In the UK we were told we needed to be more of an office culture and they announced a massive investment in to Bedfont Lakes.
I would not be surprised if it Monday to Thursday becomes mandatory in the office (or at customer site).
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The best thing about being made redundant, for me, was not having to get to Bedfont every day.
They managed to find the one bit of London that public transport forgot (despite its proximity to Heathrow) and set up shop there.
I used to work in Reading and getting in and out was a dream compared to BL - and oddly enough there was more to do on and around site than BL ever had
The canteen is definitely better than Green Park's, though...
The thing is that Bedfont was a nice office, and it still has the best staff restaurant of any I've experienced in Cisco. The rot set in when they refurbished Building 10 a few years ago, it seemed to lose its soul.
To be honest this 'spend more time in the office' stuff has been tried before. Enterprise used to insist that you were in BFL on a Friday for the forecast call for example. But it never lasts.
However, I suspect that it would be a difficult policy to enforce. I am not a lawyer but, If you live more than, say, 90mins from the office and were employed on a 'mobile worker' contract, I suspect you'd have a pretty good case for constructive dismissal.
This is happening. Just been told on our forecast call that we need to show more face in the office. Only a matter of time before they tell us we need to be in all the time. Our competitors do it, so I can see why this is happening now, especially with negative growth.
+1 for the floydian snip
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day...
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way...
SG's architecture leader would be the first to kick up a fuss about coming to Bedfont from Kensington so it will never happen.
The amazing thing is that to the Cisco true-believers, Bedfont is a "shining example" of a great, action-packed Cisco office !
Need a pint
I've spent a lot of time there (Bedfont Lakes) and this really made me chuckle... So true...
That place is like a mausoleum to begin with and there's nothing in the surrounding area to build morale for a lunch out or a pint after work.
Ask the Marissa Mayer underlings how well that worked out for Yahoo. I'm no longer at Cisco, but I spent a lot of time out of the Bedfont Lakes office. If mandatory "office time" is mandated, morale will sink beyond the toilet. That place is like a mausoleum to begin with and there's nothing in the surrounding area to build morale for a lunch out or a pint after work.
This wouldn't surprise me at all. The place is dead, so having an auditorium for the brown-nosers and VPs to strut about makes a lot of sense. It's also the natural conclusion of a company that's been slowly killing itself over the past 5 years.
Perhaps all the BDMs and inside sales people who perch in the city office doing nothing but internal calls can be relocated to Bedfont too?
I've heard that SG is pushing this. He's has no character. If this gets enforced, I'll quit, it's not the Cisco culture we've all had.