Skype in the workplace
Discussion
This is something that has been bugging me for a while now, so I just wanted to sound it out to see if it's just me.
In our workplace, we use Skype for communication. This is a great tool to quickly speak to specialists located in a different office, especially to clarify a quick point when a phone call or email might not be required.
What gets my goat is it's used for absolutely everything. People Skype each other in the office for things, even if they're at the next desk 4 feet away. This includes general office chat and banter, which I think encourages a very divisive atmosphere in the office, as people can be chatting to each other right over other people's heads. It also, I think, creates a very quiet and sterile atmosphere, where I feel self-conscious if I do want to make a quick phone call.
The only times, it seems, when people physically talk to each other, is at a lunchtime PES tournament or at a Friday afternoon seminar with office drinks that takes place every two weeks. Personally I'm not a huge fan of football or computer games and I'm not a big drinker. I'd rather just talk to people in a normal environment rather than needing that kind of lubricant.
I was seconded to our client for 8 weeks (only the back half of the week), and found myself really looking forward to the latter half of the week, where people were actually really talking. Granted, I may not always want to join in the banter, but you still feel part of it if you can actually hear it. At the end of the day, I don't see the point in physically going into work if I'm not doing anything that I couldn't do at home.
The ironic thing was I turned down a job with our client prior to that secondment!
In our workplace, we use Skype for communication. This is a great tool to quickly speak to specialists located in a different office, especially to clarify a quick point when a phone call or email might not be required.
What gets my goat is it's used for absolutely everything. People Skype each other in the office for things, even if they're at the next desk 4 feet away. This includes general office chat and banter, which I think encourages a very divisive atmosphere in the office, as people can be chatting to each other right over other people's heads. It also, I think, creates a very quiet and sterile atmosphere, where I feel self-conscious if I do want to make a quick phone call.
The only times, it seems, when people physically talk to each other, is at a lunchtime PES tournament or at a Friday afternoon seminar with office drinks that takes place every two weeks. Personally I'm not a huge fan of football or computer games and I'm not a big drinker. I'd rather just talk to people in a normal environment rather than needing that kind of lubricant.
I was seconded to our client for 8 weeks (only the back half of the week), and found myself really looking forward to the latter half of the week, where people were actually really talking. Granted, I may not always want to join in the banter, but you still feel part of it if you can actually hear it. At the end of the day, I don't see the point in physically going into work if I'm not doing anything that I couldn't do at home.
The ironic thing was I turned down a job with our client prior to that secondment!
roadtripboy said:
About >75% under 30, almost all under 40.
You have answered yourself.We used Skype as we are a diverse global company and now use Lync. If you are in the same office or one next door then walk and talk.
But we are all over 40 in the office and will walk and talk, but I have worked in places where the guy next to me will IM me FFS look at me and talk.
The art of face to face is getting less and less these days.
Interesting. It might depend on the sort of work you do - I'm a computer programmer - but I find the clatter of keys much less distracting than a spoken conversation. So I prefer to use IM partly a courtesy to others (not that I'm suggesting that having a conversation is especially rude... but it can be quite distracting). I also find it quicker to switch from doing work to conversing over IM and back to work again than I do to switch between working and talking. I guess work must use up the talking section of my brain, or something.
Anyway, the "quiet and sterile atmosphere" - or "the sound of people concentrating", as I think of it
- is something I actually quite value. It invigorates all the parts of my mind that help me work, and quietens all the parts that don't. And judging by how long the silences seem to last at the places I've worked, and how reliably people tend to take or make their phone calls away from their desk, I'm not the only one!
(Dissenters need not change their viewpoint. I just thought I'd supply a contrary opinion.)
Anyway, the "quiet and sterile atmosphere" - or "the sound of people concentrating", as I think of it
- is something I actually quite value. It invigorates all the parts of my mind that help me work, and quietens all the parts that don't. And judging by how long the silences seem to last at the places I've worked, and how reliably people tend to take or make their phone calls away from their desk, I'm not the only one!(Dissenters need not change their viewpoint. I just thought I'd supply a contrary opinion.)
I once worked for a publishing company who's Boss thought that we shouldn't spend too much time and energy chatting about things at lunch time and that it was a time to recharge the batteries before an afternoon of intense hard work. He e mailed us all asking us to bring a book to read quietly at lunch time and if we wanted to talk we should talk to our customers.
Interesting to hear the opposite viewpoint.
My point of view is that work is where you spend most of your time, and unless you're very lucky, it's usually not much fun. One of the few things that makes you want to get up and go into work, and helps you stay sane, is a bit of office chat. Remove that, and where's your motivation?
My point of view is that work is where you spend most of your time, and unless you're very lucky, it's usually not much fun. One of the few things that makes you want to get up and go into work, and helps you stay sane, is a bit of office chat. Remove that, and where's your motivation?
Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff