My first look at a cubicle worker!

[dwixi]

In college today I went into some finance office thing.
It was horrible!
about 10 people in a room with there desks completely silent! All just typing away! you could tell the work they were doing was just pointless and not helping anyone!
this seemed really weird to me as I live in the countryside where there arent really office jobs. jobs down here are all tourist stuff, the arts and "society jobs" like schools hospitals, care homes ect. None of witch involve any office work. I honestly don't even know what people in big offices Do! is it like... insurance sales..... or something...?
well yeah. the point of this post is for you to share your experiences with these kinda places and shock me!

[Breezy]

I work in one of the biggest financial companies in the world, in a regional office. We don't have any cubicles, we have an open office, most of us sit by large windows with great views. Our office's average age is around 27, I have never worked in a place that has so many intelligent, young, pleasant and humourous people. I think it is one of the best places to work.

Mind you, in a company that has at least 6 people (now probably 15 due to larger unemployment) pretending on every entry level opening, you will absolutly never find a person who can be considered "average" in any way.

[dwixi]

Originally Posted by Breezy

I work in one of the biggest financial companies in the world, in a regional office. We don't have any cubicles, we have an open office, most of us sit by large windows with great views. Our office's average age is around 27, I have never worked in a place that has so many intelligent, young, pleasant and humourous people. I think it is one of the best places to work.

Mind you, in a company that has at least 6 people (now probably 15 due to larger unemployment) pretending on every entry level opening, you will absolutly never find a person who can be considered "average" in any way.

wow! That sounds like a great job. Would you say the companys values and goals are really helping people aswell?

[Breezy]

It has values, it is something that every company seems to have nowadays, but it isn't what influences it the most ( I don't think most people know the company values anyway ). The Company is currently the biggest and the best in its area in the world, it strives to remain like that, as such it always aims to have the best people on it's board and I think that is why it is so pleasant to work with them.

[WayneKey1]

Officies can be pretty terrible or a lot of fun. It really depends on the organization and the people who are empowered to make the decisions. If they are set up right with good people there can be a tremendous amount of synergy and many things can get done... on the other hand... sometimes my team goofed off a lot between projects...lol

[silicon toad2000]

I think you'd be surprised at how many 'office' work goes on where you are. You don't see it which is why it is often described as a 'back room' function. Everywhere needs to carry a certain amount of office type tasks from ordering stock, statutory returns, payroll functions, advertising, invoice payment, debt collection, banking, planning, forecasting...
What goes on in those big office buildings depends largely on what the company does. Every business has a few things in common, they gather inputs suck as product/stock or skilled people, they add value to that and they sell the end result. Stock has to be paid for, staff need to be paid, sales need to be invoiced and debts need to be collected. These things need to be done by someone, by an office full of people for a large business or the local business owner after hours in the back of the shop.
The experience will be whatever people make of it.

[jthomson71]

I've worked in a couple of really crappy offices and I've also had some of the most fun in my life in a couple of offices. As is the case with most things it really comes down to the people. I am not sure if the companies I thought were the best places to work happen to have the best people or if I thought the company was better then it was because the people were awesome. I would say it is probably a blend of the two because I think if there are great people to work with the office environment thing is a non issue. I also think if you create a great environment for people your business will explode because happy people can make incredible things happen and when incredible things happen its amazing how well the business does. All of this is mute now because I work from home and run my own business but that was a choice to spend more time with my family. I agree with other posts that office work needs to be done but I think you will also find more and more opportunities to work with more flexibility in the future. But don't always judge a book by its cover, I've had some really fun times working in an office.

[funchy]

Originally Posted by dwixi

In college today I went into some finance office thing.
It was horrible! about 10 people in a room with there desks completely silent! All just typing away! you could tell the work they were doing was just pointless and not helping anyone!

Question: how do you know they weren't helping anyone?

I don't know what kind of "finance" they were doing. Why couldn't they be grant writers trying to raise funds for starving children in poor countries? (or some other worthy cause?) If something doesn't look 'fun' to an outside observer, does that not make it worthy?

I've seen pretty office buildings with luxury desks -- and the company is not only not helping anyone, they're greedy and squeezing the last pennies out of anyone they could find. I am also involved in the horse industry. The most luxurious stables are almost always run by those who treat horses (and employees) and disposable objects and every penny of profit goes back to their expensive homes, cars, or farms. Looks can be deceiving!

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by dwixi

this seemed really weird to me as I live in the countryside where there arent really office jobs. jobs down here are all tourist stuff, the arts and "society jobs" like schools hospitals, care homes ect. None of witch involve any office work. I honestly don't even know what people in big offices Do!

LOL.

Even schools, hospitals, care homes etc will have offices. And the bigger they are, the bigger their offices, of course.

What do they do?

Well, suppose you're talking about the office of a big hospital. Let's say you're talking about the FINANCE department of a big hospital.

SOMEBODY's doing the office work to ensure that the nurses and doctors are paid their monthly salaries.

SOMEBODY's doing the office work to collect money from the patients and put it into the bank.

SOMEBODY's doing the office work to plan the budget for renovating the hospital premises and buying new hospital equipment.

SOMEBODY's doing the office work to deal with the patients' health insurers.

SOMEBODY's doing the office work to process the invoices from the pharmaceutical companies that supply the hospital with drugs and medical supplies.

SOMEBODY's doing the office work to plan the budget for next month "How to Prevent Cancer" public education campaign.

Did you think that these things just happen on their own?

[maximumlight]

Originally Posted by dwixi

In college today I went into some finance office thing.
It was horrible!
about 10 people in a room with there desks completely silent! All just typing away! you could tell the work they were doing was just pointless and not helping anyone!
this seemed really weird to me as I live in the countryside where there arent really office jobs. jobs down here are all tourist stuff, the arts and "society jobs" like schools hospitals, care homes ect. None of witch involve any office work. I honestly don't even know what people in big offices Do! is it like... insurance sales..... or something...?
well yeah. the point of this post is for you to share your experiences with these kinda places and shock me!

Working in an office can be kind of fun.

[Trey Baird]

Yeah, office work is certainly an acquired taste. Some people love to do it. Personally, I hate it. I want a job where I'm on my feet, doing things, and spending only minimal time, if any, sitting down.

The worst part of an office job to me is how the sitting will devastate your metabolism. I gained 50 lbs within a year and a half after switching from the fast food industry to office work.

[maximumlight]

I hate to be contradictory, because I see your point and used to feel that way and very well might feel that way in the future, but the job I have now is based in an office. However, I'm always running doing this and that, going to meetings, talking to people in the office. So it's not just all sitting and sometimes I'm relieved to be able to sit down!

However, you're right in that you are sitting a lot generally. Also, the more office experience I get, the more I realize "Hey, I could get all my work assignments done today in about 1/8th of the time that I'm obligated to be here" i.e. it would really only take me a dedicated hour to get my stuff done, not the full 8.

Oh well...yes, working in an office has its ups and downs. Ideally, I'd like to have a really swank home office but still have some "outlet" in that I get out into the "real world." Maybe attend meetings and stuff? Power lunches?