We had a great office downtown. Corporate kept telling us we were going to move, but don’t worry because it’ll be in the Loop and they knew that everyone commutes to work.
At the last minute, corporate suddenly declared they were moving all of us to their windowless warehouse in a crappy neighborhood on the west side.
They didn’t even buy furniture for the place! They moved what we had, but a lot of people lost their cubicles. Imagine senior-level people scrounging through piles of used warehouse furniture to put their workstations together.
Nearly everyone’s commute got a whole lot worse and they now have too many people crammed into too small of a space, with fewer bathroom stalls and the only windows are in the lunchroom.
Here’s how corporate tried to spin this when they told us about the move:
Think about all the money you’ll save when you can’t eat and shop in the neighborhood!
Sure, we’re cramming more people into less space—but that’ll create “energy!”
Yes, people’s cars have been broken into at the warehouse, “but those are just property crimes.”
There’s other issues as well. Everyone has to keep track of what they’re doing every minute of every day. Seriously. Some agencies have you give a rough estimate on hours per each project, but there’s no reason for a company to be so anal.
For some people, having a manager look at your hours is like going to the proctologist. They’ll nickel and dime you. They expect a total commitment from you, but the company doesn’t reciprocate. Lots of temps and contract workers there, just hoping to finally go "full-time." Layoffs come without warning.
If 12 of your colleagues say you’re great, but one of them stabs you in the back, guess which one the bosses are going to listen to. Whatever corporate tells you, just assume it’s a lie.