Workplace Eating Arrangements
Its a funny thing but the smallest details when you are looking for a job are actually the most important. I’ve never actually asked to see inside the ladies when I’ve been at a job interview but I’ve always wished I had once I got the job!
I’ve been a big fan of Joel Spolsky for some time, but he posted an advert to his site today that had me riveted. He’s looking for a sysadmin for Fog Creek, and in the advert he writes
“We’re still a small friendly company and we all eat lunch together every day at one big table.”
This is what I’m looking for in a company, this sums up my requirements for my entire working life, and he’s nailed it in a single sentence.
It’s about the little differences sometimes. It strikes me that businesses that begin from small roots, tend to grow into friendly work environments, rather than impersonal corporate office cubes.
A sole-trader gets their first employee. In all likelihood, they eat their lunch together, whether it be packed lunch or a nip out to a sandwich bar.
You’re likely to be talking about your current project. Lunch provides you with time-out, helps you to see woods from trees. Sad? No, I say productive.
You expand and pull in a couple more members of staff. A small office is unlikely to be the best place for you all to eat lunch, but by this time maybe you have a larger place and you all end up around the meeting table.
I remember some of our group meetings at uni would be based around meal times. :)