steam near a radiator.
A principle that's been used in steam engines for at least a century.
It's horribly dangerous stuff to work with as well, it'll flay flesh straight off the bone.
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> you should invent some performance metric profitability and growth
That's not something that is measurable for office managers. I don't think office managers need metrics - just a suggestion box. Most thinks are really obvious, especially if you let people tell you about them. I guarantee if the had a suggestion box nobody would suggest an IoT water cooler.
Or... they could just not change things and waste money unnecessarily because they feel they have to. If there's nothing else for them to do, then is there even a need for an office manager in the first place?
I've seen way too many 20 person startups that have more HR/office staff than actual product related people.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> you should invent some performance metric profitability and growth
That's not something that is measurable for office managers. I don't think office managers need metrics - just a suggestion box. Most thinks are really obvious, especially if you let people tell you about them. I guarantee if the had a suggestion box nobody would suggest an IoT water cooler.
Back in the day, water coolers were expensive to manufacture, roughly $500-1500 per unit. The company was ostensibly a water company, but would sell water with a minimal profit. Their real money renting out the water coolers at $10-20/month.
Then in the late 1990s / early 200s China came online. Those $500 water coolers all of a sudden were being sold for $70. Obviously, it's pretty difficult to rent out a $70 piece of equipment for $10/mo. So the business had to shift from making money off of equipment to water, a much lower profit margin business.
A few tips for any entrepreneur going into this business: - Obviously sell hard during the summer when it's hot
- Asian folks often prefer hot water to cold, so have some solution that caters to them.
- The bottles themselves can become a relatively large expense. Think about how to deal with them.
- Moving heavy bottles of water is extremely labor intensive. Your workforce will eventually become unionized, build that into business plan.
- Drinking spring and/or purified water is often subject to trends. Have a plan for when municipal water becomes "hip" or when customers demand that you reduce your carbon foot-print and stop shipping in water from out-of-state.
- A common complaint about water coolers is that people find bugs in their water. More often than not, this has nothing to do with you water, and has everything to do with the location in which it's placed. You won't be able to fix every situation, have a plan for this.
Good luck! You're up against some heavy-weights!
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I disagree. Have you ever done this? I've been on the other side of it. (I own my own company.) Get suggestions from staff & follow through. In the real world staff have lots of wants, nice ideas, and "wouldn't it be good if" suggestions. They have very little concept if other people are interested in their idea, if people would actually continue to use the idea once the novelty wears off, and so on. In my office her…
I've seen lots of those work, more or less... standing desks: People who want to stand will normally put 8 concrete blocks under their desk, then get a tall chair for when they don't wish to stand. This is cheap and effective. microwave: Heh, we wore out many, and then got 4 restaurant-grade ones. We also have a couple toaster ovens. This is for a couple hundred people. For special occasions we also have a griddle, s…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I disagree. Have you ever done this? I've been on the other side of it. (I own my own company.) Get suggestions from staff & follow through. In the real world staff have lots of wants, nice ideas, and "wouldn't it be good if" suggestions. They have very little concept if other people are interested in their idea, if people would actually continue to use the idea once the novelty wears off, and so on. In my office her…
I know a lot of people who say this as a sort of implied "maybe not do any of this", but the alternative solution is "do all of this" There are obviously sometimes conflicting requests, but imagine if you had staff whose main job was making sure employees enjoy their working environment and you just shifted stuff in and out of the office as requests changed. Almost every employee would have their pet want fulfilled a…
Also, anecdotally, adding those things didn't affect my turnover at all. What did affect my turnover? Having (or not having) interesting projects for people to work on.