I was scrolling through my Google feed when my eyes fell on this headline, "Google CEO Sundar Pichai Defends Employee Desk-Sharing Policy", and I decided to read through it.
According to him,
“To me, it’s obvious that they are trying to be efficient and save money but at the same time also utilize resources. There are people, by the way, who routinely complain that they come in and there are big swaths of empty desks and it feels like it’s a ghost town, it’s just not a nice experience.”
“We should be good stewards of financial resources. We have expensive real estate. And if they’re only utilized 30% of the time, we have to be careful in how we think about it.” Google CEO Defends Desk-Sharing Policy, Reminds Employees That Real Estate is Expensive
While reading through, a lot of thoughts ran through my mind, would I want to share desks? No.
Do I sound selfish? Obviously.
I understand when big companies are trying to cut costs so they implement the desk sharing policy so the amount of space they need to pay for will be reduced. Even Sundar Pichai mentioned how expensive and expensive various Google properties are.
I also understand how scanty the room will feel when certain people do not show up for work on certain days and their desks are left empty if there weren't desk sharing
Source
But what about privacy? Oh, I almost forgot, Google doesn't know that word after all isn't all our data gathered by Google and we are fed with news and ads around our search preferences? Of course, that answer is yes.
But imagine someone who would want a desk all to himself so he can run personal stuff like blogging on Hive during his lunch break sharing a desk. That would not be a great experience if he is desk-sharing. This is because the human wouldn't want to log in to his account and mistakenly forget to log out and the next desk sharer finds it.
I know you are going to tell me, he shouldn't log in with his active key and should focus on using the posting key so there would not be consequences if someone lurks around.
But what if he needed to run transactions on a certain day because of an emergency and he had to log in with his active key? And he forgets to log out completely? Do you think he can trust his co-desk sharer to be a promoter of integrity and not steal his data and rob him in broad daylight?
Apart from Hiving, there are other private factors that Desk-Sharing takes away from an employee. Unless the company wants the employee's entire life to be wrapped around their work and office, the company is robbing them of their privacy and the tendency to make use of the office equipment for their side hustles.
But the staff at Google did say desk sharing increased productivity for them according to the article I read... If they liked it who I'm I to complain on their behalf? After all, isn't it said that "one man's food is another man's poison"?