Do we know if neighborhood seating is just a step for layoffs?
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The answer is yes. It was step one in a plan to reduce the workforce.
No. The neighborhood concept was something they had planned even back before COVID. It was part of the Workplace 2020 bullsh*t. And the irony here is the idea around the neighborhood was not to have assigned spots b/c so many people were working remotely and a way to have flexible seating.
Neighborhood seating is to maximize space. Don't worry, whether you have an office, an assigned seat or neighborhood seating, you're at risk of being displaced, the end.
They need to go back to the design drawing board then. Freedom would be WFH, and people don't want or use flexibility when it's offered. I've been going to a stupid building for almost 2 years now, everyone that's forced to come in to get on Teams sits in the same desk every day. But, of course, they never really feel like the space is "theirs" regardless, so there's no buy in, trust, or comfort. All it does is reinforce the company's lack of value for you as an individual and stress the fact that the company wants to get rid of you, and doesn't want to bother changing seating arrangements when they do. Lifting that finger would take too much effort, can't have that.
The reality of the situation is that the design was created for employers so they aren't wasting sq ft, and doesn't do anything (good) for employees.
Try visiting some other large corporate sites. They have it a little worse. Other companies just have bench seating, not even a cube.
No neighborhood seating is a productivity consultant concept. A lot of firms do it. It was designed to provide “freedom & flexibility “ for workers. WFA was moving towards this before Covid but that held everything up. It has nothing to do with layoffs (other than irritating most of us to the point of wanting to leave). WFA just bought into some consulting gurus program trying to be modern.
Doesn't every WF building have neighborhoods? That's how both buildings I've been to are set up.
Everything about admin buildings is a step to layoffs. That's their entire purpose at this company.
we were always going this direction even before all the scandles
If it is, they’re taking their sweet time. I’ve been sitting in my neighborhood in Irving since March of 2022 when we first returned to office. John Carpenter is literally the worst 3rd world nasty building in existence.🤮
Yes
HUH?