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Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

cnbc.com

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Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#191

Post by amf12 »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #185
tchalla wrote: post #2

> “Most Googlers will now share a desk with one other Googler,” the internal document stated, noting they expect employees to come in on alternate days so they're not at the same desk on the same day. “Through the matching process, they will agree on a basic desk setup and establish norms with their desk partner and teams to ensure a positive experience in the new shared environment.” If only, there was an easier sol…

Wow, I thought they were talking about two people sitting at one desk at the same time. This is insane. "Matching process for agreeing on a basic desk setup and establishing norms?" BRB, I have something I need to do over at schwab.com. I'll be back short ly.

Don't believe everything you read on CNBC. They tend to exaggerate. A lot. There is no "matching process". People will be paired up, and have to agree upon the norms. The email isn't opinionated about this. Each org will have to figure out a process.

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#192

Post by amf12 »

sys42590 wrote: post #39

The problem I have with shared desks is that morning people get the best places close to windows and away from traffic and noisy corners, night owls are at a disadvantage. Also quite often shared hardware is in a sad state (keyboards with broken legs, mice with slippery wheels from people working with greasy fingers, etc.)

I have never seen shared desks with morning and evening split. The article says it will be alternate days, with the same desk. Basically, each desk is now assigned to two people, on alternate days.

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#193

Post by dietr1ch »

dontreact wrote: post #174
dietr1ch wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, but I think that the way of achieving that is quite dumb. Id rather enforce something around. The first 1-2 floors in some specific buildings on every campus will turn into shared spaces instead of forcing everyone out of their desks. Decisions seem so poorly though recently that the only way I can make sense of many is thinking that they are trying to get people to quit to avoid paying for severances and ta…

How do you create 1-2 floors of shared space without forcing some people out of their desks?

You obviously have to move some people, but the way they are executing this now is kicking everyone out of their desks

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#194

Post by philwelch »

manmal wrote: post #68
Laaas wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, that could be justified as maintaining the health of the employees by forcing one of two to stand up at any time.

I‘m not sure standing 4+ hours a day has been established as healthy without exception. Long sitting is bad, sure; but switching things around ad libitum might be better than enforcing standing all the time.

Healthy human beings can walk, let alone stand still, for over four hours a day easily.

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#195

Post by chrismcb »

shmatt wrote: post #51
Insanity wrote: post #31

It seems like each day there's an article lately about reasons _not_ to work at Google. Sad to see how they went from an enviable place to work to a place to avoid these past years. (Although internally, things might be better than it looks from the outside of course)

I'd work from a toilet stall for a Google L6 comp band I doubt any Googlers actually care about this stuff

They do. Kirkland was overcrowded. People were working on the stairwells! At least I had my own desk. Working on an open for plan was bad enough. Having to share your desk wouldn't work for me. I think I would prefer"hot seating" over sharing a desk. Almost no reason not to let people work remotely

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#196

Post by manmal »

philwelch wrote: post #194
manmal wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I‘m not sure standing 4+ hours a day has been established as healthy without exception. Long sitting is bad, sure; but switching things around ad libitum might be better than enforcing standing all the time.

Healthy human beings can walk , let alone stand still, for over four hours a day easily.

Standing still is different from walking. It’s not that great really: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00140139.2017.14...

Swelling in lower limbs doesn’t sound good. From an evolutionary POV I can’t really imagine why our bodies should be optimized for standing still.

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#198

Post by c4mpute »

wkat4242 wrote: post #190
c4mpute wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

X-Terminals were a thing before SUN, but SUN had very nice ThinClients called SunRay that could "HotDesk". Your session was tied to a smartcard, as soon as you plugged that in, your session appeared on that workplace. Pull the Smartcard, go somewhere else, plug it in, there was your session. Very cool and almost instant, as opposed to the supposed "alternative" our windows guys suggested, which was smartcard login to…

Sun Rays were indeed very cool. A bit like the thin client VDIs of today, but easier to use IMO. The smartcard was really handy. As always Sun was way ahead of their time. I still have some SunRays I was hoping to use for something but I never found a good use for them :(

Ack. I think there would be demand for a modern hotdesking solution that worked as quick and painlessly as SunRays. Like, plug in your Yubikey, do a FIDO exchange, get your VDI session. Should be implementable in software, all thinclients nowadays have USB.

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#199

Post by lasereyes136 »

benatkin wrote: post #77
lasereyes136 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snow Crash for those that don't know: https://a.co/d/fXWqXr7

Long unsightly url after redirection but doesn't appear to be an affiliate link.

Correct, not an affiliate link, just the share link Amazon has on the page.

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#200

Post by jwestbury »

philwelch wrote: post #194
manmal wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I‘m not sure standing 4+ hours a day has been established as healthy without exception. Long sitting is bad, sure; but switching things around ad libitum might be better than enforcing standing all the time.

Healthy human beings can walk , let alone stand still, for over four hours a day easily.

I can walk all day quite happily. Standing still for even an hour is quite uncomfortable, however.
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